To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Brian McGraw and I am the State Fire Marshal for the Commonwealth of Virginia. As the individual responsible for enforcement of the SFPC in all state facilities and in all portions of the Commonwealth that do not have a local fire official (approximately 63% of the land mass of the Commonwealth) , I would like to add my name to the comments made by the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association.  I would also like to add the following technical concerns to the list already submitted by VFCA.

Proposal F107.11 proposed changes to the SFMO Permit Fees.  Proposal F-107.2(1) cdpVA-15 also proposed a change to the SFMO Permit Fees based for "Restricted" and "Unrestricted" manufacturing of explosives.  On September 27, 2017, DHCD Staff contacted the proponents of these two proposals via E-mail and requested assistance in correlating the two proposals based on the actions taken by the Work Group.  The proponents (Dawson, Dean, Sites, McGraw) collectively agreed on the appropriate lanague and I submitted this to DHCD Staff via E-mail on September 28, 2017.  That document indicated that Section 107.11, Item 5, should read "5. Manufacture explosives (unrestricted), blasting agents, and fireworks, 12-month permit, $250 per site" and that Section 107.11, Item 6, should read "6. Manufacture explosives (Restricted), 12-month permit, $20 per site". 

The final regulation has the text "Manufacture explosives (unrestricted), blasting agents, and fireworks, 12-month permit, $250 per site" for both Items 5 and 6 and completely omits the language "Manufacture explosives (Restricted), 12-month permit, $20".

This may be considered an "editorial" issue.  But how many similar "editorial" issues exist within the final regulations?  This is of particular concern in Chapters 11 - 59 where the proposed changes were not vetted through the consensus process.

I urge the BHCD to remove the DHCD Staff Proposal from the proposed regulation and move forward ONLY those changes that were agreed to through the Work Group process.

Sincerely,

Brian M. McGraw, P.E.

State Fire Marshal

Virginia Department of Fire Programs