The American Fire Sprinkler Association, VA Chapter

ICC & AFSA Present: 2009 IBC Changes & NFPA 25, 2008 Ed.

ICC & AFSA Present: 2009 IBC Changes & NFPA 25, 2008 Ed.
Richmond, VA – October 7-8, 2010
FAX THIS FORM BY SEPTEMBER 20th TO RECEIVE DISCOUNT!

Don’t miss this opportunity to get required Continuing Education credits for NICET in this seminar series
hosted by the Virginia Chapter of AFSA, presented by the International Code Council and the
American Fire Sprinkler Association.

Follow this link to download the form as an Adobe Acrobat Reader document (.pdf)

Eagle Scout candidate and AFSA-VA Chapter join forces to protect families

We all know smoke detectors are a great safety item when installed and operating properly. However when smoke detectors are not in working condition due to bad batteries or missing all together, the results can be quite tragic. Recent studies across the country have shown smoke detector failures over a 10 year time frame can be as high as 65%. This failure may be due to poor maintenance, removal of smoke detector or detector not in working order.

Life Boy Scout De’Ron Pinkston of Troop 487 in Richmond Va., realized this fact after having seen on the news several times in quick succession the damages and loss of life that occurred from homes with missing or non working smoke detectors. In his own county 8 persons had died within a 6 month period in which detectors were missing or no longer in working order. So when it came time to complete a project for his Eagle Scout rank, he chose to do something about this in his neighborhood. De’Ron contacted his local fire department, Henrico County Division of Fire and was placed in contact with Lt. Will Shumate of the Fire Marshal’s office. Will contacted Bill Jones of FirePro, an AFSA Virginia Chapter member who had experience in dealing with Boy Scouts and whose own son achieved Eagle Scout to help plan the project. Will and Bill met with De’Ron to go over his plan of action and how he proposed to accomplish his goal of making his neighborhood safer. Part of De’Ron’s project included making a fire safety flier to hand out to those in his neighborhood even if they chose not to have a smoke detector installed. De’Ron also solicited information from other localities on fires and found in many cases homes having fires did not have working smoke detectors in 55 – 80% of the cases matching the national average.

AFSA-VA Announces Bruce Carter Seminars

Bruce Carter Seminars

Sell To Win!!   A super-motivational seminar that teaches rock solid selling principals essential to the success of today’s fire protection sale and service professional. From prospecting and cold calling techniques to presentation skills and objection handling, Sell To Win! Is jam-packed with tips, strategies and ideas that will get results the very next day!

Available as a full day seminar or half day workshop.

FIRE IT UP!
Actually two great seminars in one, this full day program features classic sales training in the morning portion of the day followed by an afternoon that focuses on one of the fire protection company’s most valued assets … its CUSTOMERS.   There is something of value for everyone in this exciting seminar making FIRE IT UP! the ideal training experience for your entire team

CUSTOMERS FOR LIFE
Without a doubt one of the most valued assets of any fire protection organization is its customers. In this high content half day seminar your team will learn the 15 essential characteristics that today’s most discriminating buyers insist their service providers posses. We will then carefully apply those qualities to today’s fire protection service environment. The results will be step-by-step plan of action for delivering outstanding service to your valuable customers.

Even COWARDS Can Cold Call
Don’t let the title fool you… this seminar means serious business! Prospecting and cold calling is a crucial first step toward selling success and one that many fire protection sales and service personnel would just as soon skip! In this program participants will learn not only why cold calling and prospecting is essential but also that it is really easy and very effective when approached properly.   As a training option, this half day workshop can also include hands-on in field instruction and coaching from Bruce.

Download the seminar application form as an Adobe Acrobat Reader document (.pdf)

Download the profile of Bruce Carter as an Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf) file by following this link.

This Years Essay Contest Winners Announced

American Fire Sprinkler Association’s (AFSA)
Virginia Chapter Announces the Winners of the 2009-2010 Essay Contest

Ron Reynolds
AFSA Virginia Chapter Essay Chairman

Each year, the AFSA Virginia Chapter awards scholarships to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place essay writers in our statewide contest. First place receives $1,500, second place $750, and third place $500. The Virginia Chapter also offers three Honorable Mention prizes of $100 each.

Only open to high school seniors, the purpose of the contest is to help educate people about fire sprinklers and how they save lives and property, and to help students continue their education. The essays must be from 700 to 1000 words, and include a bibliography. Essays are judged on accuracy, content, punctuation, and with an emphasis on creativity. Judges come from Chapter members in the sprinkler industry, fire and building code officials, and others.

Contestants in the contest this year were asked to “write a creative, interesting and convincing essay on the history of automatic sprinklers.” We received over 120 entries and as usual, they were very well written. The high quality of the essays makes it very difficult for the judges to pick the contest winners. After much deliberation using the skills of 12 different judges, the winners were picked, and here they are:

First Place
$1500

Christina Lee
Potomac Falls HS
Sterling, VA.

Christina wrote an essay from the prospective of a fire sprinkler, protecting a residence that was very interesting and creatively done.

Second Place
$750

Leah Coates
Washington and Lee HS
Colonial Beach, VA.

