Here are some of the key events from this year’s National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) World Safety Conference and Exposition, held in Boston June 4-7:

  • Review by the Technical Committee Report of 10 documents, including NFPA 2001, Standard on Clean Agent Fire Extinguishing Systems; NFPA 25, Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems; and NFPA 96, Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations.

  • A spotlight session on the World Trade Center tragedy. James Quintiere of the University of Maryland addressed the role of trusses in the collapse of the towers, the loss of fire-proofing insulation and the forensic information on discarded steel beams.

  • Spotlight sessions on risk concepts in codes and standards development, and changes to the 2007 edition of NFPA 25.

  • An update on the efforts of the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, noting that New Jersey, Minnesota, Montana, Maryland and Iowa have all signed fire-safe legislation into law recently. Also, the law requiring the sale of only fire-safe cigarettes in Oregon went into effect July 1.