Most people think that fire protection engineers and firefighters have the same goals and motivations, but that isn't always the case. Those slight misalignments and misunderstandings can sometimes result in poor designs and unsafe conditions for responding crews during an emergency. Today on the podcast, we hear about what happened when a group of fire protection engineers visited a fire academy to run through drills, talk with firefighters, and look at fire protection through a different lens. What did they learn? How did it help them do their jobs? Is this something more engineers should do?

This episode was recorded live at the 2026 NFPA Conference in Las Vegas.

LINKS:

For more information on the project and how to organize something similar, contact Jeremy Souza and Joshua Donovan

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As more cities transition to lithium-ion powered bus fleets, transit authorities, safety managers, and fire departments are having to figure out how to contend with a different and potentially much more complicated hazard than the diesel-powered buses they replaced. There are still many safety gaps and unknowns. How do electric bus fires and related hazards compare to those of traditional buses or even the typical electric vehicle? What design retrofits and new mitigation and protection strategies are needed at bus depots? What should responders know? Jesse chats with two researchers from Energy Safety Response Group who were involved in an extensive new Fire Protection Research Foundation project that tries to answer some of those questions. The interview was recorded live at the 2026 NFPA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

Links:

Read more about the Fire Protection Research Project, "Lithium-ion battery Transit Bus Fire Prevention and Risk Management."

See the various trainings and resources NFPA offers for responding to and preparing for electric vehicle incidents.

Fire Prevention Week 2026 (October 4–10) is focused on consumer lithium-ion products and safe charging practices. For resources, toolkits, and educational materials, visit fpw.org.

Visit IEM, our sponsor for this episode of the NFPA Podcast!

Twenty-five years ago this month, nearly 350 New York City firefighters died during the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. For the next 10 months, FDNY members spent countless hours searching for victims and clearing wreckage from Ground Zero and related sites. Many of those workers have since come down with various respiratory diseases, cancers, and other ailments as a result of their work.

But among all this loss, tragedy, and sacrifice, there is also a tremendous success story here. Just a month after the attacks, FDNY stood up what would become the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program to monitor and treat its exposed members. The program has been nothing short of miraculous at diagnosing and treating diseases stemming from 9/11. In fact, by many metrics, FDNY members exposed at Ground Zero have better health outcomes than the general population.

Today on the podcast, we talk with Dr. David Prezant, the chief medical officer at FDNY, about this remarkable program. We discuss how the program works, what its success says about routine health monitoring and early treatment, and we reflect on the enduring impact that 9/11 has had on firefighter PPE and overall firefighter health and wellness.

Links:

Read the new NFPA Journal feature about the many enduring legacies of September 11

View NFPA's new 9/11 archive, "NFPA and the World Trade Center: 25 Years Later"

Learn more about the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program

Visit Asset Panda, our sponsor for this episode of the NFPA Podcast

This September, dozens of fire service and government leaders from more than 70 countries around the world will meet in London for the second ever World Fire Congress. Their broad goal is to discuss and share ideas and potential solutions to the many common risks and challenges that fire and rescue services share—everything from extreme wildfires and lithium-ion batteries to firefighter cancer and the looming impacts of artificial intelligence. It's all based on the idea that, rather than each country and department fighting its own battles, working together can solve problems faster and more efficiently, potentially having enormous positive impacts for firefighters and the communities they serve.

Today on the podcast, Jesse talks to Otto Drozd III and Stephen Wevers, two accomplished international fire service leaders who are helping to plan and oversee the World Fire Congress. They chat about how the Congress came to be, what it aims to become, and why international cooperation in the fire service is becoming so critical.

The interview was recorded live at the 2026 NFPA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

Learn more about the 2026 World Fire Congress in London

We all know that lithium-ion batteries can overheat, ignite, and sometimes even cause explosions when damaged—now imagine those batteries in robots built to smash each other apart. That's the reality for the safety team of the long-running television series BattleBots. Today on the podcast, we chat with the founder and the safety manager of BattleBots to discuss how the show's engineering team blends cutting-edge design standards, inspections, arena containment, and rapid-response safety systems to manage extreme risks—delivering maximum destruction while keeping fans, teams, and staff protected.

The interview was recorded live at the 2026 NFPA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

Links:

Watch episodes and clips of BattleBots in action

Read more about the forthcoming NFPA 800, Battery Safety Code

Jim Pauley, NFPA's president and CEO, has done a lot in his 12 years at the helm of the organization. From the launch of NFPA LiNK and NFPA Global Solutions to the creation of the NFPA Fire & Life Safety Ecosystem, Pauley's tenure has been transformative. But that tenure is coming to an end. Pauley's last day at NFPA is July 31, at which time Ross Ashley will become the 8th president in NFPA history.

But before Pauley heads off into retirement, he sat down with Lorraine Carli, NFPA's vice president of Outreach and Advocacy, for a wide-ranging conversation about the challenges and accomplishments over the last 12 years, the biggest threats and opportunities facing NFPA and the safety community, and why the fight for safety needs to continue.

The interview was recorded live in June at the 2026 NFPA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

Links: Read an in-depth feature profile about the career and accomplishments of NFPA President Jim Pauley in the Summer issue of NFPA Journal

Everybody in fire protection, and everywhere else for that matter, is wondering how artificial intelligence will impact their lives, their jobs, and society in general. On this episode, we will explore some of the ways that AI is already having a meaningful impact on fire protection engineering, and then engineer and industry observer Joe Meyer will engage in some informed speculation about what we will see next and how the industry might evolve and change as a result.

This episode was recorded live in late June at 2026 NFPA Conference and Expo in Las Vegas.

Links:
Learn more about Joe Meyer

Check out NFPA Journal's coverage on AI and fire protection, the AI-centric data center boom, as well as NFPA's new AI tool CASI

Over the last decade or so, community risk reduction (CRR) has gone from a novelty to perhaps the biggest buzz term in the safety industry. And while more CRR is a great thing, its surging popularity has also caused some safety departments to rush out CRR programs before taking time to analyze their data to understand the what, whys, and hows of their plan. Without data and careful planning, departments might be spending time, money, and precious staff hours on efforts where the impact is dubious or unknown.

To help us sort out the good CRR from the bad, we are joined by Fire Chief Landon Churchill, a passionate and experienced CRR leader. We chat about what effective CRR looks like, what it doesn't look like, how even the best of intentions can go sideways, and the key elements fire departments need to ensure that their efforts have the greatest impact.

LINKS: Visit NFPA's CRR homepage to see tips, tools, resources.

Learn more about NFPA 1300, Standard for Community Risk Assessement and Community Risk Reduction Plan Development.

To sign up for NFPA's monthly CRR Kitchen Table, email crr@nfpa.org