Protesting ‘Voodoo’ Engineering

The University of Wisconsin sent me a brochure for a “practical course focusing on design training for sprinkler
systems (wet and dry)” plus other related subjects including pump selection. I wrote a letter back to the university
protesting what I call “Voodoo Engineering”. It is my assertion, and there is an abundance of evidence to support
it, that the sprinkler system so-called engineering is a scam and a fraud. Indeed, I consider the engineering based on
the codes of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to not only be the cover for defrauding the public but
also a criminal operation that has caused fire deaths into the hundreds of thousands. I will explain.

The NFPA is a non-government code making operation that produces more than a hundred fire codes. These codes
are created inside closed committee rooms by representatives of organizations that profit from fire. The fire
sprinkler industry exerts excessive control over the make-up of the NFPA codes that mandates that sprinkler
systems be designed in a manner that allows that industry to dramatically overprice the system. This creation of
codes to the benefit of an industry that is overcharging for fire protection is essentially a scheme to circumvent the
anti-trust laws and prevent competition and reduced prices. That businesses and the people are overcharged for
protection is bad, but by no means the most serious consequence of this Voodoo Engineering. By far the worse
consequence of an industry creating codes to benefit itself is that the pricing and the barrier against competition has
resulted in the vast majority of buildings that were built since 1896 (when the code was created) being constructed
without any or limited fire protection.

A small number of large sprinkler companies have been able to control the work nationally. For various reasons,
the NFPA codes applicable to sprinkler work were oriented to mainly apply to the very large industrial type
properties. Thus, near 100 percent of the following type occupancies were effectively denied sprinkler protection:
homes (single family), apartment houses, schools, houses of worship, hospitals, nursing homes, office buildings,
high rise buildings, hotels, motels, institutional buildings, dormitories, night clubs, restaurants, dance halls,
stadiums, places of assembly and virtually all similar “life at risk” type properties.

By denying protection via corrupt fire codes that benefited those who profited from fire, hundreds of thousands of
fire deaths occurred that should have been prevented. A central station monitored sprinkler system was proven,
many years ago, to control fire 99.98 percent of the time and virtually eliminate fire deaths.
See the T Seddon Duke report, www.scribd.com/doc/16130041/The-T-Seddon-Duke-Report

One of the most deadly corruptions that were brought about by the NFPA and the sprinkler industry was the
falsifying of research to “prove” that a residential sprinkler system could not control a fire except the system was
fed by at least 40 gallons per minute of water. Since homes do not have that much water available for sprinklers it
was a “kiss of death” to the wide scale installation of sprinklers in homes. Obviously, that was also a “kiss of
death” to thousands of children.

The NFPA and the sprinkler industry got away with this rigging of the sprinkler codes for decades because the
NFPA kept the public misinformed relative the need for sprinklers for life safety. However, over recent years the
public has become aware of the value of sprinklers to save lives. Hence, the corruption that destroyed so many
lives in the past is no longer tolerable.

The NFPA codes can overprice as follows (Note: these are generalizations, often the price differentials are even
worse):
1. A sprinkler line from the street to the building could cost $40,000.00 whereas an honest price would be
less than $10,000.00.
2. A UL listed fire pump and related equipment could be $30,000.00 to $50,000.00 whereas an excellent
commercial pump keyed to the real water need could be $5,000.00.
3. An interior system as per the NFPA code could be $80,000.00 whereas a properly engineered system
could be $25,000.00.
ProtestingVoodooEngineering.pdf | Check for latest version at: www.Scribd.com/doc/30590568/Protesting-Voodoo-Engineering 1 of 3
 4. I personally engineered a Patton system for a 1.2 million square feet of a medical center that priced out
at approximately ten percent of the NFPA designed system (NFPA system bid not accepted) on a square
foot basis.

There is no doubt in my mind that the prices that are “standard” to the sprinkler industry represent legalized
extortion via the NFPA operation. The NFPA has been able to block the marketing of non NFPA designed
protection. Besides being a rip off of the purchaser, it has been a cause of hundreds of thousands of deaths and
injuries within fire dangerous buildings. And what I find particularly disturbing relative a fine engineering school
such as the University of Wisconsin promoting Voodoo Engineering, is that it is, as I see it, a black mark against
the real engineers at the school. My letter to the University of Wisconsin follows:

April 26, 2010

Ms. Lisa H. Rutherford, Director

Office of Administrative Legal Services
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin 53715

Subject: Voodoo ENGINEERING

Dear Director Rutherford:

For many years I have been investigating and revealing blatant dishonesty and corruption within the American fire
regulatory system. However, the fire protection engineers have been helping to conceal the dishonesty. As a result
hundreds of thousands of preventable fire deaths and injuries have occurred. Fortunately, within the past five years
others have confirmed my findings. Especially see www.TheWorldFireSafetyFoundation.org for clear evidence
of deadly frauds.

