By Doug Nelson, State Fire Marshal
As we turn the corner of the legislative session and hopefully the seasons, I wanted to discuss some federal-level fire service updates, upcoming lunch and learn opportunities, and bills to watch after the legislative session’s crossover. It will be a busy spring as we see what is passed and how it will affect the fire service. No matter what comes, our office will continue to communicate with and push the fire service in a positive direction.
Recently, the United States Fire Service was reduced in force. We will be watching to see what changes this brings for State and local jurisdictions. We are hoping this does not affect services that the USFA provides such as training at the National Fire Academy (NFA), fire data (NERIS), research, and community risk reduction. We will continue to advocate for the services that the USFA provides to ensure we have a strong federal, state and local partnership within the fire service.
A close partner to the fire service is the National Fire Protection Association. This organization has been a leader in model fire code and standards development since 1896. It also gave birth to Sparky the Dalmatian Fire Dog. March 18th is the famous Sparky’s birthday. A fun way to remember the importance and how far fire prevention has come throughout the nation. A common theme that NFPA has pushed for many years now is to check your smoke alarm batteries. Please join us as we celebrate Sparky by turning our clocks forward, and remember when you “change your clocks, change your (smoke alarm) batteries.”
We will be getting our lunch and learns back up and running this spring. First, I plan to give an update from our office to go over the past year and plans for the future. This will be an opportunity to hear more about what we are doing at the SFM Office and what we foresee down the road. We have begun talks with ISO about coordinating a one-hour session covering what it takes for a fire department/district to go from an ISO 9 to an 8b/8a. We are excited about this, and as our ISO 10 fire departments/districts continue to decrease, it will be an opportunity to take the next step forward for the fire service. Please see our website calendar here for updates and to keep an eye on what will be coming. We have posted our preliminary 2024 fire statistics and it can be found on our data page here. The good news is fires and fatal fires are not. The bad news is that they are both holding steady.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office is working on or closely monitoring the following bills:
- HB 1086, Relating to the use of the reduced cigarette ignition propensity and the insurance regulatory trust fund.
- HB 1112, Relating to membership of the public employees retirement system.
- HB 1139, Relating to a sales tax exemption for fire departments.
- HB 1281, Relating to motor vehicle fuel tax, special fuels tax, and aviation fuel tax refunds for fuels purchased by fire departments.
- HB 1528, Relating to arson and endangering by fire or explosion; and to provide a penalty
- SB 2090, Relating to updating language for the state fire marshal department.
- SB 2135, Relating to the firefighter’s death benefits fund.
- SB 2218, A Bill for an Act to provide an appropriation to the insurance commissioner for a North Dakota firefighter’s association grant; and to declare an emergency.
- SB 2336, Relating to the regulation of conveyances and elevator contractors, mechanics, and inspectors.
- SB 2339, Relating to strict liability and a wildfire mitigation plan of a qualified utility.
- SB 2340, A Bill for an Act to provide for a legislative management study to evaluate the evolving fire service operational and response needs of the state.
It is important for the fire service to continue to communicate and ensure we are moving forward all together as the session heads into the second half. We can achieve more as a fire service than we can as individual portions of it. If you have any questions or issues you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to reach out or give me a call. Take care and stay safe.