The NFPA Podcast

As summer weather begins in the Northern Hemisphere, we revisit this very relevant episode from 2023. Heatwaves aren't just uncomfortable, they are deadly for millions of people around the globe each year. Recognizing this growing threat, governments and safety departments are starting to reconsider their vulnerabilities to heat and are taking action to protect their populations and infrastructure...

Tribal nations and native communities across North America are consistently one of the highest-risk population groups for a range of health and safety issues, including fire incidents and casualties. And yet, developing and implementing community risk reduction programs in native communities can be daunting, especially for non-native fire departments that don't understand native traditions, sensit...

May is Electrical Safety Month, which is a good time to remember that dozens of people across the world suffer injuries from electrical hazards every single day. Survivors of these incidents list a range of devastating symptoms, from burns and chronic pain to insomnia, muscle spasms, depression, and various other mental health issues. Many of the full effects of these injuries are still not fully...

Carbon monoxide is known as the silent killer, but it doesn't have to kill you to have permanent consequences. There is growing evidence that long-term exposure to CO, at concentrations that are too small for a typical household alarm to detect, can have serious and permanent impacts on human health, including cognitive decline, neurological issues, organ damage, and other ailments that are often...

As the weather in the Northern Hemisphere starts to shift to spring and construction season gears up, we revisist an episode from 2021 about the costly ongoing problem of fires in buildings under construction. In the United States, there's a fire in a building under construction or renovation every hour and a half, according to NFPA data. On this podcast, Angelo speaks with Kevin Carr (4:15), NFPA...

This is the second part of our series looking at how fire and life safety codes are being delayed, erased, and watered down across the United States. On this episode, we talk to Ohio State Fire Marshal Kevin Reardon about some of the challenges he's facing in his state, strategies to counter misguided legislative efforts, and why the fire service needs to get more involved if we are to reverse thi...

There is a serious threat to safety happening now that isn't getting nearly enough attention, according to many state fire marshals and fire service leaders. Across the U.S., anti-regulatory sentiments and well financed lobbying efforts are persuading lawmakers to weaken or erase the longstanding fire and life safety codes intended to keep the public safe.  Today's podcast is the first of two part...

As the Los Angeles area wildfires exploded in early January, a nonprofit organization called MySafe:LA leapt into action, disseminating timely information to guide residents through the chaos. But public messaging is just one of countless ways the group has worked to boost safety in greater LA. Over almost 20 years, MySafe:LA has grown into one of the most unique and comprehensive public/private s...

In 1973, fire killed and injured more people in the United States than in any other industrialized nation in the world. The next year, Congress passed the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act, a landmark bill that made significant investments in fire research, training, and education. Within a few decades, the U.S. had transformed from a fire-prone outlier, to arguably the safest country in the...

Modern warehouses and distribution centers are huge. Some have footprints larger than 60 American football fields and are filled with densely packed racks up to 100 feet tall. When a giant building like this catches fire, what can firefighters do?    Today on the podcast, we talk to a veteran firefighter and a fire protection engineer who just co-authored a detailed report on the many challenges t...

In the last week, huge swaths of metro Los Angeles have been devastated by wildfires fueled by parched vegetation and hurricane force winds. The images and videos of once vibrant neighborhoods reduced to smoldering ash are, in a word, horrifying. Today on the podcast, we try to make sense of what is happening in Los Angeles and what may come next. I talk to NFPA's wildfire expert Michele Steinberg...

You could make the argument that artificial intelligence was the most consequential new technology for fire and life safety in 2024. Several fire departments began dabbling with AI this year, and some even hope to have operational AI in the coming year. As we head into 2025, we thought it was a good time to revisit our most listened to episode of 2024, Jesse's interview with Preet Bassi, the CEO o...

This summer, long-awaited changes to the standard that sets the performance requirements for smoke alarms went into effect, marking a new era for the technology. For the first time, smoke alarms must now pass a test to show they are resistant to nuisance alarms triggered by cooking smoke. On today's podcast, smoke alarm researcher Thomas Clearly from NIST joins to discuss the evolution of smoke al...

