In the new NFPA Journal: Health care, post-Ebola PPE, changing tactics for the fire service, and much more

The January/February 2015 NFPA Journa is out, with a cover story that takes an in-depth look at important new research that is changing how fire departments fight residential fires.

The issue also includes health care-related features on a sprinkler retrofitsprinkler  in an Oregon critical-care facility, and the need for streamlining the sometimes complex layers of health care regulations. We also feature an in-depth conversation with a personal protective equipment (PPE) expert on some of the key PPE takeaways following the recent—and, in West Africa, the ongoing—Ebola outbreak. In our “Perspectives” department, a Connecticut fire marshal shares her experience of a kitchen fire in her own home. In his cover story, “Tactics 2.0.” Journal staff writer Jesse Roman looks at recent research, conducted by Underwriters Laboratories and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, that evaluates firefighting tactics in residential fires. The highly combustible contents of modern homes, as well as the materials and building techniques used to construct those homes, are leading to much more aggressive fires and prompting the fire service to rethink some of the fundamental ways it attacks these kinds of fires. The Journal package is of interest not just to the fire service but to anyone involved in residential fire safety, from builders and installers to insurers and public safety experts.