Citrus Heights, CA

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

 FIRE MARSHAL'S POLICIES ARE KILLING CHILDREN

FIRE IS THE BUSINESS OF THE FIRE BUSINESS

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) fire costs America more than 300 billion dollars a year. But I believe the cost really is at least twice that amount because many related costs are not included.

What the public does not realize is that there are organizations and bureaucracies that benefit and profit from fire. Someone is always on the receiving side of those fire generated dollars. There are billion dollar corporations, especially including the fire insurance industry, profiting from those losses. And there are literally millions of workers getting pay checks because of the horrendously bad fire experience in America. But here I will mainly discuss the fire services bureaucracy, the paychecks, the perks, the retirement programs, the "work one day with two or three days off" schedule, the half million dollar oversize fire trucks with all the bells and whistles, the great abundance of fire stations, the political powers of the fire chiefs and the union reps plus all the perks that go with the system. All of these benefits are mostly dependent on homes burning, day after day, week in and week out, year after year. Burning factories and warehouses and other business establishments will generate public concern. But it is the burning of the homes and the children that really motivates the public to demand a most generous distribution of the tax dollars to the fire services.

The state fire marshal must protect and nourish the fire establishment. And there is nothing that motivates the public to pay taxes to nourish the fire services quite like burning children. But years ago a threat to the fire bureaucracy arose. At the time I was the chairman of four fire detection codes that defined fire detection systems for commercial and industrial properties. I quickly realized that although the fire code making system for America, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) had been in existence for more than 60 years, this code making business had never yet created a fire detection code for homes.

Homes are where about 95 percent of all fire deaths (caused by building fires) occur. So, 95 percent of all the fire deaths caused by building fires were occurring within an occupancy type where the fire codes required zero protection. Indeed, hundreds of millions of square feet of highly combustible ceiling tile had been sold to Amercan home owners for home improvements. This material looked fine but burned like cardboard. It was ignited easily and would flash into a mini-holocaust within a minute or two. This "bomb" within the home was never curbed until I wrote about it and criticized the authorities for ignoring the problem. The point here is that for decades the fire authorities had allowed the home to be unprotected, incredibly fire dangerous and too often deadly. It was then that I began an life long effort to bring honesty and safety into the American fire code system. I can say that those who profited or otherwise benifited from fire have harassed me and fought tenaciously against every facet of modernized fire control methods that would reduce the fire experience in America.

Within two years after I became chairman of fire detection codes, during 1966 I had a home fire detection code created and up for adoption at the national convention of the NFPA. Usually it takes many years to create a code. Apparently I caught the fire business by surprise and unprepared. The fire insurers mounted a last minute massive effort on the convention floor to kill the code. A fellow fire engineer who attended the same classes as I did at Illinois Institute of Technology was at the head of the line pimping for the fire insurers. However, from 9:00 AM until nearly through the lunch hour I rebutted their attacks and their lies. Finally the code passed. Until then I had not realized that the fire business was so fearful of a real solution to the home fire problem.

The primary reason for large and deadly fires in homes is because fire will often grow unnoticed in one area of a home until it suddenly expands almost explosively; thus catching the victims before they can escape. If the occupants are warned early, while the incipient fire is still small and easy to extinguish, any normal person can snuff it out quickly before it grows large and deadly. A 12 year old boy scout is taught how to put out a fire. When it is small a fire is not all that difficult to extinguish. Just put some water on it. If a ½ inch hose is installed in a convenient location on a quick opening valve within the home (as it should be) almost any person could terminate a small fire before it grows large. Probably a five second spray from a fog nozzle will do it. However, far too often, by the time the occupants become aware of the fire it is too late to escape.

I find it interesting that Underwriters' Laboratories "approves" fire department fog nozzles as safe to use on transformer banks into the hundreds of thousands of volts. But always the home owner is warned that he cannot use water spray in the home where the voltage is a mere 110 volts. Water fog does not conduct electricity because fog consists of drops with air gaps between the drops. Even what appears to be a "straight" stream actually consists of drops with air gaps between the drops. Fog (or spray) is an incredibly effective fire control tool. But when has your fire chief advised you that you could terminate almost all home fires if only you were warned of the fire when it first initiated.

If honest and reliable fire detectors were installed in a home the occupants would get an alarm when the first early flames, or smoke, appeared. When the fire has first started, one gallon of water is most adequate if applied as a spray. But 5 minutes later a hundred thousand gallons may be inadequate. Therefore, a reliable warning of an early fire in the home has the potential to dramatically affect the fire experience in America. If all homes were equipped with honest fire and smoke detectors the number of serious home fires would probably plummet to about 5 or 10 percent of the usual burn rate. But this would have a very profound effect on the fire services.