Although hospital fires are rare in the United States, that's not the case around the world. Recent deadly fires at hospitals in India —including a fire in November that killed 10 newborn babies — show how hard it is to protect these complex facilities. In light of these recent tragedies, we are revisiting an episode from 2020 that looks at the reasons behind the higher occurrences of fire in hosp...

Nearly all jurisdictions in the United States enforce codes that require two exit stairwells in residential buildings above three or four stories. Housing advocates say that increasing the cap to six stories will lead to better housing options and lower costs. That logic has persuaded lawmakers in some U.S. states to pass laws that raise the allowed height of single exit stair buildings, bypassing...

As online retail flourishes, distribution centers are installing new and more advanced automated storage and retrieval systems (or ASRS). These systems are like enormous vending machines that store, organize, and move product around the facility. The systems save time and space but have also introduced several new fire risks into storage operations. Today on the podcast, we talk to a safety risk c...

When hurricane Ian tore through Florida in September 2022, it left a trail of destruction—but not at Babcock Ranch, a 2,000-home development designed to be both sustainable and to withstand the worst natural disasters. Today on the podcast, we speak to an engineer who lives in and helped design Babcock Ranch about the community's unique features, as well as the growing trend toward building resili...

This month, a comprehensive new survey on smoke alarm use in the U.S. found that 16 percent of households—as many as 53 million people—do not having working smoke alarms. The new report comes just in time for Fire Prevention Week (Oct. 6-12), which will focus on smoke alarm use and maintenance. On today's podcast, two NFPA experts discuss the findings of the new report, and why it is more critical...

As fire departments increasingly focus on fire prevention and community risk reduction (CRR), several new challenges have emerged. In some cases, firefighters may resist or be apathetic to these tasks. In other cases, less obvious hurdles like hidden biases can cause departments to make missteps. Today on the podcast, a safety and wellness captain from Georgia joins us to discuss the small and big...

For fire safety educators, breaking through the noise to deliver the right messages to the people who need to hear it can be an enormous challenge. Some are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to discover new insights and strategies. Today on the podcast, we talk to Brene Duggins, a former NFPA Educator of the Year and an early adopter of using AI tools to hone and refine fire educatio...

The number of micro-distilleries in the U.S. has ballooned from just 500 in 2014, to more than 2,700 today, according to the American Craft Spirits Association. Like micro-breweries, these small-batch liquor production facilities are often tucked into urban spaces like strip malls, but unlike breweries, the beverages they produce are quite flammable. Today on the podcast, we are joined by an archi...

Research has shown that doing wildfire mitigation work, like replacing wooden shingles or removing dead leaves from the gutters, drastically reduces the chances of your home becoming a heap of ash when a wildfire strikes. But how much does the public know about these potentially life-saving activities? Today on the podcast, we dig into a comprehensive new survey that asked residents in wildfire-pr...

Despite overwhelming proof that home fire sprinklers save lives, fewer than 10 percent of all new homes being built in the United States today are equipped with sprinklers, and most states refuse to mandate their use. However, fire marshals and others are finding creative ways to incentivize developers to include fire sprinklers in new housing projects, leading to thousands more protected homes. T...

In March, NFPA announced the formation of a new for-profit corporation called NFPA Global Solutions, a venture unique from anything NFPA has undertaken in its history . On today's podcast, Jim Pauley, NFPA's president and CEO, joins us to explain the vision for NFPA Global Solutions, and why now was the right time for NFPA to branch out in this new direction (2:01). Then, on a new Code Corner, NFP...

Electric Shock Drowning claims possibly dozens of lives each year, but most people have never heard of it. Our guest today, David Rifkin, is one of world's leading experts on this hazard and its causes. He explains what ESD is, how it occurs, and what communities, marina operators, and the public can do to lessen the risk of being electrocuted while swimming (1:49). Then, on a new Code Corner, NFP...