Drew chats with Lisa Salzman and Tom Doty of Fire Tech Productions, a fire protection training company. They conduct virtual trainings as well as in-person throughout the country. NICET Prep is a key component to what they help the industry with.
Full Transcript
Drew Slocum: (00:10):
This is episode 18 of the Fire Protection Podcast, powered by Inspect Point. Today, my guests are Lisa Saltzman and Tom Doty of Fire Tech or Fire Tech Productions. It's a training tool for fire protection, both online, in person. Uh, they do a bunch of nice set prep as well. Very intrigued of what they're doing. Um, you know, there's a lot of different manufacturers out there that do training, but, uh, fire tech is kind of a, a, a virtual or in person way to do it. Obviously, virtual is gonna be a little easier the next, uh, next month or so with all the stuff, uh, happening currently in, in the world. So, uh, yeah, stay tuned to fire tech.com. They have a bunch of free courses, uh, mess Message them, fire Tech product, uh, fire Tech Productions, F P P Code for Fire Protection Podcasts to get access to some of those free courses.
(01:06)
Just want to give a shout-out on the inspect Point side of things before we get things kicked off here. I know it's, uh, a pretty crazy time. Not sure where we're going, but, uh, please be safe out there. Uh, stay positive. We will get through this. It's just a little blip. Um, Inspect Point's. Gonna be doing some things. Uh, obviously we, we do a lot of things virtually, so we're gonna put a lot of content out, including, um, uh, webinars to help your fire protection business, uh, just personal webinars to, to try to be, uh, more mobile, um, as well as remote working. And then finally, I'm gonna be doing, uh, a bunch more podcasts over the next couple weeks, uh, potentially even one with a Fire sprinkler podcast. So please stay tuned and, uh, give me any feedback, InspectPoint.com and drew@inspectpoint.com as well. Talk soon. Enjoy. Yeah. Tha thanks Lisa and Tom for joining. And, uh, Lisa. Lisa, uh, Salzman. I'll, uh, she's with, uh, CEO Fire Protection. Uh, are you CEO or president?
Lisa Salzman: (02:12):
Uh, my title is CEO O Yes.
Drew Slocum: (02:15):
Okay. Of Fire Tech Productions. And, uh, I'll give you a little bit to chat about what fire protection, uh, fire Tech Productions is all about.
Lisa Salzman: (02:24):
Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, really big thank you, uh, for having us on. We really appreciate it. Um, and Fire Tech is a, and it is Fire Tech Productions, but we refer to Fire Tech Productions as fire tech. So bear with me there. And, um, we've been in the industry since 1987 and we started out in nysci certification exam prep training, um, myself and another partner joined in in 19, or excuse me, in 2007. And since then, we've taken what a tape cassette program and run it into the online world and hands-on workshops, as well as a few other, um, reference text products and fire taps.
Drew Slocum: (03:11):
Great. What is your background in Lisa?
Lisa Salzman: (03:15):
So, my background is actually computer science. So when I joined with, um, joined into fire tech, that was really what allowed us to grow our website and the online world. Now, in my background also, I had done a fair amount of training, so just a huge advocate of training for everybody and anybody in any field they're in.
Drew Slocum: (03:39):
That's, that's great. Is, it sounds similar to kind of my background. I'm, I'm the, I'm kind of like Tom, I'm the fire protection piece, and I had some smart, uh,
Lisa Salzman: (03:53):
Yes, there you go. Very nice. Yeah.
Drew Slocum: (03:56):
Well, thanks, Lisa. Tom, uh, I guess give us a little spiel about who you are and where you've been and what you're doing.
Tom Doty: (04:03):
You know, um, let's see. I, um, I've been in the industry for about 43 years now, and, um, got into it running heavy equipment and installing underground piping and worked my way up from there to doing the inside installations and became a foreman and, um, moved around a little bit. So I'd done it in full Florida and California and Missouri and, um, you know, different parts of the country to see how they do it different and whatnot. Sure, sure. And, um, um, pretty much do all types of fire protection. We do fire extinguishers, um, fire extinguishers, kitchen hoods, um, suppression systems, sprinkler systems, fire pumps, the whole, the whole night yards.
Drew Slocum: (04:57):
That's great. Yeah, it's kind of a wide variety of, I, you know, I've done done a little research and, and obviously you're, uh, it's funny, I was doing all the research, uh, for, for this podcast today and, uh, found out that Tom and his company, uh, crane and, uh, fire Protection is, is a customer of Inspect Point, which is always good to see. Um, that was kind of random. Um, but, uh, yeah. Great, great thing about that and I glad to have you on. Thanks.
