GTC Fire Prevention

05/18/2026

No matter how big or small your community, your fire department needs a fire marshal to help you “see around the corners”—even if you have to outsource one! Take a look:@

Service demands on small volunteer and combination fire departments are increasing; the resources fire departments use to provide those services are not. Man...

05/02/2026

Two great events synergies in Seattle today; the National Fire Sprinkler Association demonstrated the effectiveness of residential fire sprinkler systems as part of the Women in Trades fair.


Fastest Water=Best Home Protection

05/01/2026

GTC will be live at 12:00 Pacific at a side-by-side demonstration from the National Fire Sprinkler Association showing the importance of residential fire sprinklers—check it out!

04/25/2026

The rural fire services utilize a variety of methods to put personnel on a fire scene, but there’s an element of hairsplitting: volunteer departments will say that they have good response times when the first vehicle on the scene is an officer in a personal vehicle. A guy, a portable radio, and a pickup is NOT an effective initial response—we need to pay more attention to “dispatch to wheel stop” times for resources with the equipment and staffing to actually deal with the problem. In southern Champaign County, it takes an average of 6.5 minutes for a fire engine to get out the door. Dispatch to wheel stop is an average of 9.78 minutes, an increase of 7% over the last five years. How do these departments overcome time, distance, and staffing problems? is one answer for rural .

04/14/2026

Couple of thoughts about recent news:
1. Are there currently more warehouse fires, or are they being reported more often due to a couple of high profile events ?
2. EHS in storage and distribution buildings could stand some improvement to begin with, so there is an opportunity here.
3. This meme is making the rounds all over our socials. For the present, fire investigators must have a high index of suspicion when called to commercial building fires.

04/10/2026

Fire drills. No one doubts their importance, whether at work, school, or care facilities. But there aren't many resources out there for professionals who want to get the most out of this life safety education activity. But now, there's an easy field guide for fire inspectors or first responder inspectors to follow that will allow them to have an effective drill and ensure a baseline of egress safety for a building--check it out!

Elevate your fire drills with my guide, tailored for fire inspectors and operations personnel to effectively meet NFPA 1030 standards. Ensure safety and compliance with expert insights and best practices!

04/10/2026

Partial sprinkler coverage in multifamily residential buildings is considered by some fire protection engineers as comparable to no sprinkler protection at all; Senate Bill 4061 would only require a multistory MFD to be sprinklered in the stairwells, for all purposes only providing egressing residents with protection once they’ve (maybe) navigated past a high heat and toxic atmosphere environment. Does this sound like something you would want for the citizens YOU protect?

04/08/2026

Automatic door closers in apartment buildings? Good idea, control the products of combustion. BUT…it’s not a good enough reason to do away with a second staircase—and who ensures these door closers are functional?

04/05/2026

Single stair, why should you care? fire departments need to take a serious look:

Is there a single stair bill sneaking its way through your state capital? Fire protection advocates must become more forceful quickly to confront this risk:

04/05/2026

Single stair, why should you care? fire departments should take a look:

Is there a single stair bill sneaking its way through your state capital? Fire protection advocates must become more forceful quickly to confront this risk: