Committee's Year-Long Effort Produces 2015 IFC Changes By Marc Sampson Fire Protection Engineer Longwood, Colo., Department of Public Safety The outcome of work by ICC's Fire Code Action Committee (FCAC) has moved forward to become part of the 2015 I-Codes, but the process to produce these results started more than a year ago and involved many hours of group effort and focus. Beginning in November 2012, the FCAC started its work on code change proposals for the Group B codes. These proposals were the product of input by the fire service and the four Regional Work Groups (RWG). The result of these meetings involved the FCAC submitting 64 proposed changes for the 2015 International Fire Code (IFC). In March 2013, the FCAC assembled in Chicago for a two-day meeting to review all fire-related code changes, formulate a position for each code change, and assign FCAC members to provide testimony for all FCAC-authored code changes and opposition to code changes FCAC members thought would lessen life safety requirements to the I-Codes. The code changes were presented at the April 2013 Group B Committee Action Hearings in Dallas. Members of the FCAC and RWGs collaborated with code officials and other stakeholders from around the world to establish a productive working relationship and sense of trust in what FCAC was trying to accomplish. That working relationship effort succeeded as only nine of the 64 proposed code changes were denied in the Dallas hearings. Last June, the FCAC reassembled in Chicago to develop public comments on the unsuccessful code changes to submit prior to the public comment period deadline. In early October, during the Group B Public Comment Hearings in Atlantic City which were held in conjunction with ICC's 2013 Annual Conference, two of the nine FCAC proposals that were denied in Dallas were overturned and approved with the public comments submitted by FCAC. Proposals that were successful (approved AS, AM or AMPC) for the 2015 IFC include: |
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Unsuccessful proposals were as follows: | ||
F16-13 Addresses combustible storage in corridors |
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