The 2009 SCFMA Fall Training Conference is behind us now. Many thanks to John England, of England Enterprises, for providing three days of very informative training on electricity. And thanks to our Director of Training, Ben Bunting, for putting it together for us. As always, it was good to see so many members present.

A special thanks to Ben Bunting for coordinating Wednesday evenings program, too. I heard nothing but good comments about it.

As was stated at the opening session, I represented the SCFMA at the annual meeting of the International Code Council in Baltimore the week before our conference. South Carolina governments were very well represented at the Code Review Hearings, especially the one in which four proposals were brought forth to remove from the 2009 International Residential Code the requirements for NFPA 13D residential sprinklers in new one- and two- family homes and townhouses. We were able to prevail and fire sprinklers will remain in the code! The next major hurdle for us will be to ensure that the South Carolina Building Codes Council adopts the 2009 International Residential Code without amending it to delete the sprinkler provisions.

To help remove some of the obstacles to this process, I attended a few meetings along with State Fire Marshal John Reich and some of his staff. One of these meetings was with representatives of SC DHEC, and was devoted to relaxing the requirement that backflow preventers be installed on flow-through combination sprinkler and domestic water systems to be installed under the IRC. We recently received word that DHEC issued a letter approving that configuration. This eliminates the initial cost of the backflow preventer and the cost of annual testing. The other meeting was with some of our counterparts in North Carolina regarding their addition of a third class of plumbing license for installing combination fire sprinkler and domestic systems in detached single-family homes. They are currently about two years ahead of us in this process. I will keep you informed as this progresses.

The SC Building Codes Council meets again on December 2 in Denny Auditorium (time to be announced). They are in the comment period for code adoption. As the date draws closer more information on this meeting will be available, which may require our presence there. Please pencil it in just in case.

Many thanks to 1st Vice President Frank Maples, Executive Secretary Scott Keeley, and 2nd Vice President Bruce Arnel for taking care of all the last-minute set-up items at the Holiday Inn - Patriots Point while I was traveling from Baltimore. Likewise, thanks to Director of Benefits Patrick Bradshaw for bringing the associations new cargo trailer to Mount Pleasant. This will surely make transporting the store and all of our conference equipment a lot easier.
As we approach Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas, lets keep South Carolina fire-safe!
Gary Mocarski
President
Our 2009 Fall Conference is right around the corner. Ben Bunting, Director of Training, has arranged for 17 hours of Continuing Education from England and Associates. Much of what has been offered over the past few conferences has dealt with fire detection, alarm, and suppression systems and various means of passive fire protection. During this conference we will take a look at one of our most significant hazards, electricity. From all reports this stands to be a much-needed class for all of us fire officials, and the cost is much less than for comparable training elsewhere.

We will be at the Holiday Inn - Patriots Point, located in Mount Pleasant. Click on the Conferences link on the home page to find the downloadable registration form and hotel information.

Keith Garrett, our webmaster, has transferred our website to another host, so some of the size constraints that we had on downloadable files have gone away. He reports that all is well with the site and we certainly thank him for all of his hard work on this.

On August 26, a number of our members, including many from our Executive Board, attended a meeting of the South Carolina Building Codes Council at Denny Auditorium. Past Association President and current State Fire Marshal John Reich made his debut on that board, filling the seat formerly occupied by Chief Tommy McDowell of Greenville. Many thanks to Chief McDowell for representing the interests of the fire service so well and faithfully on the council. We hope John continues the tradition.

Get your clubs out. The Fall Golf Tournament will be held on Tuesday, November 3. The entry form and tournament information will be posted on the website as soon as we lock in on the location. If you or someone you know would be interested in sponsoring a hole for our tournament, please contact me using the link at the bottom of the conference page.

Thanks for all that you do, and lets continue to keep South Carolina Fire-Safe.

Gary Mocarski
President
First, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope the economic situation has not interfered with your municipality or department. I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel for our country.

We had a great fall conference in Greenville. Ninety-one members were in attendance as we offered 17 hours of training.

The conference began on Tuesday with a golf tournament at Fox Run Country Club in Fountain Inn. Approximately 56 players participated. Monies raised will go into a Scholarship Fund. For details on the Scholarship Fund please visit the web site at www.scfma.org. A special thank you to Adam Lezan (Simpsonville), Gordon McDonald (Mauldin), Bill Stewart (Boiling Springs) and Rocky Homesley (Parker) for their hard work in getting the golf tournament together. Thanks to Alpha Fire and Safety, Anderson Fire and Safety, Sentry Sprinkler Service, Palmetto Automatic sprinkler Company and Integrity Fire and Safety for their donation for hole sponsorship. Also thanks to Dunlop Sports Group, Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, Sticky Fingers, Firehouse Subs, Ferrells Golf Headquarters, Integrated Plastics, Joes Crab Shack, and Eagle Zone for their merchandise donations used as door prizes. Please visit the web site to see the pictures and results for the golf tournament.

Several of our members assisted the Greenville County Fire Chiefs Association with a booth at the Southern Home and Garden Show in Greenville March 5-8, 2009. Topics addressed were Residential Sprinkler Systems, visible address, Change Your Clock-Change Your Battery, EDITH, and Burn Awareness.

The Annual Spring Conference is just around the corner. The dates are June 8-12, 2009. Dead line for reservations at Springmaid Beach Resort is April 21, 2009. All information is posted on the web site.

We will be electing President, 1st Vice President and 2nd Vice President positions at the Spring Conference. If you would like to serve, please submit your name two weeks prior to the conference.

Remember to submit your candidate for Fire Inspector of the Year Award and The Tom Forrester Award. The qualifications and submittal forms can be found on the web site at www.scfma.org.

Department patches are still being collected for the Patch Board.

Eddie Watson