Ed Van Walraven Named Advocate of the Year
Retired Fire Marshal Dedicated to Life Safety
D'ARCY MONTALVO | American Fire Sprinkler Association
As a proponent for total life safety, retired Aspen, Colorado Fire Marshal Ed Van Walraven has embraced all aspects of fire prevention. His work at the city, state and national level has helped establish ordinances and shape standards for those in the fire protection industry. And, a 30-year career in the industry didn't end with his retirement, as he continues to serve on several committees and within organizations in support of his goal. This year, the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) is proud to honor Ed Van Walraven as its Fire Sprinkler Advocate of the Year.
A Career That Found Him Van Walraven didn't seek out a career in the fire protection industry, but he had several friends who were volunteers with the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department.
"A couple of good friends talked me into joining as a volunteer firefighter," recalls Van Walraven. "After a few years of growth in the area, the fire district hired a fire marshal and decided they needed a fire prevention bureau."
When a fire inspector position was created within the bureau, Van Walraven applied.
The Aspen community is an upscale resort town in the mountains. Most of the homes are large – from 5,000 ft2 to as large as 55,000 ft2 – and many are difficult to access and in remote wooded areas. Shortly after becoming fire inspector, Van Walraven came to the conclusion that fire sprinklers were needed.
"It just made sense to me that everyone should have fire sprinklers," Van Walraven remembers. "My boss and mentor Wayne Vandemark said 'go for it.' I got input from my new friends in the local industry and knew a couple county commissioners and city council members. It was trial by fire. It was my first time going before the fire district board, then to the county commissioners and city council, attending hearings and proposing the ordinance.
“Strangely enough, nobody argued with me. They all said it sounded like a great idea, so we did it. Our fire district board was and still is progressive,” Van Walraven continues. “The original ordinance called for any structure over 5,000 ft2 and more than five
minutes from the fire station to have sprinklers. The vast majority of homes in the area qualified. The code was then amended to add any place difficult to access as determined by the fire marshal."
Van Walraven says he picked the square footage size because there weren't many residential occupancies under 5,000 ft2 .
"We also used the Iowa method of calculating fire flow, and we could initially carry about that much water to the fire scene. If we had water on the fire from the residential sprinkler system, it would keep the fire in check. That's a double win – containing the fire and life safety for the home's occupants and our firefighters. My goal was life safety for both."
Eventually the five-minute response time requirement was removed and the code stands: Any structure over 5,000 ft2 and difficult to access. The Aspen Fire Protection District's residential fire sprinkler codes have been used as a model for other ordinances in the area.
“If there is anything that I could take pride in, it is the fact that life safety was my number one objective,” Van Walraven says. “Life safety for firefighters, emergency responders and occupants of the structure
“We need to educate the public so the elected officials get the message from their constituency. That’s how we get residential sprinklers accepted and fewer ordinances overturned. Our elected officials are going to push for what their constituents want. In Colorado, we’re doing it. The Colorado Fire Sprinkler Coalition is getting the message out. National organizations like the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition offering media-ready materials to Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) who are out there in the trenches makes sense. You’ve got to have the research and the numbers to convince the public.”
Van Walraven notes a current public awareness program led by Ron Biggers, fire marshal for the Glenwood Springs, Colorado Fire Department. Biggers has run film trailers at the local movie theaters extolling the virtues of residential fire sprinklers.