Leah’s essay was written about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, and what the might have happened had sprinklers been present.

Third Place
$500

Caitlin Tignor
Essex HS
White Stone, VA.

Caitlin’s essay described the contribution of Philip Pratt, the first person to patent an automatic sprinkler, at an imaginary gathering of people who had survived fires because of automatic sprinklers.

Read the essay

Christina Lee’s essay will be entered in a contest for an additional $1000 from the AFSA National organization.

$100 Honorable Mentions go to:

Samuel Roderick of Broadway High School, in Broadway, VA.
Regan Mukai, home-schooled, from Alexandria, VA.
Megan Wiles, of Courtland High School, from Spotsylvania, VA.

For the first time ever, AFSA National will have a “2nd Chance” contest open to all graduating seniors where all can enter a contest and have a chance to win $1000. Go to http://www.afsascholarship.org/ for more details. This contest is open to all of those who entered the contest as well as those who did not. There is no requirement to write an essay for the 2nd Chance contest.

AFSA-Virginia thanks the many high school seniors who entered the contest this year for sending in their essays. It is always very tough to pick the best out of so many very good essays.

The Virginia Chapter congratulates all participants. Although not everyone can win a monetary prize, we believe that everyone who entered can come away a winner in the valuable knowledge they gain of what automatic fire sprinklers can do to save lives and property.

April 6th Meeting

Mike Meehan, AFSA Chairman, receiving an award from Jerry Pruden of the Old Dominion Professional Fire Fighters Burn Foundation for the continued support of the Burn Foundation by the Virginia AFSA Chapter.
	R.C. Moore of Tabb Brockenbrough & Ragland making a presentation to the meeting on Insurance Terminology for the Fire Sprinkler Industry.

NC Inspection Issues

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am attaching a letter from the North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating & Fire Sprinkler Contractors.

If you do any Inspection contracts in North Carolin
you must read and understand this letter!!!

Earlier in 2009 I uncovered a problem where the North Carolina contracting regulations prohibited a Licensed Sprinkler Inspection Contractor from taking a contract from any party other than the Owner of a property.
After significant research and discussion with roughly 20 Contractors I determined that this was an Industry issue that needed to be addressed as Sprinkler Contractors were starting to get citations from the State Board in regards to this issue.

I contacted Jeffery Dunn, the President of the North Carolina AFSA Chapter and reviewed the issue with him and we decided to ask for a meeting with the State Board to review and seek clarification.
On October 1, 2009 Jeffery Dunn, Joe Collins and John Turnage of the North Carolina AFSA Chapter and I met with Dale Dawson, the Executive Director of the State Board, to discuss this issue.

Central Virginia Burn Camp

Know of a child who has been hurt in a fire or been scalded? Remember the scars and damage that was done to them? Now think to when they get to return to school, or when they go shopping? To a movie? The stares they get or the questioning looks from their peers or strangers who wonder – what happened to him or her?

There is a group of firefighters, nurses, therapists and other volunteers who work each year to provide kids like this a chance to be with other kids like themselves in a fun environment. The kids each year show up to Charlottesville Va for the Central Virginia Burn Camp where kids who have varying degrees of burns come and share a camp experience without the questioning looks, the avoiding eye contact, etc that happen to them outside this event.

Their burns range from full body to barely noticeable. They occurred accidentally or in some cases through child abuse. Some are missing hair, eyebrows, and other parts of their body. Many still suffer though pain and / or are still undergoing medical procedures, therapy, etc.

VSC Fire & Security changes with the times

VSC Fire & Security changes with the times

MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH

Martin Giles is chairman of VSC Fire & Security whose roots date to 1958.

Over the years, Giles expanded the businesses' geographical footprint from Maryland to Florida and bought other companies. The various companies operated under their individual names. But that changed last year when Giles changed the name of his companies to VSC Fire & Security.

AFSA 2010 Economic Relief Program

Now AFSA is extending support to individual company members. AFSA will be absorbing a significant loss of income to assist our members in this difficult economy.

Specifically, the AFSA Economic Relief Program offers members:

Free AFSA Educational Webinars, a $75 value each webinar you attend. CEU’s are awarded for each technical seminar;
AFSA Bucks coupons equal to 10% of annual dues amount that can be used for any product or service produced by AFSA. AFSA Bucks coupon will be sent upon dues renewal and must be used within one year of issuance (associate and contractor members only);
Critical, time-sensitive training. Educate your supervisors on labor and union issues at exclusive AFSA prices Click here for details on these two new training programs.

AFSA values its members. These are tough economic times, and we will work together to make sure the fire sprinkler industry has a bright outlook for the future. Only members in good standing can take advantage of these offerings.

Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Disputes Virginia State Fire Marshal�s Determinatio

Elmsford, New York – December 2009

The Virginia State Fire Marshal has recently issued a memoranda concerning dry sprinklers. Reliable Sprinkler strongly disagreed with the Fire Marshal’s Memoranda which appear to call for a statewide replacement of all Reliable G-3
dry sprinklers, particularly in state owned buildings, and after discussions with Reliable, the
Fire Marshal issued a clarification Memorandum on November 23, 2009.