FSSA Family,
As we wrap up another incredible year, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your engagement and participation in 2025. I also want to take a moment to thank the veterans in our FSSA family for their service to our country.
Thursday, October 23, 2025
11:00 am Eastern
The fire protection industry has achieved a significant technological advancement with FM Global's expansion of water mist approval standards to include Hazard Category 2 (HC-2) and Hazard Category 3 (HC-3) non-storage occupancies. After three years of comprehensive research and full-scale fire testing, water mist technology has proven effective for challenging fire suppression applications including manufacturing facilities, convention centers, casinos, food processing plants, and schools.
The FSSA PFAS Task force continues to monitor regulations across the US. The focus of this update is on Nonessential Consumer Products (carpets, clothes, ski wax). States including Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Rhode Island have proposed broad OECD style bans but have so far paused or rejected them.
If you are attending the 2025 NFPA Conference & Expo, FSSA recommends the following voting guide at the NFPA Technical Committee Meeting June 19-20, 2025 following the NFPA Annual Convention:
CAM 10-4 - FSSA Recommendation: Support
Wet collections are natural history specimens immersed in liquid preservative solutions and typically stored or displayed in glass or plastic containers. The preservative solutions are predominantly ethanol, formalin or isopropanol.
The primary purpose of wet collections is for scientific research. In some instances, wet collections may be of species that are rare or extinct. These collections are not only irreplaceable, but they are also inherently hazardous to store and handle without proper precautions.
Attached below is a copy of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Final Rule (89 Fed. Reg. 82682, Oct. 11, 2024) on the management and reclamation of HFCs under the AIM Act. The Rule goes into effect on December 10,2024.
Here is a summary of the Rule’s requirements applicable to use of HFC (Hydrofluorocarbons) agents in fire suppression systems. References below are in 40 CFR Part 84 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
FSSA is in the process of preparing the agenda for the division meetings at the 2025 Annual Forum. If you are a FSSA Installer or Manufacturer Member, please take a minute to submit topics that you'd like to have discussed during the March 3 meeting. (Member login is required.)
The New Jersey Division of Fire Safety's Fire Protection Equipment Advisory Committee is looking for applicants that are members of FSSA to serve on this New Jersey committee.
The purpose of the committee is to make recommendations to the Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs. Recommendations may include rules and regulations pertaining to professional training, standards, identification, and record keeping procedures for certificate holders and their employees, classifications of certificates necessary to regulate the work of certificate holders and other matters necessary to effectuate the sections of the Uniform Fire Safety Act. Pursuant to N.J.S.A.52:27D-25o, the Director of the Division of Fire Safety shall serve ex officio, as well as eleven public members appointed by the Governor.
Hello FSSA Members,
Are you attending the upcoming NFPA 2024 Conference June 17-19 in Orlando? If so, we invite you to join us for the following FSSA sessions:
Please share this information with anyone you may know who is or will be enrolled in a fire protection program and/or any schools that have a fire protection program. To qualify for a scholarship, the applicant must complete the FSSA Scholarship Application online form and upload the necessary documents to FSSA Educational Foundation Headquarters by Saturday, June 1, 2024.
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The online FSSA Training Program is an important part of our mission as the leading authority and advocate of special hazard fire protection. FSSA is proud to offer this program as a complimentary benefit to members due to the continued support of volunteer contributors. This year, we are excited to work on improvements and course material updates to better serve our industry. One of our primary goals in improving the learning experience is to add video presentations (or think of them as mini prerecorded webinars) to each course. The FSSA Training & Development Committee is calling for volunteers to help with this project. |
FSSA has filed petitions in Maine and Minnesota, seeking a Currently Unavoidable Use (CUU) exemption from the Maine PFAS law and the Minnesota PFAS law that seek to regulate products containing “intentionally added PFAS.” These laws define PFAS so broadly they would encompass certain clean agent fire suppressant agents, including HFC-227ea, FK-5-1-12 and HFC-125.
