Due to the severe weather, our previously scheduled guest presenter, Steve Carman, is unable to attend the March meeting. Larry Rietz will replace Steve as the speaker for tomorrow's meeting. For those interested in hearing Steve speak, he will be presenting at our 6th Annual Fire Protection Symposium this April.
Presentation: Surviving Survivability – A User’s Guide to Survivable Fire Alarm Circuits
The survivability of fire alarm circuits that must continue working during a fire is required in the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code®. Over many code cycles, the Code has been modified as the cable technology changed and Circuit Integrity (CI) cable was developed to meet the needs of designers and installers for providing survivability to many critical circuits in a fire alarm system installation. Then on 12 September 2012,Underwriters’ Laboratories (UL) summarily pulled the listings for all CI Cable. This action left many designers, AHJs, and contractors with no cost effective way to meet the Code requirements for survivability. UL has finally finished the new standards for CI cable both for free air and in raceway and the Code has added further changes of note. This program will review the history of this issue and where the Code and the industry stands relative to survivable fire alarm cable.
This presentation will feature the following learning objectives:
- What is the Code history of circuit survivability?
- What fire alarm circuits must be survivable and how can this be accomplished?
- What effect does product listing have on survivable cable?
- How can a designer provide and an AHJ approve a survivable cable installation?
Guest Presenter: Larry Rietz, SET
Larry Rietz is a NICET Level IV-certified Fire Alarm designer with over 23 years of life safety industry experience. After working for a New York-based international engineering firm, and for 14 years with a large Fire Alarm manufacturer and service provider, he is has spent the last 6 years with Jensen Hughes in Denver, Colorado. While providing office leadership as the Director of the office, he has designed, analyzed, and commissioned several large emergency communication systems for transportation, entertainment, and higher education campuses and is the Project Manager for the Denver International Airport Public Safety Notification Upgrade and On-Call Life Safety projects. Larry currently serves on the Automatic Fire Alarm Association (AFAA) Board of Directors as Secretary, on the Technical Committee (Principal) for NFPA 1616 Standard on Mass Evacuation, Sheltering and Reentry, on the Technical Committee (Alternate) for NFPA 72 Chapter 24 (SIG-ECS), and on the Technical Committee (Alternate) for NFPA 101 – Educational and Day Care Occupancies.
Previous Courses Taught:
- A User’s Guide to Simplifying NFPA 72 and the NEC (AFAA)
- Fire Alarm Plan Review (AFAA)
- Fire Alarm System Inspection and Testing Seminar (AFAA)
- NFPA 72 – Brief Overview (2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 editions)
- NFPA 72 – Detailed Review (2010, 2013, 2016 editions)
- NFPA 72 – New Edition Changes (2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 editions)
- Anatomy of a Large-Scale Emergency Communication System
- Analysis of Existing Emergency Communication Systems
- Introduction to Smoke Control Concepts
- Understanding Acoustically Distinguishable Spaces
- Surviving Survivability – A User’s Guide to Survivable Fire Alarm Circuits
NOTABLE PUBLICATIONS
“How to properly integrate fire alarm systems and HVAC systems,”Consulting-Specifying Engineer, December 2017, Wayne D. Moore & Larry D. Rietz
“Purposefully Delayed Fire Alarm Notification,” Electrical Contractor (www.ecmag.com), September 2017
