One of the many seminars this year, “Tame the Flame: A Close Look at Exterior Wall Flammability with a Focus on NFPA 285” will be presented by Dwayne Sloan on March 28, from 8:00-9:30 a.m.

There are several changing factors within building and construction that cause us to take a closer look at exterior wall flammability. Regulation changes, recent fire events around the world, needs for energy efficient (green) construction and plans for new tall wood building construction have continued to drive discussion and debate over the issue of rapid fire progression on exterior wall construction materials. To better understand the exterior wall flammability issue and move toward solutions, this presentation will:

• Discuss the factors that influence building construction;
• Provide an understanding of certain fire tests that are sometimes misconstrued as suitable for the evaluation of exterior walls and;
• Examine the importance of selecting tests for specific regions, codes and regulations.

The presentation will also focus on a prominent exterior wall test method, NFPA 285, and how compliance with these test requirements and codes are driving safety of exterior wall construction within the U.S.

Typically, the acceptance of wall systems (when tested to exterior wall methods) involves a fairly complex review of building code interpretation, individual component manufacturer’s test reports, engineering analysis and application of the manufacturer’s installation instructions. This presentation will also discuss UL’s certification documents for Exterior Wall Systems & Components and demonstrate how this new approach meets the needs of manufacturers, architects, specifiers and code officials for an accessible, up-to-date method of determining code compliance of exterior wall systems evaluated to NFPA 285.

Dwayne Sloan is the manager of principal engineers for building materials and suppression at UL LLC. He is an Active NFPA member and serves on several NFPA technical committees, including the Fire Test Committee responsible for NFPA 285. He is the voting member of Reaction to Fire and Commercial Kitchen Ventilation UL Standards. He also participates heavily in various ASTM committees and is the 2nd vice president of ASTM E05, Committee on Fire Standards. Sloan was recently recognized by UL as a Corporate Fellow within the William Henry Merrill Society, named in honor of UL’s founder.