Fire-Safe Cigarette Pioneer Being Honored at FRI 2010
New York Deputy State Fire Administrator John Mueller is receiving the 2010 Excellence in Fire & Life Safety Award this week at the conference in Chicago.
One of the top awards being handed out at this week's big Fire-Rescue International conference in Chicago is the 2010 Excellence in Fire & Life Safety Award, which will be given Aug. 27 to New York Deputy State Fire Administrator John Mueller during a meeting of the International Association of Fire Chiefs' Fire & Life Safety Section. The conference takes place Aug. 24-28 at McCormick Place.
Mueller is the fourth person to receive this annual award, which is co-sponsored by the Fire & Life Safety Section and the International Code Council. Mueller's nomination cites his organizational and coalition-building skills, as well as a drop of about 33 percent in fire deaths caused by smoking since a safe-cigarette law took effect in his state.
"John has spent his career improving life safety and public safety in the built environment to the benefit of New York State and the country," ICC CEO Rick Weiland said. "His crowning achievement is the implementation of the safe-cigarette law in New York. The statute was the first in the world and led to the same standard for fire-safe cigarettes across the United States and Canada. John is active at our code development hearings and chaired the International Fire Code Committee during the past two cycles."
"I remember that his department was a pioneer in computerizing their fire prevention inspection processes by using hand-held computerized devices to remotely access their office database. I will be forever impressed by his gracious willingness to share that process with my department. It made quite an impression on me," said Deputy Chief Joe Pierce of the Dallas Fire Department, chair of the FLSS Section.