International Code Council Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, CBO, was a guest speaker at the Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs (SEAFC) 87th Annual Conference and Vendor Expo in Birmingham, Ala. He discussed the history and collaboration between ICC, its legacy organization Southern Building Code Congress International (SBCCI), and the SEAFC which is a division of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). SEAFC has members in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, the Virgin Islands and West Virginia.
In 1981, SEAFC members Tommy Morgan and David Hilton met with the late William J. Tangye, former SBCCI and ICC CEO, to discuss the fire service's involvement in the development of the Standard Fire Prevention Code. A code development committee was formed and hearings were held in conjunction with those for other Standard Codes. The fire code final action hearings were conducted at IAFC annual meetings. The SEAFC would caucus during the IAFC conferences and take final votes on provisions to be included in the next edition of the Standard Fire Prevention Code.
Gary Fisher served as the first SBCCI staff administrator to the SEAFC followed by Mark Chubb. In 1999, Mel Cosgrove was assigned to the post and he went to Tangye with an idea to get the fire service even more involved in the code development process: create an informal committee of fire officials appointed by the SEAFC and the Southwestern Association of Fire Chiefs to come together each code cycle to develop and submit code change proposals. The first meeting was held at Oak Mountain State Park near Birmingham. It was so successful that over 75 percent of the initial proposals were approved through the formal code development process.
"The committee became known as the Fire Code Action Committee and was so successful that it was carried over to the ICC," Sims explained. "The concept has been expanded to include several code action committees in several disciplines."
The Alabama Association of Fire Chiefs presented Cosgrove a plaque at the SEAFC conference recognizing his contributions to the fire service. Cosgrove retired as fire chief from the city of Mobile, Ala., after 30 years of service, and retired again from ICC last month after working as a Senior Regional Manager in the Government Relations division. The plaque reads: "The Alabama Association of Fire Chiefs proudly recognizes you for your exceptional work in fire code development and enforcement. You have truly set the benchmark for all fire service personnel to aspire to achieve."
"The Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Code Council have a rich heritage that both our associations can be very proud of," Sims said. "The best accomplishment, of course, has been the lives saved through the development and application of modern building and fire codes in the built environment. Hopefully this partnership will continue well into the future to benefit public safety and the communities that we serve." |
