TEXTILES.ORG
Monitoring change in California State Fire Marshal Flammability Requirements.
By Juli Case
In the United States, the state of California is often the front-runner in addressing issues of flammability. Not only must companies that do business in California adhere to the California State Fire Marshal’s (CSFM) requirements, but those requirements are often adopted by other states as well. As a result, what happens in California can often impact the industry across the country.
The CSFM’s Fire Engineering Division is in the process of updating its Title 19, the oft-cited regulation that affects textile products, including outdoor installations such as tents, awnings and fabric structures. This is the first time that Title 19 has been revised since 1993.
To facilitate the revision of Title 19 and get input from industry, a Flammability Advisory Committee was organized by the CSFM’s Fire Engineering Division. Juli Case, IFAI’s information and technical services manager, will be representing the specialty fabrics industry on the committee.
The CSFM Flammability Advisory Committee will be reviewing and further refining a draft revision to Title 19 that was previously created by another industry panel. Once the document completes this process, it will be submitted to the general public for comment. The Flammability Advisory Committee is acting in an advisory capacity to the CSFM; any final decisions made regarding changes to Title 19 will be made by the CSFM.
The first meeting of the CSFM’s Flammability Advisory Committee took place on Sept. 9, 2009, with a follow-up meeting on Oct. 29, 2009. Case will update industry members on the committee’s progress via the IFAI website, emails and notices in magazines published by IFAI.