NFPA Presents Three Awards At Conference
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) presented three awards to recognize achievements in fire and life safety recently at the 2011 NFPA Conference & Expo.
The recipient of this year’s Standards Medal is Wayne D. Holmes, P.E., a retired vice president of HSB Professional Loss Control since 2007, who now provides independent consulting services in fire protection and code compliance. This award is given out in recognition of outstanding contributions to fire safety and the development of codes and standards. It is the highest award given by the Standards Council.
Holmes, of Burlington, North Carolina, was honored with this award for his longtime commitment and contribution to NFPA technical committees. He serves on the Life Safety Code/Building Code Technical Committees on Fire Protection Features; Mercantile and Business Occupancies; and Industrial, Storage, and Miscellaneous Occupancies, on which he served as chair from 2000 – 2009. He was chair from 2000 – 2008 of the Fire Protection for Nuclear Facilities Technical Committee, which he has served on since 1980, and he also serves on the Technical Committees on Fire Doors and Windows; and Fire Tests. Holmes was a member of the Building Code Technical Correlating Committee, and continues to serve on the Life Safety Code Technical Correlating Committee.
The winner of the 2010 Industrial Fire Protection Section Fire Prevention Week Award is Duke University/Duke Health System, Fire & Safety Division. This award was created to recognize businesses that promote fire and related safety messages for employees and their communities during Fire Prevention Week of the previous calendar year.
Duke University/Duke Health System, Fire & Safety Division, in Durham, N.C., was named the winner of the 2010 Industrial Fire Protection Section Fire Prevention Week Program of the Year for carrying out the best program to coincide with NFPA’s 2010 Fire Prevention Week theme, “Smoke Alarms: A sound you can live with.” The division reached out to students in a number of ways, including radio station broadcasts and Facebook messages to spread fire safety information. Each student received safety literature, and participated in campus-wide fire drills and testing of battery-operated dormitory smoke alarms.
Beyond campus, they received support from NASCAR promoting Fire Prevention Week, partnered with the North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal to provide and install over 300 smoke alarms to needy households, and assisted the volunteers of Meals on Wheels in order to identify recipients whose nonfunctional alarms needed replacing. They partnered with four local fire departments to visit schools, including one visit in which Sparky the Fire Dog arrived in the Duke Life Flight helicopter.
The winning project of the 2011 Fire Protection Research Foundation Medal was Antifreeze Solutions in Home Fire Sprinkler Systems. The award will be accepted on behalf of the project team by Project Contractor Steven Wolin, P.E., principal, Code Consultants, Inc.
The Fire Protection Research Foundation Medal recognizes a Foundation project completed in 2010 that best exemplifies the Foundation’s fire safety mission and the collaborative approach to execution that is the hallmark of all Foundation projects. The winner is recommended to the chair of the Foundation’s Board by an awards committee made up of members of the Board, Research Advisory Committee, and NFPA technical staff members.