Tom Doty: (05:27):
Yeah, no problem.
Drew Slocum: (05:29):
So let's get, let's kinda get right into it. I'll, uh, I'll kind of leave it for, for up for discussion for both of you. Um, I guess what you wanna explain what fire tech is all about, what you're doing, what you will be doing, kind of what you're growing into, um, over the next, last few years, and then into the future?
Lisa Salzman: (05:50):
Uh, sure. I can take a stab at that. And, uh, drew, just to comment on the, excuse me, the last, you know, we joke in our hands-on workshops that we're gonna have a, um, stump Tom Doty question section cuz he's, he's been doing this a long time and he really knows just about everything. And if he doesn't know it, he has like a phone, a friend quick line that he can find out in minutes, so, right. Anyway, it, it's always enjoyable. So, like I said, um, we've been around since 1987, started specifically as nice at exam prep and the, the work, the hands-on workshops. Have we started doing those, oh gosh, I think in about 2009, 2010. And then, you know, had a few of those and then they really took off in 20 13, 20 14. And I would say for us, drew, as we grow and as we are able to, uh, one of the things that I, one of my big initiatives that I wanna do is just being able to get more content out there that is open to everybody, right?
(06:57)
So obviously we're a business, we have to, you know, bring in revenue to, to run the business, but as profit increases, just to be able to do, you know, I love, I love podcast, right? You can learn so much from a podcast, um, daily email tips, you know, I want to, and we have a fire tech tip that's monthly, you know, I wanna increase that and have a tip for the fire alarm side and a tip for the fire sprinkler side. I'd also like to have some email tips and video formats. So we're just working to really increase just those 1, 2, 3 minute lessons that, you know, could kind of make somebody pause and think, oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense because I, I'm a true believer that you can hear the same thing, you know, now in a year from now, and it might resonate with you a completely different way a year from now. You know, we all learn as we go and we're a product of product of our experiences. So I just think that continued learning is such an important piece.
Drew Slocum: (07:56):
No, no, I agree. I agree. Now, you, you did mention, um, you know, online versus versus like hands-on training. What, has there been the transition to more hands-on? Or is it kind of moving more online? What, what have you seen in your experience?
Lisa Salzman: (08:16):
So, you know, for us as a company, obviously when we first started it was all online. So just looking at our, at our revenue, um, it's, we kind of swung from online to hands-on workshops and, you know, our goal really is to have a 50 50 split. Yep. The online, we think the online piece is so, so important for anybody, for example, studying, whether it be a state exam or a, uh, Nici exam because you just, you have to know the codes and, uh, we're gonna be starting in April having nici workshops as well. So a two day classroom experience. But I, I just don't think it's realistic to go into a two day classroom and walk outta there and think, okay, I'm gonna go pass the test. You, you gotta get in those standards and, and you gotta know 'em. Yeah. So we think the online piece is critical for that.
(09:08)
It will be a part of the nice at workshop. So when you purchase the Nice at Workshop, it's gonna come along with the online piece as well. But, you know, online you can study at your pace, you can study wherever you want. Um, and then if you wanna segment that with the workshop, you know, in a hands-on workshop, you're putting your hands on the system. Uh, one of the things we do is we try, uh, toys have two instructors in a workshop. I'm a firm believer that, you know, two people can tell you the exact same thing, but sometimes the way somebody says it is just resonates with you more. So, right. Just for the student teacher ratio and just hearing different voices, uh, really like two instructors. We bring in a lot of industry experts too. So sometimes they're hearing it from the manufacturer's voice as well as the technician. So, you know, and then the workshops also bring in the networking aspect, which is, is real big.
Drew Slocum: (10:01):
Yeah. Yeah. I've, I've been, you know, I've been, I used to work for Tyco before this and Viking after that. Um, and Tyco's got a great training facility, uh, up in Rhode Island, which I've been doing multiple times. I actually did a podcast there talking about training. But, um, you know, they, it seems like in the last three or so years there's been a lot of, um, more hands-on training facilities kind of opening up. I know Viking just opened up theirs, uh, general Air out in Philadelphia. And then you have Right, right. You have a lot of the local sprinkler fitters, uh, that, you know, the unions and, uh, that are training their apprentices all over the US as well. Um, and then you have Sprinkler madd down in South Florida. They've been, they've been doing a lot. So it seems like hands-on training's making a little kind of surge. Um, now do you have your own facility or do you utilize other, other facilities? How do you, how do you go to market there?
