YOUR FIRE DEPARTMENT NAME HERE
YOUR FIRE DEPARTMENT ADDRESS
YOUR TOWN, WEST VIRGINIA, ZIPCODE
YOUR FIRE DEPARTMENT PHONE NUMBER
FIRE DEPARTMENT E-MAIL OR WEBSITE
DATE
West Virginia State Fire Commission
1207 Quarrier Street, 2nd Floor
Charleston, West Virginia 25301
RE: PUBLIC COMMENT ON LEGISLATIVE RULE(S)
87-1, State Fire Code
Members of the Commission,
Please accept the following comments with regard to the proposed Legislative Rule (87-8) that
will address training in the State of West Virginia.
With regard to §87-1-4, Section 4.1, we strongly suggest removing the strikethrough and return
the language to state, “…published by the National Fire Protection Association (but not including
standards and requirements directed to the operations of local fire departments, NFPA 5000,
NFPA 900, and NFPA 101A)”. Pursuant to this change, we ask that any reference to Standards
that are, “…directed to the operations of local fire departments,” be removed from the list(s)
that begin on Page 30 of the proposed Rule(s).
JUSTIFICATIONS:
a. §29-3-5 of the West Virginia Code was not drafted and/or ever intended to address the
issue of the operation(s) of local fire departments – it was modeled after the National
Fire Code and drafted with the intent to address buildings, occupancies, and other fire
hazards that pose(d) a danger to the safety of the citizens of West Virginia. NFPA 1, the
“National Fire Code”, does not recommend the inclusion of Standards relating to the
training, equipment and operations of local fire departments (NFPA 1- 2.2).
b. The strikethrough, by reference, forces the adoption of over ninety (90) NFPA Standards
that place an unreasonable financial burden on communities – both incorporated and
unincorporated – across the State of West Virginia. Estimates on implementation of just
a portion of these standards have ranged from $60,000.00 per fire department to over
$200,000.00 per department.
c. The strikethrough, by reference, forces all fire departments to adopt NFPA 1500 which
has, in prior implementations across the country, proven to cost between $250.00 and
$500.00 per firefighter initially, and approximately $250.00 per year per firefighter each
year thereafter. Further, there are a host of pre-existing conditions that would
eliminate many active firefighters, both career and volunteer, from continued service
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thus driving up pension liabilities and compromising emergency response capabilities in
smaller communities.
The strikethrough, by reference, forces the adoption of NFPA 1710 and NFPA 1720 with
regard to minimum staffing and manpower requirements. In a State that is already
suffering serious problems with under funded municipal police and fire pensions, as well
as dealing with a critical retention and recruitment issue in the volunteer fire service,
these Standards are impractical, unrealistic, and fiscally impossible unless the
Legislature can develop a mechanism that generate and maintain hundreds of millions
of dollars a year (approximately $300,000,000.00 per year) to sustain compliance.
The training requirements adopted by reference in this rule would potentially render
the certifications of thousands of firefighters invalid as they would not meet the
requirements of NFPA 1001 as stipulated in this Rule with regard to Hazardous Materials
Operations.
The training requirements adopted by reference in this rule would potentially render
the certifications of hundreds of fire line officers invalid as they would not meet the
requirements of NFPA 1021 as stipulated in this Rule with regard to being Fire
Instructors.
The proposed Rule, by reference, adopts NFPA 1911 which requires that persons
performing daily/weekly inspections and the operational checks of fire apparatus should
meet the qualifications of NFPA 1002, Standard for Fire Apparatus Driver/Operator
Professional Qualifications, for the type of fire apparatus being checked. They,
according to NFPA 1911, would also have to meet the requirements of NFPA 1071,
Standard for Emergency Vehicle Technician Professional Qualifications. It goes on to
require that any maintenance (oil changes, pump maintenance, tire changes, etc.) on
fire apparatus, “shall be” (has to be) performed by a Level II Technician. We would
venture to guess that there are less than five (5) people in the entire State of West
Virginia who meet both levels of qualifications – most heavy truck mechanics and/or
dealer based repair shops certainly do not. These requirements will most certainly drive
up maintenance and repair costs on West Virginia’s fire service fleet(s).
Annex D of NFPA 1911 states that any fire apparatus over 25 years old should be retired.
Many fire departments in the State of West Virginia are operating with fire trucks that
are 25 years old or older. Who will pay for the replacements?
The Fire Commission, when discussing this change by amendment, failed to consider
and/or discuss the potential fiscal impact of this seemingly innocuous change. Further,
in its submission of the Rule(s) stated by signed affirmation that this proposed Rule
would have no fiscal impact on the State of West Virginia.
The Fire Commission, when discussing this change by amendment, failed to consider
and/or discuss the potential impact that the adoption of this Rule would have on the
retention and recruitment of volunteers in the West Virginia fire service. As volunteers
make up over 92% of the fire service in the State and protect over 90% of the State, that
would have seemed to a practical person as a salient factor in the decision making
process for filing this Rule.
§29-3-5d of the West Virginia Code (HB 4107) was specifically written to address the
issue of training and operations of volunteer fire departments in the State of West
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Virginia and there is a proposed Rule submitted to the Legislature for consideration that
addresses the, “…standards and requirements directed to the operations of local
(volunteer) fire departments”.
As any violation of the State Fire Code, by statute, is a criminal offense, the adoption by
reference of these ninety (90) Standards makes every fire chief, every fire line officer,
and every volunteer fire department Board member in the State of West Virginia now
subject to a criminal offense if their fire department(s) cannot meet the Standard(s).
We believe that these proposed changes to the Rule(s) will return the Fire Code to the scope
and authority it was originally designed to address under §29-3-5 of the West Virginia Code.
Further, it will eliminate any potential conflicts with §29-3-5d of the West Virginia Code and/or
Legislative Rule(s) Series 87-8 currently submitted for approval to the Legislature.
Respectfully submitted,
Fire Chief
YOUR FIRE DEPARTMENT
Cc: WVSFA
YOUR DELEGATE(S)
YOUR SENATOR(S)
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