Over the past three years, the IFMA Board of Directors have made efforts to recognize one of the 34 IFMA Chapters from across the US and Canada for their work in supporting the mission of IFMA as well as their members.

The process for selecting the chapter to be recognized has been assigned to several of our Past IFMA Presidents, and three of them are here with me today to talk a little more about the Chapter Recognition award and their thought process in selecting the past three award recipients.

We not only discuss their criteria for selecting the recipients, but overall benefits of being an IFMA Chapter.

Recent incidents of fuel gas leaking into homes and businesses and the resulting fires and explosions has motivated legislatures to take action to monitor for and alert occupants to these hazards. The fuel gas industry saw the need for a new standard that prescribed how to accomplish this goal and NFPA 715 was born.

Richard Roberts an Industry Affairs Manager for Honeywell Building Automation and has been involved in the development of NFPA 715 and other documents. He shares his insight into the why and how this standard is developed and what a Fire Marshal should know going forward.

You can contact Richard directly at Richard.Roberts@systemsensor.com

IFMA focuses on three things: Code Enforcement, Fire Investigations, and Public Education. In this episode I'm joined by Kelly Ransdell, Public Education Director for NFPA and an Elizabeth Willi from Palm Harbor Fire/Rescue (FL) who was an NFPA Public Education "Rising Star" at the 2025 NFPA Conference and Expo.

If you know of a Rising Star in Fire and Life Safety Public Education, you can nominate them to participate in the 2026 Rising Stars Program. Contact your NFPA Regional Director or email me at IFMA@NFPA.org for more information.

If you want to connect with Liz, her Instagram handle is @Liz_onfire.