Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development

Main Street Centre 

600 East Main Street, Suite 300

Richmond, VA 23219

Reference: 2015 Statewide Fire Prevention Code

June 23, 2018

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to appeal the decision to adopt the 2015 International Code Council’s “International Fire Prevention Code (IFC)” as amended by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).  The ability to properly review the voluminous changes recommended by DHCD staff and correlate them back to the origin language in the 2015 ICC-IFC and the various National Fire Protection Associations (NFPA) Codes and Standards “Incorporated by Reference (IBR)” in the IFC is critical to evaluating the  safety of existing buildings.  The number of changes suggested by staff and others coupled with the short period of time allowed to comprehensively review the document and assess the potential impact of those changes does not allow for an appropriate review.

We believe that the safety of the community is better served by allowing a sufficient amount of time to properly review and comment on the changes.  Given the fact that with this adoption the DHCD is already one whole complete cycle behind the ICC’s current IFC we believe the review is critical. 

Sincerely,

Gregory B. Cade

Mid-Atlantic Regional Director

National Fire Protection Association

619 Chesapeake Drive

Stevensville, Maryland 21666

202-309-8537 (phone); gcade@nfpa.org (email)