The NFPA Podcast National Fire Protection Association

For more than a decade, the small, wooded town of Grizzly Flats, California has participated in Firewise USA, an NFPA program where residents voluntarily work together on community projects to lessen their risks from wildfire. In August 2021, however, the Caldor Fire tore through Grizzly Flats, putting its mitigation efforts through a major test.
 
Today on the podcast, we talk to Megan Fitzgerald-McGowan, the manager of the Firewise USA program, about what she discovered on her recent visit to the fire-ravaged community, and what lessons Grizzly Flats’ experience could provide to residents in other fire prone areas.
 
Links:
Read Fitzgerald-McGowan’s essay in NFPA Journal about her trip to Grizzly Flats
Read more about the Firewise program and see a map of Firewise communities
 
If you have questions, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hello, you can reach The NFPA Podcast at podcast@nfpa.org.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES) has taken on an unrelenting burden since Russian forces invaded more than two months ago. Among other tasks, the SES’s 60,000 responders put out fires, search for survivors buried under rubble, clear landmines, and recover the dead—all while being shot at and shelled by the Russian military.
On today’s episode, we speak with a top SES official about the situation for responders in Ukraine, how they are persevering, and how the global community can help (1:53). Then, we talk with a Canadian firefighter who founded the organization Firefighter Aid Ukraine, which since 2015 has delivered many tons of much-needed equipment to Ukrainian responders (16:08).
LINKS:
See photos and read more about the experience of Ukrainian first responders in this online feature from NFPA Journal
Learn more about Firefighter Aid Ukraine.
If you have questions, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hello, you can reach the NFPA Podcast at podcast@nfpa.org.

Research suggests that two-thirds of US adults aged 65 and older use at least three prescription medications. Meanwhile, older adults are twice as likely as the general population to experience a fatal fire, and deaths and injuries from accidental falls have skyrocketed in this age group over the last decade. It begs the question: Do certain prescription drugs increase the fall and fire risks for older adults?

Our guest Jamie McAllister spent months working on a Fire Protection Research Foundation project to analyze existing research on the relationships between drugs, falls, and fires. Today on the podcast, we talk to McAllister about what she and her team discovered and what it could mean for public-safety educators.
 
 
Links:
Read the Fire Protection Research Foundation report, “Review of Impact of Medications on Older Adult Fall and Fire Risk”
 
Read an NFPA Journal feature article on NFPA’s new fire and fall prevention program for older adults
 
If you have questions, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hello, you can reach the NFPA Podcast at podcast@nfpa.org.

Since 1982, the Fire Protection Research Foundation, the research affiliate of NFPA, has been instrumental in answering countless important questions about how best to protect the world from fire and electrical dangers. Its research has improved safety in countless industries and led to numerous changes to codes, consumer products, fire test standards, and more.
 
Today on the podcast, we celebrate the Foundation’s 40th anniversary by speaking with its two most recent executive directors to learn more about its work and impacts, and what emerging topics will dominate the next decade of fire research.
Links:
Read Amanda Kimball’s NFPA Journal Feature on the Research Foundation
Visit the Foundation’s homepage
If you have questions, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, you can reach the NFPA Podcast atpodcast@nfpa.org.

Dr. Denise Smith, who has spent decades researching the physiological impact of firefighting, joins The NFPA Podcast to discuss how firefighters who have been infected with COVID-19 could struggle for weeks or even months following acute illness as they return to work. Smith and other researchers are currently working on a project supported by the Fire Protection Research Foundation to study long COVID in the fire service.
 
LINKS
If you are a member of the fire service, help Smith and other researchers complete their study by sharing your experiences with long COVID here: https://ndri1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1YzSu9QjIlIwSeW
 
Watch a video about the study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zF3OAQ-nHs&
 
If you have questions, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hello, you can reach The NFPA Podcast at podcast@nfpa.org

Static electricity doesn’t usually get a lot of attention, but maybe that should change. One tiny spark, many times smaller than what a human can perceive or feel, can cause huge industrial accidents with deadly consequences. And the findings of a new study by the Fire Protection Research Foundation suggest that incidents involving static are much more common than most experts previously believed.
 
On today’s podcast, we talk to an expert about the science behind static, what causes it, how can we mitigate it, as well as the significant revisions now taking place to an under-the-radar NFPA document NFPA 77, Recommended Practice on Static Electricity.  
 
LINKS:
Read the Spring 2022 NFPA Journal Feature on Static Electricity
Read the Fire Protection Research Report on Static Electricity
 
 
If you have questions, feedback, suggestions or just want to say hello, you can reach the NFPA Podcast at podcast@nfpa.org