Lisa Salzman: (10:59):
Yeah, so we, we partner, we a variety of facilities. So we've been with Viking and we'll be up at their new location, our first one at the new location in April. We've been out to General Air. We've been down to Sprinkler Madock. Uh, we partner with s p P out of Atlanta, Georgia, uh, Grundfos as well up in Indy. And then there's a individual contractor who we had started with up in the Indianapolis area. Great. And um, so tho those are just a sample of some of the labs we've used.
Drew Slocum: (11:31):
Yeah. Partnerships are always, uh, great way to do it. Yep. Go ahead, Tom. Sorry,
Tom Doty: (11:36):
That's Peerless, not GR Fest.
Lisa Salzman: (11:38):
Thank you, Tom. Yes.
Tom Doty: (11:40):
Drew Slocum: (11:42):
Well aren't they part of, isn't Peerless part of grf?
Lisa Salzman: (11:46):
They
Tom Doty: (11:46):
Are. Grundfos owns them, but uh, they tried to switch it all over to Grundfos and it just didn't really work that well. Oh, they switch back to Peerless. So it's a standalone run
Lisa Salzman: (11:58):
Post a flip company.
Drew Slocum: (12:00):
Yeah. Oh, interesting. It's always changing industry, right?
Tom Doty: (12:05):
It is.
Drew Slocum: (12:06):
Um,
Tom Doty: (12:07):
It is industry updates like globe.
Drew Slocum: (12:10):
Yeah. Right, right. Yeah. There's always, there's always something going on. There's a lot of, uh, activity definitely right now with that. So, um, one question I did have for, for you, since for both of you, you know, NY a, uh, national Institute of Certified Engineered Technicians, is that correct? That was right off
Tom Doty: (12:32):
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Salzman: (12:33):
Drew Slocum: (12:34):
Ok. Alright. I got it. Right. All right.
Tom Doty: (12:43):
Because years ago, um, the fire sprinkler designers were PEs Sure. And, uh, there was a mix of PEs and, uh, fire Protection train designers. Right. And the PEs threw a big fit that we were the only ones that are supposed to use the steel are supposed to be college educated engineers. Oh. So the nice set kind of spun off because the engineers had kind of a big fit about the whole stamp and seal thing. So, and that became a nationally recognized agency and everybody signed up. And now you're just have to be a nice at three to be a designer. You don't have to be a technical pe.
Drew Slocum: (13:30):
Right, right, right. Yeah, it totally makes sense. And Nyad does a lot of, uh, great things out there. I would actually probably, I'm trying get 'em outta the podcast at some point, but I, I've always just Right. You know, um, you know, nice hat's great, but you almost need a class to, to fill out the paperwork. I feel like sometimes
Tom Doty: (13:51):
Yeah. Well,
Lisa Salzman: (13:52):
And you
Tom Doty: (13:52):
Know, I think streamline some of that now, but
Lisa Salzman: (13:56):
Yeah. And, and it's
Tom Doty: (13:58):
Been, it's been difficult.
Lisa Salzman: (13:59):
Well, and it's a nice, it has a tough job, right. Because there's always going to be people who try to circumvent the system. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So one of the things I love about Nici is it's not just, it's not just the certification piece, but it's the experience piece. You know? And that's a big deal because some people are great at testing and they can come in and take a test prep and go and test and pass and voila, but if they haven't really been out in the field and doing it, like, you know, that can be pretty scary. And these systems need to work properly.
Drew Slocum: (14:31):
No, no, I agree. I, I, I like definitely what they're doing. And, you know, you, you do have the, the testing and then you, the experience. Um, I think, uh, there's a couple other, maybe Assc is coming out with one that's, that even has a, a hands-on kind of test. I don't know if I gotta learn a little bit about it, but assc, the Association of Sanitary Engineers, I think, um,
Lisa Salzman: (14:57):
Oh, very nice
Drew Slocum: (14:58):
To combine, kind of be even equivalent to the nice, um, uh, certification. So it'd be interesting to see what they do there.
Lisa Salzman: (15:06):
Yeah.
Tom Doty: (15:07):
I heard there's somebody else trying to make a run at National Recognition, but I didn't know who it was.
Drew Slocum: (15:12):
Yeah. I think it was a sse and, and you know, I think a lot of it is, all right, great, you're, you, you know, you can, you can take a test, you have the experience, but what if you're not the best at the test? But you can, you know, you can change out a dry valve, you could change out a clapper and a dry valve like no other. So it's, I think it's a combination of all three. Um, which would be interesting. I think. I think they need a little competition to make, to make everything better. Right. So,
Tom Doty: (15:40):
Yeah.