As a graduate and licensed engineer I make these accusations:

1. The NFPA code requirements for fire sprinkler design are a fraud and this fraud has caused fire deaths
and injuries possibly in excess of a million.
2. The ionization type smoke detector that is now installed in at least 80 million homes in America is
defective and not capable of detecting real (visible-large particulate) smoke.
3. I estimate, based on FEMA loss data, that the smoke detector fraud has caused the deaths of an
estimated 75,000 people; nearly half were pre-teens. .
4. The fire protection course at your university is educating engineers to use and promote corrupt codes
that have been justified with deliberately falsified research.

The brochure I received from your College of Engineering (see enclosed) implies that those who attend a
conference will be taught how to engineer a fire sprinkler system. Clearly, those that attended were taught NFPA
code design methods that will blatantly defraud the purchaser of the system. I enclose a report providing details of
a properly engineered fire sprinkler system for the Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. Note that a partial
NFPA designed system was bid at about $2.90 per square foot. A true engineered system was designed, bid and
installed at approximately 35 cents a square foot; roughly a 90 percent reduction in cost per square foot. Further,
because the entire hospital was then fully sprinkler protected the cost of constructing the building was reduced by
more than 5 million dollars. Creating a market control (preventing free marketing) that allows charging up to ten
times excessively for a system to protect lives is obviously a criminal operation. So, how do the “engineers” at your
university justify this defrauding of the public?

ProtestingVoodooEngineering.pdf | Check for latest version at: www.Scribd.com/doc/30590568/Protesting-Voodoo-Engineering 2 of 3

 Also enclosed is an article by T. Seddon Duke dated 1959 confirming that over a 25 year period monitored fire
sprinkler systems controlled the early fire 99.98 percent of the time. Obviously, when the NFPA, through voodoo
code writing and falsified testing, caused more than 90 percent of all buildings of the “life at risk” category
(including homes, hospitals, high rises, places of assembly, schools, etc.) to be constructed sans sprinklers, perhaps
as many as a million fire deaths and injuries have resulted during the past 114 years. The Station Nightclub fire in
West Warwick, RI dated February 21, 2003 were 100 died was but one of the hundreds of thousands of deadly fires
that would never have occurred if the NFPA had not created legally enforced barriers to protection. A fire sprinkler
industry resulted where less than ten major firms controlled the industry nationwide.

Also, Underwriters’ Laboratories falsified fire tests to “certify” as “safe” a defective so-called smoke detector. Then
the NFPA revised its code based on deliberately fallacious testing to promote a non-smoke detector as the preferred
device to protect life in a home. I ask you, what kind of people will falsify fire tests and rig a safety code to create a
billion dollar market for a defective fire detector when the cost is tens of thousands of burned children? What kind
of people will continue to lie about the ability of a phony “smoke” detector even after experience has shown that it
is a killer of children? A court of law has confirmed that it is a “killer” of children (see enclosed document,
www.FireCrusade.com/pdfs/ALegalCauseofFireDeaths.pdf).

I am hopeful that this communication will at least motivate you to see the live fire tests on The World Fire Safety
Foundation’s web site. The site has irrefutable evidence confirming the corruption within the code system that has
been many times more damaging to children than the pedophile priests. I do not justify the conduct of the
molesters, but the priests did not burn children by the thousands. Because the codes require what I call ‘Voodoo
Engineering’ one could assert that those who design sprinklers to the NFPA code and those who fail to warn the
public of the deadly nature of the phony smoke detector are Voodoo Engineers.

When the full story of the NFPA/UL corruption becomes known (just as the pedophile priests behavior was finally
revealed) the backlash could be devastating. The traditional and honest engineering courses could be linked to the
dishonest (Voodoo Engineering) to the detriment of your university.

I recommend that the design code for fire sprinkler systems be investigated by your mechanical engineering
department and I trust that your electrical engineering department will visit The World Fire Safety Foundation’s web
site and review the evidence of criminal activity behind the marketing of the ionization ‘smoke’ device.
I will be more than willing to provide additional information that could bring about a much safer America.

This letter will be posted on the Internet because I believe every person at risk to fire is entitled to the truth about
the fire regulatory frauds.

Sincerely,

Crusade Against Fire Deaths

Richard M. Patton
President, Fire Protection Engineer
Sacramento, USA
www.FireCrusade.com

Enclosures:
University of Wisconsin brochure,
T. Seddon Duke article,
A Legal Cause of Fire Deaths and
Hospitals article

ProtestingVoodooEngineering.pdf | Check for latest version at: www.Scribd.com/doc/30590568/Protesting-Voodoo-Engineering 3 of 3