Last week, NRMCA Vice President, Sustainability, Tien Peng joined 40 diverse stakeholders in Baltimore at the first meeting of the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) Project Fail-Safe. The event set the stage for a two-year research project funded in part by the RMC Research & Education Foundation, among others. Principle researchers from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute highlighted their literature review of sprinkler trade-offs and addressed modeling scope.

While concrete products are excellent for fire resistance, over the past two decades building codes have reduced the use of noncombustible material in favor of fire active suppression systems allowing for unprecedented increases in height and size of wood buildings. The Fail-Safe research project intends to gain an understanding of common safety shortcomings and strengths of the sprinkler trade-offs adopted by the codes. More importantly, the project will facilitate informed building code decisions at the national, state and local level through the new data and understanding in order to enhance occupant and firefighter safety.