LAFD Senior Fire & Life Safety Specialist Stephen Rinaldi
Staff Report:
Senior Fire & Life Safety Coordinator Stephen Rinaldi was honored recently with an appointment to serve on a Technical Committee tasked with the revision of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations.
The process to serve on one of the NFPA’s committees is a competitive selection process, with dozens of applications submitted each year by fire investigators and subject matter experts internationally.
NFPA Technical Committees serve as the principal consensus bodies responsible for developing and updating all NFPA guides, standards and codes, which are revised and updated every three to five years. The process involves extensive research, experience and technical expertise from Committee members, along with several opportunities for public input and review. Updating NFPA standards can take as much as two years to complete the rigorous process.
Rinaldi said it is important to continuously update the guides because “you always have new equipment and new methodologies coming out.”
Rinaldi told the Los Alamos Daily Post that the next edition of the 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations would be published in 2021. The process, he said, includes a first and second draft. One round of public input has already been gathered and the first draft will be released Feb. 27. More public input will be gathered in May, the committee will meet and the second draft will be released In January 2020. Eventually, the report will go to the NFPA Standards Council for final approval. Once approved, the guide will be published in 2021, he said.
“I’ve been involved in fire investigations for 23 years and the document this committee works on is used by fire investigators internationally, so it is definitely an honor to serve on this committee,” Rinaldi told the Los Alamos Daily Post this morning.
Both Los Alamos Fire Chief Troy Hughes and Fire Marshal Wendy Servey this morning expressed their congratulations on Rinaldi’s appointment.
Technical Committees are appointed by the NFPA Standards Council and typically consist of no more than 30 voting members representing a balance of interests. Appointment to a Technical Committee is based on such factors as technical expertise, professional standing, commitment to public safety, and the ability to bring to the table the point of view of a category of interested people or groups. Each Technical Committee is constituted so as to contain a balance of affected interests, and the Committee must reach a consensus in order to take action on an item.
To be appointed, Rinaldi said a number of factors are weighed including qualifications, relationship to the scope of the guide, educational background and other articles and publications the applicant has written that ulitize the codes.
Rinaldi has been active in promoting fire and life safety throughout his career, with more than 20 years of service in public safety or related fields. He is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer program and joined Los Alamos County in 2015. Rinaldi currently serves as a board member of the New Mexico International Association of Arson Investigators and helps organize State conferences that promote on-going opportunities for training, continuous improvement of processes and procedures, and leadership in the field of Fire & Life Safety.
