Dr. Gene Corley, lead investigator in the World Trade Center fire, served as the AFS spokesperson. His opinion piece outlining concerns about the International Building Code and over-reliance on sprinklers was sent to op ed-page editors at more than 1,000 newspapers, and resulted in nearly 122 placements, including major market “dailies” such as the New York Daily News, Newsday, Chicago Sun-Times, the Newark Star Ledger, the Miami Herald, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. The estimated total readership of all newspapers that ran the commentary exceeds 6.5 million.
FSNA prepared informational binders and distributed them to hundreds of code and fire officials that included a white paper on safety layering, Dr. Corley’s commentary on balanced fire protection, an exclusive technical paper on sprinkler reliability prepared by former SFPE president and consultant William Koffel of Koffel and Associates, and a collection of high- profile news clips generated by the national media campaign.
FSNA prepared amendments to the 2003, 2004 and 2006 International Codes, the NFPA, and for local/state codes for New York City, Louisiana, Phoenix, Florida, and Denver. The FSNA was instrumental in calling attention to the need for improved the passive requirements for maintenance of materials and assemblies, high-rise buildings, protection for elevator shafts, and fire walls in Clark County Nevada, North Carolina, and Florida.
FSNA exhibited at numerous trade shows and code expos where building and fire officials were meeting in order to gain more exposure to our mission and draw interaction with voting members. Several credible fire protection engineers and fire officials began supporting the campaign and worked to promote the goals of the FSNA.
FSNA commissioned Hughes and Associates to model an IBC building with all trade-offs implemented under sprinkler failure conditions.