Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association

Henry S. Parmelee Award Call for Nominations The American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) is accepting nominations for the prestigious Henry S. Parmelee award. The award will be presented during AFSA’s 35th Convention & Exhibition in Nashville, Tennessee, and the recipient will be featured in the 2016 convention issue of Sprinkler …

Catching Up With Apprentice Competition Alumni The American Fire Sprinkler Association’s (AFSA) National Apprentice Competition began in 1994 at the 13th Annual AFSA Convention & Exhibition in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That year, for the first time ever, seven apprentice finalists representing member companies from across the country competed to become …

DeCamara and Waller Scholarship Programs Help Fire Protection Students The Center for Life Safety Education (CLSE), an educational affiliate of the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA), is proud to sponsor two scholarship programs: the Philip L. DeCamara, Jr. Scholarship and the Thomas S. Waller Memorial Scholarship. These programs honor dedicated industry …

The Fire Code and NFPA 13 Standard Don’t Match Up The International Fire Code (IFC), 2015 edition and NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, 2016 edition have different lists for classifications of commodities. When the two differ, which one do you apply? This could place you in a …

It’s Not as Easy as You Think So you think you can determine the exact commodity classification for a specific packaged arrangement of materials using your knowledge of the commodity classification definitions provided by NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems? Well, think again. No, you can’t.  It’s …

Despite widely varying projections for growth of the economy and the dramatic ups and downs in the stock market, 2015 became the year we could say “we’re back” from the Great Recession. We are seeing much greater optimism among contractors and suppliers. The American Fire Sprinkler Association’s (AFSA) year-end numbers …

Understanding Free Flowing Group A Plastics The most important step in developing a design concept for protecting storage occupancies is to determine the overall storage commodity classification. This is not always an easy task, because of the varying extent of products that are stored and the method in which they …

Understanding the Modifiers There comes a time when many ask, “What does NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, mean by that?” This is especially prevalent with some of the modifiers that affect the commodity classification, the single most important aspect of the design. This came to my …

Celebrate AFSA’s 35th Annual Convention & Exhibition It’s a big anniversary for the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA): the 35th Annual Convention & Exhibition! To be held in Nashville, Tennessee,  “A Grand Ole Opportunity: AFSA in Nashville,” will be housed in the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center September 14-17. This …

NFPA 13, 2016 Edition Added Tables Now that the 2016 edition of NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, has been published and shipped, sprinkler contractors, layout technicians, and Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) are reviewing the newly added Tables 9.3.5.12.2 (a) through (f ) with respect to the …