The Fall River Fire and the O-Ring Sprinkler Problem with Grant Lobdell of Dyne

Grant Lobdell returns to the show at a moment when sprinkler head testing has the industry’s full attention. Grant leads the lab work at Dyne Fire Protection Labs, now an NFPA Global Solutions company, where his team tests sprinklers, foam, water mist nozzles, and more against NFPA 25.

The conversation opens with the fire at Gabriel House in Fall River, Massachusetts, and the early indications that recalled O-ring sprinklers were in the building. As Grant explains, recalls like these should get caught, either at the testing intervals or through the voluntary recall programs, and the industry needs help catching them.

Part of the problem is structural. Contractors handle the monthly, quarterly, and annual work well. It’s the tests that come due 20 or 50 years after installation that get forgotten. And the intervals themselves keep moving: Grant walks through how the NFPA 25 committee sets testing frequencies from failure-rate data, why dry sprinkler intervals went from 10 to 15 to 20 years, and why recalled O-ring heads technically still meet the standard today if they pass a test. He expects that to change in a coming cycle. The codes, as he puts it, are written in blood.

The second half is a working session: Drew walks through how Inspect Point structures sprinkler data at the system and asset level, tracks test frequencies against whatever NFPA 25 edition each building follows, and rolls it up into a sprinkler projection report that shows what’s due and what’s coming due across a whole portfolio. From there, submitting heads to Dyne is a couple of clicks: request a kit, fill the box, and the lab report comes back to your inbox.

Notes: Dyne Fire Protection Labs Inspect Point