Lisa Salzman: (15:41):
So. Right. Well, you know, and the world, the world is full of information and things are moving quicker
Drew Slocum: (15:54):
Yeah. Speaking of that, where do, where do you see the future of, of training in, in the fire protection industry? Where do you see it going? I mean, obviously, you know, you have a lot of hands on classes online, but in five years, is it gonna look different?
Lisa Salzman: (16:11):
So my, uh, yeah. My best guess would be yes. And I think, and Tom can speak really better, this to me, but one of the things we're seeing more and more is virtual reality. You know? And so I think about our workshops and just the way we do it and we, you know, you sit in the classroom and you, you talk about the code and then you go out to the systems and you put your hands on the systems and then think about adding a virtual reality piece on that. Like, you know, the more senses you l use when you learn something, the more you're going to remember it. So, right. If you could go to a workshop and get kind of, you know, 1, 2, 3 classroom hands-on virtual reality, you know, that's gonna be a really solid training.
Drew Slocum: (16:51):
No, I agree. And I, I, I know somebody's already come up with some cool VR stuff
Lisa Salzman: (16:57):
Mm-hmm.
Drew Slocum: (16:58):
We'll see what's, you know, I think they're a little ahead of their times, obviously, uh, ahead of the time a little bit. But, uh, hopefully that proves out cuz I, I think that is an intriguing, uh, piece of it, you know?
Lisa Salzman: (17:11):
Right,
Tom Doty: (17:11):
Right. I think in the next five years they'll be doing testing from remote facilities.
Drew Slocum: (17:18):
Yeah. I, uh, I, I, I'm, there's, you know, nine, what is it, NFPA nine 15, which is remote inspection. And, and I know NFPA 72 and NFPA 25 and 13, um, just approve the, essentially the ability to do remote testing and remote inspection, which uh, great point Tom. Yep.
Tom Doty: (17:44):
Yeah. They're going, they're going, all the people that are big in inspection, testing and maintenance around the board, and they're leaning that way cause they can't find people.
Drew Slocum: (17:54):
Yeah. And I'm, I'm, uh, I've, I've got my, my application in and hopefully cuz we're, you know, at inspect point, obviously we have a, a software platform to help a lot with that, but why can't we couple that with some, uh, you know, remote analysis or even remote testing. Um, I don't, I don't see how, you know, there's some ideas on that right now, but I don't know if there's anything solid. So hopefully the standards help with that a little bit.
Tom Doty: (18:22):
I think they have all the pieces in place now. They just have to unite, unite 'em all together. So you'll be able to do pump testing and everything from remote if you can get cameras in the pump rooms and whatnot.
Drew Slocum: (18:32):
Correct. Yeah. I, I, uh, I, I was at NFPA 25, they were talking about that. And I know there's some technology that even, um, there's is some technology out there that'll automatically grab a lot of that, uh, fire pump data, um Right. And then spit it back to a, a software solution so you don't have to be doing your monthly or weekly churn tests. Yep. Yeah. It's, yep,
Tom Doty: (18:57):
Yep.
Drew Slocum: (18:58):
Interesting times. So
Tom Doty: (19:00):
Yes. Yes, it is very interesting. Um, everybody seems to be working on the latest cutting edge technology.
Drew Slocum: (19:08):
Yeah. Yeah. And I wish it, I wish it would happen faster in adoption. It, it's, it's funny, even, even with our platform adoption is, is still a little bit slow if few people are, are still on paper or pdf, but it, yeah, it is moving faster and faster every year, um, which is a good thing. It helps every, you know, solve some of the issues in the industry.
Tom Doty: (19:32):
Yep.
Drew Slocum: (19:33):
What, um, Tom, this is a question for you. What, um, you know, being involved for 43 or so years, you, you get involved in all different sides of fire protection. What, um, what is the toughest kind of protection, fire protection scheme or design, whether it's alarm sprinkler, suppression, extinguishers, what's, what's the toughest one to navigate when you're, when you're trying to train technicians or just conduct a business?
Tom Doty: (20:05):
Well, I think the biggest loophole out there that I've seen is probably the specialized systems like FM 200. The, the room integrity testing is, is not, um, is either not being done or the customers not being informed, or the customers coming back and cutting holes in the room. So the chemical is designed to hold in the room for 10 minutes, but the room won't hold the won't hold it. You know, they're right. They're constantly putting more holes and more devices and more, more servers. And so there's, right, they're, I, I don't know if it's a misinformation or what, but there, there needs to be something done on, on the room integrity testing. Cuz it, it seems like it's a big loophole and nobody's doing it and they think their room's protected and it's really not protected. And
Drew Slocum: (20:54):
Yeah, it's interesting point you bring up, I was, I was at fssa, which is the suppression, I was at the trade show a few weeks ago and somebody brought that up is then, I think they're gonna be discussion discussing at N F P A 2001, I believe is potentially adding a, an annual dorfan test or a rub integrity test, which I don't think is in there currently. Right.
