2nd Annual North American Fire Sprinkler Expo® Convenes In Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla., May 1, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), along with the Canadian Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association (CASA), and the Asociación Mexicana de Rociadores Automáticos Contra Incendios A.C. (AMRACI) is holding the North American Fire Sprinkler Expo® in Orlando, Florida April 29-May 2, 2015. The NFSA is celebrating its 110^th anniversary during the 4-day event. Over 900 attendees are involved and the event kicked off Thursday, April 30, 2015 with a side-by-side burn demonstration held at the Hat & Hose Fire Station.

The burn demonstration was narrated by Shane Ray, newly elected NFSA President and a former Fire Chief, State Fire Marshal, and lifelong fire safety professional. At the burn demonstration, flashover was reached in the non-sprinklered room in 2 minutes 24 seconds. In the room with fire sprinklers, the sprinkler activated in 27 seconds to extinguish the fire.

Shane Ray assumed the role of President from Russ Fleming, who now becomes Senior Advisor to the President. The official passing of the baton occurred Friday, May 1^st. 

"We are proud to be transitioning for the future in such a positive way," explains Larry Thau, NFSA Board Chairman. "Russ Fleming has been a great President and we look forward to where Shane's leadership will take us as we transition forward. We are focused on turning adversaries into allies and the NFSA is poised to do that."

The Opening General Session featured musician/author Dave Carroll, who shared with the group his story "United Breaks Guitars."  He also unveiled a new song that he has written to benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF). The song, titled The Fallen and the Brave, received a standing ovation from the 900+ attendees, and is available for download at www.firehero.org. An interesting feature of the download is that the NFFF is allowing you the option of choosing your donation amount for the songs purchase, as a personalized way to accept the challenge for "The Fallen and the Brave." This was the first time this song had been performed and NFSA is honored to be the venue selected to debut it.

"It's exciting to see the great groups representing the fire sprinkler industry come together here in Florida to share with one another," explains NFSA President Shane Ray. "Fire sprinkler systems save lives and property and these groups are committed to continual improvement. As an association, we are here to serve our members and promote the concept of fire sprinklers and it's an exciting time to be involved –the energy has been incredible."

Other highlights of the event included two key award presentations—the Golden Sprinkler Award was presented to Buddy Dewar of Florida and the Technical Service Award was renamed the Russell P. Fleming Award and presented to Russ Fleming. Hall of Fame inductees included Wayne Ault, Harold "Leo" Corley, Burton Harms, Linwood "Lin" McCool, Joe Lukes, Arthur Hewines, Jack Priest, and Joe Petit. The Leadership in Public Safety Award went to Gail Minger and President's Awards were presented to George Bogris and Sam Davis.

The life saving technology of fire sprinklers has been effective in commercial buildings for over 100 years, and available in residential occupancies for over 30. Resources about fire sprinklers are available at www.nfsa.org - we encourage everyone interested in understanding how fire sprinklers protect citizens and firefighters to visit us and learn more.

Contact: Vickie Pritchett
Phone Number: 615-533-0305

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150501/213302

SOURCE National Fire Sprinkler Association

Related Links

http://www.nfsa.org