Apr 07 SAFFE meeting

As many of you are aware, i am the NAFAA representative to a Southern California gathering of Fire Marshals and related movie industry reps as involved with fire and special effects (SAFFE). I got started with these meetings in the process of setting up Burn Club and try to attend each quarterly meeting when possible.

Most of the topics are quite dry. For example, there was an hour-long powerpoint presentation on the permitting process for fireworks manufacturers (thank gawd they have coffee for free). :) However a few things were of interest to our community
1) they have a website up www.safefirefx.org/
2) LA city fire will no longer require a pyro 1 or 2 to be onsite for open flame effects performance on movie sets. Expect NAFAA safety regs to be imposed, however.
3) There was note that "cage poi" are difficult or impossible to extinguish with towels, and a suggestion that extinguishers (CO2 or ABC) be on hand for dousing them.
4) Someone applied for a burn permit on a movie lot (yes, I know who), without a safety plan, spotter, or even safety equipment. Pretty much all the studios in LA have been exposed to the NAFAA regs by now and have their standards set appropriately to them. You may not have to follow them to the letter, but that's pretty much what's expected of you now. It can mean the difference between a juicy gig and walking home.

Also, NAFAA has been asked to provide a suggested checklist for fire marshals to help them insure that the basics are covered when they look over a fire performers safety set-up. Due date is July 24th. We will be discussing this on the NAFAA discussion list.
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There has been some noise about expanding and separating the basic NAFAA tool standards into it's own set of codes. If this project takes off, I'd like to modify the NAFAA regs to include mention of those codes, and eliminate section III, or at least take it down to onsite safety checks only. This too, will be discussed on the list.