Tom Doty: (21:19):
I don't think it is. No.
Drew Slocum: (21:21):
Which, yeah, it's, it's interesting. You think you would wanna have that? That's, that's a good, that's a good point cuz you're, you know, those server rooms are always changing.
Tom Doty: (21:31):
I mean, we, we have our own equipment and we do the room integrity testing, but a lot of places don't, you know, they don't have the equipment. They're selling the system, but they don't do the room integrity testing and they, they leave it off for the owner to have done well, who's the owner? How's the owner gonna do it? You know? Yeah. Yeah. That's at least a 500 or a thousand dollars part that you're leaving on and nobody does it cuz it's too expensive. So then they say, well, we put the system in and then the owner was supposed to do it. That's, that's just kind of like, um, you know, wow. It's like telling gentlemen, you were supposed to, you were supposed to give him a quarter for lunch and he forgot or something, you know, it's like,
Drew Slocum: (22:07):
Wow. Yeah, maybe whoever,
Tom Doty: (22:09):
It's not getting done, so
Drew Slocum: (22:10):
Whoever's selling it to him, no, it's not gonna pass. They just wanna sell him the system no matter what.
Tom Doty: (22:16):
Right.
Drew Slocum: (22:17):
Wow. Yep.
Lisa Salzman: (22:18):
Hey, drew, I hear a
Tom Doty: (22:20):
Question, I'm not sure.
Lisa Salzman: (22:21):
Oh, go ahead, Tom.
Tom Doty: (22:23):
I don't think the, the, uh, fire officials and the AHJs are familiar enough with the FM 200 systems, even though a lot of 'em are, even though they're supposed to sign up on a room integrity test, you know? Right. So anyhow.
Drew Slocum: (22:39):
Yeah, it could, it could. Yeah, you're right. Hj uh, um, training, whatever, you know, certain jurisdictions are great, I'm sure, but a lot of others are kind of in the dark on it.
Tom Doty: (22:52):
Right.
Drew Slocum: (22:53):
Lisa, what were you saying? Sorry.
Lisa Salzman: (22:56):
Uh, well, I had a question for you changing the subject a bit, but just talking about difficulties. And I know one of the things in our world is just the, you know, the codes are changing every three years, so I know for us, you know, uh, doing state prep, you know, everything's different and just trying to even nice at itself, right. Keep trying to keep track of the standards. How do you do that within spec point, like in all the customers you have?
Drew Slocum: (23:22):
Yeah. Great, great, great point. Uh, so, you know, we, we have, I think there's about probably 10 different standards in there. And a lot of it's depends on the code. Like NFPA 10, which is extinguisher is pretty basic, right? You have 10, 10 or so questions that you're gonna ask about extinguisher. Um, pretty simple. That doesn't change from every three years code cycle. So we, we stay on top of every standard, uh, and making sure all the changes, uh, that are occurring. We kind of put the templates in there, um, that are the guidelines for the different, uh, inspection schemes essentially. But once you get into the more complicated ones, like NFP 25 especially, um, you know, it's all over the place because chapters are changing, right? And it, it, it gets complicated. I wish there was a better way to do it. Um, on the code side, you know, one of the best standards in our opinion is NFPA 72 with fire alarm because it puts it all in one table.
(24:28)
It's all right there. It's in front of the technician. It's front in front of, it's also the installation and the inspection standard. So it's all together in one. Um, the changes that are made in NFPA 72 on the install, or even the inspection side, you know, it's, it's kind of incremental every three years or every code cycle. Um, what happens with NFPA 13 and 20 fives, they'll redo the, the entire thing. Um, and 25 probably needs to be redone again,
(25:24)
Um, uh, now I don't know how much you do in California, but they have an entire standard for, uh, suppression and sprinkler. Um, it's kind of like a, a side, a side, uh, standard, which, you know, California, if, if, if that's the way they wanna do it, that's great. Um, it's very similar. The one thing I don't like there, and I'm trying to get involved a little bit there, is it's all forms, which I, you know, don't always agree with forms because, uh, yes, you have to get the information, uh, for that inspection, but it should be in a data format versus a, a physical form. Um, an n FPA is actually struggling with that now because they're trying to, to look at a lot of data out there and, um, it's kind of all over the place. So,
Tom Doty: (26:18):
Well, even their fire pump form is ridiculously complicated. It's like six pages for a diesel fire pump form. It's like, yep. You know, the, the electric ones. Why do, why does the, why does the sprinkler technician need to need to figure out what the vol and amps are exactly, but the multiplication worksheet instead of just taking it off the panel, you know?
