Florida Building
Commission
Fire Technical Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
Meeting Location: Teleconference Meeting from Tallahassee,
Florida
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TAC/POC Members
and Objectives |
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TAC Members Present Via
Teleconference: Hamid
Bahadori, Chair; Joe Holland, Brad
Schiffer; Tony Apfelbeck; Jeffery
Gross, James R. Schock; TAC Members not Present:
Joe Belcher; Robert Hamburger; Peter T. Schwab; Charlie Frank Staff Present: Mo
Madani, Jim Hammers, Marlita Peters, Robert
Benbow, Norman Bellamy, Joe Bigelow, Zubeyde Benici; Facilitator: Robert
Benbow Guests:
Steve Walsh, Dwight Wilkes |
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Objectives: To accept final report on the
draft-stopping research project and to discuss potential future research
projects. |
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Meeting
Minutes |
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Objective |
Discussion of
objectives included the following: |
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1) |
01:30 PM
Welcome and Opening, Roll Call. A quorum was not originally present. Joe
Holland joined the teleconference and a quorum was reached. |
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2) and 3) |
Agenda
and Meeting minutes. The Agenda for today’s meeting and the meeting minutes for
the June 4, 2014 Fire TAC meeting were
approved unanimously by the committee members. |
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4) |
The final report on the draft-stopping
research project was presented by Mr. Steve Walsh. At the conclusion of the
Literature Review portion of the presentation Mr. Walsh fielded questions
from the Fire TAC members and public. The TAC felt the report satisfied the
contractual agreement on research projects. The question of those specific
materials that are utilized for draft-stopping purposes was raised and in
response Mr. Walsh made the TAC members aware that there is no basis for why
these materials were selected as draft-stopping materials. Another question
raised was that if there was any movement to require the joints to be sealed
and in response Mr. Walsh made the TAC aware that draft-stopping does not
have to be listed as a system. Staff raised the question of why there has not
been an effort in the past to improve draft-stopping requirements through
code changes and updates. In response, Mr. Walsh stated that in his opinion
that would be because that draft-stopping materials are common materials and
that it would be easier for the contractor find and install these materials.
He also stated that fires in attic are a rare occurrence. At the conclusion
of his presentation, Mr. Walsh answered questions and entertained comments by
the Fire TAC Members. A comment was noted that the purpose of draft-stopping
from a fire-fighter’s perspective is that it would be able to contain the
fire until the fire department could arrive to extinguish the fire and that
it is not used for smoke containment. It was also stated that any material
used for draft-stopping should have a twenty minute calculated fire
resistance. It was also mentioned that draft-stopping not be classified as
assembly and at least require a more robust material that allows the fire
department more time to respond to the fire. The question was raised that
using compounds to seal cracks and joints of drywall may be the best form of
draft-stopping but this method was not advocated because of cost impacts. Mr.
Welsh responded that gypsum is cost mutual. Staff noted that this study was
to be broken down into two phases an assessment phase and a follow-up phase.
Staff also asked if a follow-up phase for this research project was
necessary. The presenter noted that
this would be a difficult question to answer and that it would be really hard
to propose full scale testing because of project costs and is this issue not
being a significant enough issue to conduct full scale testing. It was
recommended that additional costs of construction based on the twenty minute
calculated fire resistance time and the research project recommendation be
included in the final report. A motion was made by Tony Apfelbeck to accept
the report with a request that Koffel included cost issues with respect to
the cost of installing a sprinkler system in the attic and a materials change
of to a minimum twenty minute calculated fire resistant material be included
in the final report. This motion was seconded by Brad Schiffer. The motion
passed with a 5 to 1 vote. |
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5) |
To discuss and recommend
potential research topics for consideration by the Commission. Tony
Apfelbeck recommended a research project on sprinklers in one and two family
dwellings. He recommended conducting a study on incentives to encourage the
installation of sprinkler systems in one and two family dwellings. He also
wanted know how feasible it would be to create a scenario to address some of
the cost issues associated with installation of these systems. The motion was
presented by Schiffer and was seconded by Mr. Apfelbeck. The motion passed
unianiously. |
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6) |
Other
TAC Business. Having no other TAC business, the meeting was closed
after a Motion and a Second to Adjourn. |
Staff
Contacts: Robert Benbow
Planning Analyst (850) 717-1837 Robert.benbow@myfloridalicense.com
or Mo Madani, Manager mo.madani@dbpr.state.fl.us (850) 717-1825