By Jake Lindquist
Deputy State Fire Marshal
The 2020 National Fire Academy (NFA) courses wrapped up in February, and it’s already time to look ahead to 2021. As of March 1, the State Fire Marshal Division (SFMD) is accepting requests to host NFA classes next year. This is a great opportunity for local departments to bring in nationally credited instructors at no charge to their department. Class dates and times are flexible and can be during the week or on weekends. If you’re interested, please contact me for more information.
March Training Opportunities
Fire Code Training
Locations have been selected for the 2020 fire code update class, which is scheduled for June and July of this year. The SFMD Code Team will be traveling the state providing a one-day Minnesota Fire Code update class. This class will highlight the 2020 adoption process and the changes that were made. The dates and times are not yet released, but an announcement will be coming out very soon! The 2020 Code update class locations are Eagan, Maple Grove, Rochester, Mankato, Alexandria, East Grand Forks and Duluth.
No Cost Code Documents/Training
NFPA is committed to improving public safety, and one way they help is by making their codes available for free. You can look at any standard for free, you just cannot download or print it. NFPA has standards that address everything from hydrogen technology to fire hose gear and apparatus. View the list of NFPA's codes and standards.
2020 State Fire Marshal Conference
The SFMD and Fire Marshals Association of Minnesota are looking forward to the 2020 Minnesota Fire Marshals Conference. It is being held at the Eagan Community Center on April 14 and 15, and the speakers this year are going to be excellent. The keynote speaker will be USFA Deputy Administrator and NFA Superintendent Tonya Hoover.
Courses for this year include: Fire Investigation Case Study on the recent Minneapolis high-rise fire, Fire Protection Effectiveness by the numbers, Combining Narratives and Technology to Reduce Incidents, Public Educator 101, 2020 Minnesota Fire Code Update abbreviated, Crowd Managers and Event Planning, NFPA 13 Podium Construction, NFPA 13 Storage Requirements, Penetrations and Firestopping, UL Resources for Fire Code Officials, Media Management, and an update by new State Fire Marshal Jim Smith.
Training requests
If you have training requests or ideas, please feel free to call me at 651-201-7219 or email me at jacob.lindquist@state.mn.us.