Drew Slocum: (26:40):
Yeah. I mean, take your rate out of there, but
Tom Doty: (26:43):
Some of the stuff, some of the stuff they've done out there is just trying to make it complicated so that the younger people can't get involved. I think.
Drew Slocum: (26:51):
Yeah, that's a great point. That's a very good point. Um, PE people complain all the time the size of our fire pump report, and I'm like, well, yeah, you know, it's gotta be that long. And they're like, can you take out the electrical information? I'm like, well, well, you can customize it however you want, but it's gonna come out of the box with that. So
Tom Doty: (27:12):
I don't know. Yeah. But they're wanting you to figure, like, you know, for your, if your amps are here, then how many, you know, amp you're, you're doing multiplication on that worksheet, figure out how many amps and bolts and you can take it right off the main plate of the controller or the motor. Right, right. You know, I'm like, you don't really, you don't really need to do all these formulas. That's the engineer part of whoever helped them write the code, getting their 2 cents worth in there. You know, it's like, oh, and
Drew Slocum: (27:41):
I know. Yeah. NFPA 25 definitely needs some simplification, but Great point, Lisa, thanks for, uh, I could go, I could go onto that for 20 minutes,
Lisa Salzman: (27:52):
Well, it is, I mean, it's, you know, and it's, it's, we try to maintain, you know, probably three years worth of the same course, just so no matter what state somebody's in, you know, they can turn to training and it's a lot to keep up with. So Yeah. Always looking for tips there.
Drew Slocum: (28:09):
I mean, we have jurisdictions on And you
Tom Doty: (28:11):
Live in
Drew Slocum: (28:12):
Yeah, go ahead. You
Tom Doty: (28:14):
Live in California, drew?
Drew Slocum: (28:15):
No, I live, I actually live in the East coast, uh, in Connecticut. Um, but I spent the last 11 years. Yeah. So they, in New York City,
Tom Doty: (28:23):
They do Title 19 in California too, the five year certification and all that stuff. It's another whole book on just how to do five years.
Drew Slocum: (28:31):
Oh, I know. We, we have it. We actually have a great solution in inspect point for it. We have, um, we have every form from Title 19 embedded into our platform,
Lisa Salzman: (28:53):
Bet
Drew Slocum: (28:54):
Yeah. Yeah. They don't make it easier.
Tom Doty: (28:56):
Anything to simplify their life. Yeah, no,
Drew Slocum: (29:01):
No. But, um, no, I mean, I've, I've seen, um, I've seen some jurisdictions that are still in the early two thousands of various N F P A codes, and then obviously the ones that are up to the 2020 editions. So it is, I mean, it's usually the last few years and they don't change too, too much, but, um, you know, they, there should be a simplification process in my opinion.
Tom Doty: (29:30):
Yeah. There should be mandatory upgrades. Like I think Indiana's 15 years old still.
Drew Slocum: (29:36):
Wow. Wow. Yeah. And then different jurisdictions have their, have their addendums or, uh, added language to it as well. Right. Um, so let's see, what else do I have here? Um, future and virtual reality. So have you, and we've, we've set one of, of, uh, ourselves as an LMS and learning management system. Is that, is, is, could that be the future of fire protection, where you guys are kind of going to set up like a learning management system for a specific, you know, contractor so they could go in and they could train all their employees that way through the,
Lisa Salzman: (30:22):
The portal? So, drew, we, we have a, a learning management system that we use. It's actually the second one in our, you know, in, in our growth in our history. And we, we recently launched in an associates program. So what that allows a company to do is say, Hey, fire tech, I wanna use you and your training and that. And then that company can really set up whatever type of learning they want. And it can be our courses, or it can be their courses, or it can be a combination. And then you get an admin account or several admin accounts Oh, wow. So that the administrator can go in and make sure that Joe and Bob and Sue are all actually doing their training. They can see how they're doing on their quizzes. They can see how much time they've set in it. So we're trying to, you know, I always say to our team, like, we wanna be, you know, there's a lot of small companies out there and large companies too.
