NFPA: Is it Doing the Job? with Bobby Eckert

The National Fire Protection Association seems like a pretty importantorganization. For example, Its reports are routinely used by fire departmentsto justify staffing requests.But not everyone is satisfied with how the NFPA operates. Some members of the fireservice believe the standards for equipment service life are too inflexible.And there’s the question of who writes the standards in the first place.One of the NFPA’s loudest critics on social media is Bobby Eckert. He’s aCaptain with the City of Camden Fire Department in New Jersey. Bobby also ownsand operates Eckert Fire Tactics.We decided to ask Bobby to explain his concerns about the NFPA. We initially asked the NFPA to participate in a debate-style format with Bobby,but they declined the offer. Instead, they offered a representative who woulddo a one-on-one interview. We agreed to that, and I was able to ask questions of the NFPA’s Responder TechnicalLead, Curt Floyd. Then we matched up Curt’s answers with Bobby’s questions.