From the Chief’s Corner: A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step...
Posted on February 21, 2020
I’m sure many of you have heard the ancient Chinese proverb “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” but have you ever really thought about its origin or actual meaning? Phrases associated with ancient China are often characterized as being the work of Confucius – almost by default. In reality, it’s easy for us to simply take things at face value and not truly understand the origin of writings or their accuracy.
According to research, this one isn’t attributed to Confucius, its actually credited to the Tao Te Ching, a classical Chinese Taoist text written between the 4th and 6th century by a renowned Chinese philosopher named Lao Tzu. In fact, the original text was said to be “A journey of a thousand li [a Chinese mile] starts beneath one's feet."
In the world of public safety in-building emergency responder communications enhancement systems we have begun a new journey as it relates to the standard that governs these critical systems. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has developed a consolidation plan to take over 100 Emergency Response and Responder Safety (ERRS) standards, guides, and recommended practices and consolidate them into almost 50 overarching standards.
For our industry this means consolidating NFPA 1221 - Standard for the Installation, Maintenance, and Use of Emergency Services Communications Systems and NFPA 1061 - Standard for Public Safety Telecommunications Personnel Professional Qualifications into a single document which will be known as NFPA 1225 - Standards for Emergency Services Communications.
Following Lao Tzu’s terminology, that single step, which begins the thousand-mile journey, was taken in January 2020 in Orlando, FL where the technical committee for NFPA 1225 met for three long days to review approximately 200 proposals for the 2022 edition of NFPA 1225. A significant number of those proposals were related to in-building emergency responder communications enhancement systems.
As we started the technical committee meeting, I thought about when Fox Sports introduced the “FOX Sports Visor Cam” in 2017 for NASCAR. That camera has the capability to provide the most realistic view from the driver’s seat ever available to NASCAR fans. I thought: Wouldn’t it be great if each of those involved in our industry could actually see how much thought, discussion and work from so many viewpoints went into our journey of a thousand miles?
Alas, FOX Sports wouldn’t let me have a visor cam, but I hope I can help you understand a little bit more about the process of becoming a requirement in the standard.
Day 1: Our Technical Committee met at 08:00 hours along with several other committees to go through an orientation process that covered the NFPA consolidation plan process, committee rules and procedures and code development process rules. After a quick lunch the grueling process began.
Keep in mind that we have over 200 proposals that we must review and provide comment on along with a technical statement as to why the committee took the action they did before we can go home. One hour into the process, we were only on proposal number 10. “Tick tock – tick tock.” But that didn’t stop the dedicated group of committee members from all over the country. In fact, we split into workgroups, and those working on in-building emergency responder communications enhancement system issues continued on until 19:00 hours, with no formal break.
Day 2: 08:00 hours. We were back in full swing, moving through the proposals in as much detail as necessary (or maybe more sometimes…). Due to the amount of work before us, we kept chugging along, and the workgroup for in-building emergency responder communications enhancement systems realized that we would have to work late – I mean really late – as we finally called it quits at 22:30 hours. Yes that’s 10:30 PM with no stop for supper break; just order in and keep at it.
Day 3: 07:00 hours. The committee is back on task early, continuing to go through proposal after proposal. The in-building emergency responder communications enhancement system workgroup presented all of its proposals to the overall technical committee as did the other groups who had outstanding items for discussion. Finally, 16:00 hours: After three days of discussion around pathway survivability, system testing, frequency license holder involvement, coverage requirements, critical areas, etc. a light at the end of the tunnel: Our work was complete, and we could head to the airport.
The code development process can seem complicated. Like the proverb, the meaning of the words can vary among the readers. The process reminds me of the animated video from School House Rock that aired in 1975 – probably before many of you were born – called “I’m just a Bill.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eeOwPoayOk&feature=share&list=UUBoHQQvUc_l1g4jP3jbEehA) Even though it is over 40 years old, it’s still in use, and I’m sure many of you remember it from our childhood. It starts out with the lyrics talking about a sad little scrap of paper:
“Whew, you sure gotta climb a lot of steps to get to this Capitol building here in Washington.
The lyrics continue for several more verses. Although not directly related to fire codes and standards development, the simple animation helps illustrate that if change needs to occur it must start with an idea and someone taking that first step. And although the trip may be long and sometimes difficult it is imperative that we travel “a journey of a thousand miles” in order to accomplish the collective goal of making the public and public safety responders “Feel Safe Inside…”
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