NFPA Developing Active Shooter Response Standard

Work on the NFPA 3000 standard began last October, driven by the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.

Experts on active shooter and hostile incident response are meeting this week at the National Fire Protection Association's headquarters in Quincy, Mass., to develop NFPA 3000, Standard for Preparedness and Response to Active Shooter and/or Hostile Events, the association announced June 13. The initial standard is expected tol be finished by early 2018, and then the public will have an opportunity to offer input for immediate review. The project was spurred by the June 12, 2016, mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

"We have seen far too many of these hate crimes in recent years in places like London, Paris, San Bernardino, Boston, Sandy Hook, Fort Hood, Virginia Tech, and Charleston. These tragedies highlight a need for first responders, emergency personnel, facility managers, hospital officials, and community members to have information when terror attacks occur," said NFPA President Jim Pauley.

The standard's Technical Committee is chaired by Richard Serino, recently retired COO of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, former chief of Boston EMS, and a current faculty member at Harvard University. Others serving on it include Fire Chief Otto Drozd III from Orange County, Fla., who has been the driving force behind the standard's development, according to NFPA; and representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, International Association of Police Chiefs, International Association of Fire Chiefs, National Association of EMTs, International Association of Fire Fighters, EMS Labor Alliance; as well as hospital officials, facility managers, private security authorities, and university personnel. Their goal is to develop the standard to serve as a reference for officials when they are facing a hostile event.

"Our world is changing. It is critical that we do whatever it takes to protect it together," NFPA Fire Services Segment Director Ken Willette said. "We need to join forces and share the collective wisdom that will help us build a framework for prevention, responsiveness, and overall resiliency in the face of terror. The sense of urgency displayed by our Technical Committee and stakeholders to move this important standard forward has been both impressive and warranted."

Once Drozd got to work on this effort in October 2016, the new Technical Committee was formed and public comments were gathered in just four months so the standard could move forward. In April 2017, the NFPA Standards Council unanimously approved the new standard and Technical Committee, and development of NFPA 3000 is beginning this week in Quincy. The public and first responders can provide comments when the draft is posted and can follow the development of NFPA 3000 by receiving updates.