(31:22)
You know, we wanna be their training department, you know, we wanna be able to customize for people as much, as much as they need so that they can train their team, but not have to worry about that piece of the puzzle. Yeah. So, yeah. And then if I can ask a question Sure. To the listeners, one of the things that, uh, Tom Doty's gonna laugh because I've been yaking in his ear for about three years for this. But one of the things I wanna create is like a Fire protection basics course. Like just a really basic course for anybody new to the industry, you know, so whether that's a brand new guy who's could go out in the field, or an administrator or a salesperson, like what are those questions that you would like to have known when you first started, or that you would like somebody you're hiring to know, you know, really the basic, so we have a lot of basic information throughout our courses, but I really wanna come up with that just basic course that's at a, a low price point, so anybody can use it. And, you know, it just talks about e even who are the players in the industry and the difference between fire alarms and fire sprinklers and Yeah. Things like that. So my email's, lisa fire tech.com, and if anybody would like to see a something in that course, please let me know.
Drew Slocum: (32:39):
No, that's, that's a, that's a great point. There's not, uh, you know, luckily enough, I worked for Tyco, so I got to go through their 1 0 1 kind of sprinting program. Yeah. But, you know, that was, that was kind of Tyco iced, and I learned what I needed to know for them, but there wasn't really much else out there, so,
Lisa Salzman: (32:58):
Right. And you, you know, there's YouTube and there's the internet, and those are great too. But you, you don't always know exactly what's gonna come up when you search for something. Right. So Sure. If you wanna make sure that the information's correct, just putting somebody in a, you know, having, having their fingers on information like that could be helpful.
Drew Slocum: (33:18):
No, that's great. That's great info. Um, so what I, so we discussed a few topics here, and, uh, what I'll do is I'll, uh, I'll kind of wrap it up and, and, and let you guys, uh, give your, give your spiel on fire tech here in a second. But usually toward the end of the, the podcast, I do something called the, and Tom, you haven't listened to it yet, but Lisa might've listened all the way through, but I called the Quick response round, uh, tying it back to the sprinkler industry. But I, I, I ask, I asked a couple, uh, quick questions. Some of are pertaining to the industry, some are not. So, uh, try to have a little fun with it. But, um, and I, I guess I'll ask, uh, a little bit both, both separately. Um, and we'll start off, what, what is the best way to eat Skyline Chili?
Lisa Salzman: (34:14):
Five Way
Tom Doty: (34:16):
Drew Slocum: (34:17):
I don't even know what that is. Can you, what, what four, what, what is, what is that five way?
Tom Doty: (34:25):
So they have, uh, three ways, four ways and five ways, and, uh, three ways spaghetti with chili and cheese, a four-way spaghetti with chili cheese and either beans or onion. And the five way has, uh, spaghetti chili cheese, onions, and beans. Oh man. So it's, uh, you say four-way bean or four-way onion if you don't want all five. And, you know, it's, um,
Drew Slocum: (34:55):
Yeah, I looked up where you guys were. I'm like, I, my, my old roommate was from, uh, uh, the Cincinnati area. So his, uh, his folks would always send him Skyline Chili, so we would always eat it. And it was, I don't know why I liked it, because it kind of looked gross, but it was great. He made, I think he
Lisa Salzman: (35:13):
Made it, it's great.
Drew Slocum: (35:14):
Four or five way
Tom Doty: (35:16):
Skyline or Gold Star.
Lisa Salzman: (35:19):
Yeah. And they say cinnamon is like one of the secret ingredients in there, but there's also a really good skyline dip, which is just cream cheese, and then the skyline chili on top, no noodles, and then cheese on top of that. And so it's a great dip. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. To take to a party. Very easy.
Drew Slocum: (35:38):
I might have to get Skyline to sponsor this podcast now.
Lisa Salzman: (35:41):
Tom Doty: (35:43):
There you go.
Drew Slocum: (35:45):
Uh, all right, another question. This is separate as well. Um, yesterday, obviously International Women's Day, so congratulations, Lisa, on what all you've done with Fire Tech and all the stuff you've done. I like to see, you know, there's not enough, uh, women in the industry out there, so I'm glad to see a, a very progressive and upcoming company, uh, in fire protection. So thank you for all that. Thank, but what, who's your biggest, uh, mentor, I guess? Yes,
Lisa Salzman: (36:15):
Who's my biggest mentor? Who, well, I
Tom Doty: (37:25):
Very energetic and she always is trying to learn something new. So she's done outstanding for taking courses on her own and, and moving herself along the business scale platform.
Drew Slocum: (37:40):
Yeah. That's great. Tom, what about you? What's, uh, any, any, anybody out there? And I mean, you've been doing it for 43 years, so there's some, there must have been somebody out there that pushed you forward.