During 1966, when I was able to get the first ever national fire code for protecting life in the home adopted, I did not realize that I was trampling on the hallowed ground of the fire services. But let's face it; he who is at the site of the early fire has an unfair advantage over the professional that is a mile or ten away. It is too easy to snuff out the early and tiny fire if you are right there and aware of it when it initiates. So the top bureaucrats in the fire services decided to make the odds a little better for that remote firefighter. Put a phony smoke detector in the home, then let the occupants see who can fight that fire best.

Although the fire services promote the idea that the firefighters have a five minute running time from the station to the site of the fire, it is the FREE BURN time that counts. That is the time from when fire initiates (before discovery) until the fire trucks have not only arrived at the site; but also have made connections to nearby hydrants and are ready to attack the fire with charged hose lines. The FREE BURN time can be from ten minutes to a half hour, sometimes even more in remote areas. Within a home the furnishings are so combustible and so plentiful, and so easy to ignite, that a five minute free burn time, perhaps only a three minute alarm delay, is all that is needed to guarantee that no one but the trained professional can control the fire

A HORRENDOUS BURNING OF HOMES IS THE THE KEY TO A PROSPEROUS FIRE SERVICE IN AMERICA. WE BURN CLOSE TO A HALF MILLION HOMES EVERY YEAR. BUT IF RELIABLE FIRE DETECTORS WERE INSTALLED IN ALL HOMES THE BURNING OF HOMES COULD DROP BY 90, PERHAPS 95 PERCENT. THEREFORE, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES MAY THE MEANS TO TERMINATE THE EARLY FIRE BE INSTALLED WITHIN HOMES. THAT HAS BEEN THE RULE.

After I was able to create a national code that defined proper fire detectors for a home, it seemed the game had been lost by those who prospered from fire. But then a miracle happened. Corrupt businessmen had developed a new type of fire detector that they would eventually name a "smoke detector". But the secret was that the device was not able to detect real (visible) smoke. It detected atomic sized (too minute to be visible) particles. These incredibly small particles called ions could number as high as a billion per cubic inch. The ionization device named a "smoke detector" was an excellent detector of the shower running, bread toasting and an overcooked roast. But what it did not detect was smoke created by a real fire. To those who needed an abundance of home fires, the phony (but UL certified) device was like manna from heaven; but it was not the Israelites who benefitted.

It sounds too weird to be true. A "smoke" detector has been installed in nearly all homes in California with the cooperation of the state fire marshal. And, incredibly, that "smoke" detector cannot detect smoke. (Sometimes there is real – visible – smoke and also a great abundance of the atomic sized ions. The ions will be detected and the observer will think it was the smoke that tripped the device.) Sure it will sound when the cook is at work but it too often maintains its silence as the children burn. And the California state fire marshals have continued to promote this deadly device for decades. I figure that so far about 35 thousand fire deaths, mutilations and injuries have occurred since the 1960s, due to fires within California homes "protected" by that fraudulent device. If the California State Fire Marshal cannot be forced to tell the public the truth about the device, thousands more will die because of it.

The insurance industry was equally needful of an abundance of home fires for a profitable business. Therefore, Underwriters' Laboratories falsified fire tests to conceal the failure modes of the so-called "smoke" device. The California state fire marshals, including the present one, allowed the manufacturers of the phony smoke detectors to display the State Fire Marshal Emblem on the packages of the devices. To the best of my knowledge the fire marshal's "certification" was awarded without any legitimate testing of the device, but presumably for a fee.

That's the story of why the California homes (and the kids) are burning like kindling in the fireplace. It's meant to be that way. Many billions of dollars in expenditures to the bureaucracies and billions more in profits to the businesses of fire are dependent on the high burn rate. So, if your kids burn tonight, think of the bright side. The fire bureaucracy will benefit. The local department may be able to buy a new truck, or even open a new station claiming that the "response time" was more than 5 minutes. For proofs of the fraudulent nature of the device that is near certain to be already installed in your home, visit the web sites listed below.

EVIL WINS WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO NOTHING.

www.TheWorldFireSafetyFoundation.org • www.Firecrusade.com

www.AmericasHolocaust.org

RICHARD M. PATTON, FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEER

AUTHOR, THE AMERICAN HOME IS A FIRE TRAP

THE CRUSADE AGAINST FIRE DEATHS

Rmpatton7@gmail.com

Richard M Patton

President

Crusade Against Fire Deaths

Citrus Heights, CA

916-721-7700