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Originally Posted by Villages PL
The National Fire Protection Association is an industry trade group. So it makes sense that they would naturally promote lightning protection systems. It's hardly an unbiased source on which to base one's research.
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The point is there is solid scientific data that has been developed by academia and the users (those who need the protection) over the years to support the efficacy of lightning protection systems. The NFPA is a private non-profit national consensus standards writing organization. They develop standards on over 400 subjects that are used throughout the country and around the world. In effect they develop model standards that are often times adopted by authorities having jurisdiction such as the federal government, states, and municipalities. This saves the various governmental agencies from researching and developing their own codes. The two most widely used are NFPA-70, The National Electric Code and NFPA-101, The Life Safety Code that provides safe egress from buildings and structures. Some firms such as Disney voluntarily adopt all applicable NFPA standards because they do not want preventable fires injuring their guests, property damage, and downtime. You will note that all buildings at Disney have lightning rods. The NFPA is a major reason why the number of fire deaths and property damage has declined over the years.