Autumn Years Summer 2023

One reason firefighters stay dedicated and have a good image is their immediate care for fire victims. “The fire department encounters people at the worst moment of their lives,” he says.

“When the two biggest towers fell, we got volunteer investigators with no authority,” he says. Glenn is impatient that there is still a need for safety changes “that we’d been screaming about for years. The insurance industry forced them to put in sprinklers. It was a no-brainer that the 2002 NCST Act (National Construction Safety Team Act) needed to be passed—9/11 was a lightning rod for all the issues.” He served on the national team that investigated what happened at the World Trade Center and testified before Congressional committees. Debunking conspiracy stories about 9/11, he advises looking up at home improvement stores to see the roof struts, which are similar to the lightweight floor construction used at the WTC. “That’s why it came down. Steel frame buildings collapse every day,” he says. “Fire weakens and softens steel.” Glenn’s voice has been strengthened because “If I had become a paid firefighter, I would never have been able to do advocacy. Folks in the academic world are not constrained—I am able to be polite but blunt about stuff.

can destroy battery cases, which is what happened when Teslas burned in Florida in 2022 after Hurricane Ian. He rues the fact that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is not developing quality standards for lithium batteries, which are found in cell phones, hand-held gaming devices, cameras, laptops and cars. He wants them to be tested by the Underwriters Laboratories. “Lithium is the way we’re headed and comes with a price. We see the benefits, not the problems,” he says. New York City experienced 200 fires in 2022 that were caused by lithium batteries. He is concerned about battery banks replacing generators. “Codes are way behind on

Twenty-two years later we’re still dealing with 9/11 issues. When new lightweight wood frame ‘toothpick tower’ apartment buildings are built, I tell them about fire access roads—you need a roadway on all four sides. I tell bureaucrats that they need to change the code.” Lithium batteries fuel his concern about newer problems. The batteries can go into a chemical reaction called thermal runaway that cannot be stopped by water. “Each battery has a life to it. A lot of these new ones are cheap and that’s why they sell—if one is $30 or $300, which one are you going to buy?” he asks. He is against buying off-brands online. He points out that corrosion

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SUMMER 2023 I AUTUMN YEARS