How significant were the California wildland fires to NFPA?
It was a huge event, not only in the history of California, but in the history of fire in America. It was a massive fire that obliterated 800,000 acres, 3,500 homes were destroyed, and 22 people were killed. It also raises some serious questions that NFPA has been examining for a number of years concerning how we live in proximity to our wildlands. There are certain natural phenomena that we aren’t going to change and that should be allowed to progress. That is how the ecosystem is kept alive. But there are hazards when people come in more and more numbers to live in or near these wildland areas. Many of these problems can be prevented through education and planning. That’s what our Firewise® program and our wildland-fire efforts are aimed at doing. Is the adoption of NFPA 5000 in California the beginning of other adoptions of the code across the United States? To have one of the nation’s largest states adopt our building code as law is a great testament to the importance of the NFPA p
