The following is a summary of new regulations published October 11, 2024 affecting companies that fill, recharge, recycle, and/or service fire suppression equipment containing HFCs.  Note that these reporting and recordkeeping requirements are in addition to agent test and recordkeeping requirements which became effective September 18, 2023 and the reporting requirements for recyclers of fire suppression HFCs which became effective in 2022.

Attached below is a copy of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Final Rule (89 Fed. Reg. 82682, Oct. 11, 2024) on the management and reclamation of HFCs under the AIM Act. The Rule goes into effect on December 10,2024.

Here is a summary of the Rule’s requirements applicable to use of HFC (Hydrofluorocarbons) agents in fire suppression systems. References below are in 40 CFR Part 84 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Tuesday, October 8, 2024 14:00 BST | 9:00 a.m. EDT

FSSA Members are invited for a kick-off event hosted by Latam PCI to mark the start of a series of international activities celebrating the official recognition of International Fire Prevention Day by the United Nations.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued regulations to implement certain provisions of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020. This rulemaking establishes an emissions reduction and reclamation program for the management of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that includes requirements for:

• Effective January 1, 2030, only recycled HFCs may be used for the “initial fill” of newly manufactured fire suppression systems;
• Effective January 1, 2026, only recycled HFCs may be used to recharge and service fire suppression systems;  
• Effective January 1, 2026, fire suppression systems technician training is required, and
• Recycling of HFCs prior to the disposal of fire suppression equipment containing hydrofluorocarbons in compliance with the rule is mandatory.

The Rule will go into effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. 

The July 2024 Halon Alternatives Research Corporation (HARC) Newsletter provides a very valuable and timely snapshot of where the industry is today on the regulation of PFAS substances used in fire protection. Read the full newsletter.

For the latest news and resources surrounding PFAS, visit the FSSA PFAS Resource Center.

Due to combined efforts, proposed legislation in Alaska was amended to remove “firefighting substance” and replace with “firefighting foam.” In early 2023, an Alaskan Senate bill was introduced with the intention of regulating the use of firefighting foams, but the wording referred to “firefighting substances.” There was concern that that this could be interpreted to also regulate clean agents.

As reported by HARC, there were combined efforts by a local fire equipment distributor in Alaska and lobbyists that work for the American Chemistry Council (ACC) to convince legislators to change the language so as to focus on firefighting foams containing PFAS and not clean agents. In the spring of 2024, an amendment was introduced and SB 67 was enrolled as a Law to become effective January 1, 2025.

Two certified amending motions on NFPA 72 will be balloted at the technical meeting on June 20, following the NFPA Conference (June 17-19 in Orlando, FL). The Automatic Fire Alarm Association (AFAA) has recommended to its members the following positions on these CAMs.

CAM 72-2  Support
CAM 72-6  Oppose

On July 20, 2023, the EPA published an update to (40 CFR Part 84) which implements the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act. The updated regulations, effective September 18, 2023, include new requirements to verify the quality of HFC fire suppressant agents by laboratory testing as well as additional recordkeeping requirements. These updated regulations affect FSSA members who fill or recharge HFC fire system cylinders. An overview of the EPA regulation was given at the FSSA Annual Forum and discussed at the division meetings. (88 Fed. Reg. 46836)

SUMMARY OF THE REGULATORY UPDATES

NFPA 855 What To Do for Data Centers When They Want to Change Out the Lead Acid Batteries to Lithium Ion?

NFPA 855 Partnering with AHJs to Implement Local Codes

NFPA 855 Why is Partnering with Organizations like FSSA, NFPA & ICC Important?

NFPA 855 How to Work with Your AHJ on an HMA

NFPA 855: Would Annunciator Panels Have Made a Difference at the McMicken Arizona Lithium-Ion Facility Fire?

NFPA 855: What is a Plume Study and Why is it Important to your Hazard Mitigation Analysis (HMA)?

NFPA 855: How are battery manufacturers working with UL to create safer batteries?

The Hazard Mitigation Analysis (HMA) is step number one. This is the first thing that you as manufacturers, you as installers, you as property managers that are looking for properties, need to talk about; do we have an HMA for our batteries? I had someone come up to me recently and say, well, sometimes when we pick a site, we don't know the technology. Okay, you normally have a couple in mind or two, or three. Make an HMA with all three technologies and then we can just get rid of the ones that you don't end up using. But let's start this hazard mitigation analysis early. Because what it does is it looks at the consequences of failure. And if you look at the Phoenix Fire Code, we require this for every single battery installation. NFPA 855 and the base International Fire Code (IFC) has three different criteria.

In the ICC, Chapter 12 is what deals with lithium ion and other batteries Currently, there's a committee called the Fire Code Action Committee that brings in industry, manufacturers, AHJ’s, like myself, and experts. We're working on different parts of Chapter 12 for energy issues. Be careful, just because a jurisdiction adopts Chapter 12, we might amend it. In the City of Phoenix, we amended Chapter 12, heavily. Ours is probably a little bit more restrictive than most of the country. I would say our sprinkler density, that we'll talk about here in a little bit, is more restrictive. We wanna require our AHJs to be more restrictive, so be careful. Always look at the code amendments from that local jurisdiction.

How do we try to make these as safe as possible? It starts for us with the codes and standards. You have the International Code Council, which is the ICC, that creates the International Fire Code, the International Building Code. We have the National Fire Protection Association, the NFPA. We also have to have standards testing. UL has UL 9540, which is the listing for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). You look at all the codes and the codes will require UL 9540 listing for all batteries. And the test is the 9540 A test. So these have all been updated and worked on after McMicken, after Victoria in Australia, after Moss landing, after all of the fires. We're doing a much better job about getting everyone together in a room and creating better codes.

We always try to learn lessons. What worked well, what didn't work well. McMicken showed us that a clean agent type fire protection system alone is not adequate. We need something else. We need sprinklers. If we're going to be in an occupiable space, once again, we know that sprinklers don't control the thermal runaway, so all we're really doing is cooling it. Now, sprinkler water, as well as the water mist system, is really good about keeping vapors down, which is another thing that we're working on here in the valley with one of our battery installations. But sprinklers alone are not going to control the thermal runaway. It's going to do its thing until it's done.

A Joint Study by the Fire Suppression Systems Association and the Fire Industry Association (UK)

Issued November 1, 2023 - Released December 15, 2023

"The Fire Industry Association (FIA), a non-profit organisation, has pledged to dedicate a portion of its yearly revenue to support joint research initiatives that contribute to the well-being of its members, the industry, or public safety. Collaboration with other organisations is integral to the success of these projects. The partnership with the Fire Suppression Systems Association (FSSA) exemplifies the FIA's steadfast commitment to this initiative." - Robert Thilthorpe, Technical Manager, Fire Industry Association

“This research report is the culmination of almost six years’ collaboration between the UK’s Fire Industry Association (FIA) and the USA’s Fire Suppression Systems Association (FSSA).  The research demonstrated that continuous recirculating airflow can enhance uniformity of gaseous agent concentrations in data center applications, even in spaces where aisle containments are present.  The conclusions of the report should be quite useful to those responsible for designing and maintaining clean agent fire extinguishing systems for data centers” - Tom Wysocki, Technical Director, Fire Suppression Systems Association