Copies of the FSSA petitions are linked below.
How do we try to make these as safe as possible? It starts for us with the codes and standards. You have the International Code Council, which is the ICC, that creates the International Fire Code, the International Building Code. We have the National Fire Protection Association, the NFPA. We also have to have standards testing. UL has UL 9540, which is the listing for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). You look at all the codes and the codes will require UL 9540 listing for all batteries. And the test is the 9540 A test. So these have all been updated and worked on after McMicken, after Victoria in Australia, after Moss landing, after all of the fires. We're doing a much better job about getting everyone together in a room and creating better codes.
We always try to learn lessons. What worked well, what didn't work well. McMicken showed us that a clean agent type fire protection system alone is not adequate. We need something else. We need sprinklers. If we're going to be in an occupiable space, once again, we know that sprinklers don't control the thermal runaway, so all we're really doing is cooling it. Now, sprinkler water, as well as the water mist system, is really good about keeping vapors down, which is another thing that we're working on here in the valley with one of our battery installations. But sprinklers alone are not going to control the thermal runaway. It's going to do its thing until it's done.
The Fire Suppression Systems Association (FSSA) is the leading authority and advocate of special hazard fire protection. As the industry’s premier annual event for education and networking, the FSSA Annual Forum attracts a select group of top decision-makers in the industry. This year, we are expecting another record-breaking attendance, with more than 125 attendees registered.
"The Fire Industry Association (FIA), a non-profit organisation, has pledged to dedicate a portion of its yearly revenue to support joint research initiatives that contribute to the well-being of its members, the industry, or public safety. Collaboration with other organisations is integral to the success of these projects. The partnership with the Fire Suppression Systems Association (FSSA) exemplifies the FIA's steadfast commitment to this initiative." - Robert Thilthorpe, Technical Manager, Fire Industry Association
“This research report is the culmination of almost six years’ collaboration between the UK’s Fire Industry Association (FIA) and the USA’s Fire Suppression Systems Association (FSSA). The research demonstrated that continuous recirculating airflow can enhance uniformity of gaseous agent concentrations in data center applications, even in spaces where aisle containments are present. The conclusions of the report should be quite useful to those responsible for designing and maintaining clean agent fire extinguishing systems for data centers” - Tom Wysocki, Technical Director, Fire Suppression Systems Association
FSSA is excited to host our 2024 Annual Forum at the historic Wigwam featuring elegant rooms and suites, three championship golf courses, three swimming pools, a tennis center, 440 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, a world-class meeting center and more. There are so many things you'll love about The Wigwam, one of the top Arizona luxury resorts.
The Fire Suppression Systems Association (FSSA) is the leading authority and advocate of special hazard fire protection. As the industry’s premier annual event for education and networking, the FSSA Annual Forum attracts a select group of top decision-makers in the industry.
If one is working through a distributor or an installing contractor that has a supply agreement or a contract with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the equipment that is listed using Novec 1230 fluid, they are likely listed with FK-5-1-12 from alternative suppliers as well. Novec 1230 is a neat (single component) agent. It is typically discharged from a cylinder with a nitrogen super pressurization or one with a separate nitrogen tank design used in a piston flow fashion giving a “push” to it.
It is recommended that one first checks with the original equipment manufacturer and their representative installing contractor to make sure they are supplying it with a listed or approved system. And second, make sure that they have a certificate of analysis assuring the quality of the clean agent material.
There has not been a sufficient concern to compel regulatory authorities to put restrictions on the use of Halon from a persistent standpoint, and for other reasons. The PFCs, HFCs, and HCFCs, are all being regulated for other reasons, based on ozone depletion potential (ODP), global warming potential (GWP), and so forth. The European ECHA has a proposal in place but at this point in time, clean agents are considered for derogation in the proposal.
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FSSA Headquarters will be closed on Thursday, November 27 and Friday November 28 for Thanksgiving.
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