Tom Doty: (37:52):
Uh, you know, I, I got into it through underground and learned how to do the overhead because there was no more underground at that time. So I took a pay cut and got into the overhead and learned how to do both things. And, and, uh, it was a sense of fulfillment for me. I mean, I liked, at the end of the day when you could get down off the lift, say, I hung all that pipe today. I liked that feeling, you know, a sense of accomplishment or whatever. And, and it, it just kind of stuck with me. And then, you know, to, to, um, add a peace, you know, how to do underground. Now we're doing fire extinguishers, now we're doing kitchen hoods, and now we're doing, I like that, uh, learning curve where you're, you're in the same industry, but you're learning something new all the time. So I like that.
Drew Slocum: (38:37):
No, that's great. That's great. Um, all right, great answers. Uh, so last question a little bit more in the industry, but, uh, how do we get more technicians in the business? I know obviously you can qualify them with your platform, our platform, whatever, whatever they're learning. But how do we get more, you know, heads as you know, in the business? I mean, there's not, there's already a shortage. Um, any ideas?
Tom Doty: (39:09):
Well, that's a million dollar question. If you can answer that, you're gonna be rich in the next 10 years.
Drew Slocum: (39:46):
No, I think some of the automation will, will help that, but you're still gonna need, you know, feet on the ground.
Tom Doty: (39:53):
Well, yeah, the grandson lives with me and I keep telling the grandson, I know you don't wanna, nobody in your age group wants to work with their hands. And he goes, right, we just wanna do something clean and push buttons on the phone or something and talk or, or do the drive through or so close. I said, right, but you're still gonna want that toilet to flush. You still want the lights to come on. You still want the air conditioning to work. You still want
Lisa Salzman: (40:22):
You know. Well, yeah. And it's, you know, I don't know, I think life in general ebbs and flows, right? And so we've gotten into this state of being that, so, you know, more people are getting college degrees than used to, and then what Tom was speaking to. And, and so now it's beginning to become that the technicians, uh, pay is going to increase cuz they're in short salary. So then everybody will start leaning that way.
Drew Slocum: (41:24):
Yeah. You gotta let 'em figure it out sometimes.
Lisa Salzman: (41:26):
Yeah.
Drew Slocum: (41:27):
Yeah. Yeah. It is the million or billion dollar question, whatever you wanna call it.
Lisa Salzman: (41:31):
Yeah. Yeah. Trillion.
Drew Slocum: (41:34):
Well, well, I, I thank you both for coming on. Um, you know, this is a, it's, it's a nice avenue to get some different information out there. And, uh, again, we're gonna be doing more of these, uh, you know, as the year progresses. So, you know, definitely stay tuned and, uh, I guess where, where can we find fire tech? Um, you want, you can give a plug of how to find you and, um, yeah. All that.
Lisa Salzman: (42:00):
Okay. Okay. And, uh, again, drew, uh, huge thank you to you and for what you're doing for your industry, right. For the industry. So just to drive along and listen to this podcast and glean a few points is, is so key. So thank you. And, uh, fire tech.com. F i r e t e c h.com is our website. Uh, our main in email is info short for information i n Ffo or myself, Lisa at Fire Tech or Tom Doty, the expert tom@firetech.com. So anyway, give us a call, email us and we'll try to get to you what you need.
Drew Slocum: (42:39):
Great. Great. Great. Any, any, uh, any, uh, last, uh, comments, Tom, Lisa, any about anything?
Tom Doty: (42:48):
Uh, no. I think, you know, like, like Lisa said, you're doing a great job and, and keep up the good work and thanks for having us on.
Lisa Salzman: (42:55):
Yeah, thank
Drew Slocum: (42:56):
You very much. Alright. I appreciate it. Tha thanks. Okay, thanks Lisa. Thanks Tom. Thanks
Lisa Salzman: (43:00):
Drew. Okay, bye.
Drew Slocum: (43:02):
This has been episode 18 of the Fire of Protection Podcast, powered by Inspect point. I want to thank again, Lisa and Tom for joining the podcast. Uh, this is actually the first time I've, I've, I've had, uh, two different people, two different phone numbers call in, uh, via Skype as well. So ended up being pretty good. Uh, I know, uh, I recorded this again, like I said earlier in the intro, recorded this last week, uh, before all the craziness really ensued. Um, but yeah, reach out to Elisa or Tom at Fire Protection Productions as well as Inspect point. And, uh, yeah, please subscribe. There's gonna be a, a couple more podcasts in the next two weeks coming out. So again, thank you very much. Be safe.