Now where was I……Oh yeah! Recently, I sat on the steering committee for the third edition of the FEMA P-361 document which I am happy to inform you that it is now available for download free of charge at www.fema.gov. I just received an e-mail from the Project Manager for the revisions of the FEMA P-361 that states there were some problems with the initial upload of the documents so if you happened to download a copy prior to 4/28/15, I would recommend downloading it again.
Also available is the latest edition of the ICC 500, the 2014 edition which I was a voting member of the ICC Committee. It can be purchased from the International Code Council at www.iccsafe.org for about $32.00. There is a discount for ICC members.
The FEMA P-361 has gone through a major overhaul especially with the format. The document has been revised to align with the format of the ICC 500. For designers, it is soooo much easier to cross reference with the ICC 500, which saves time. The content of the FEMA P-361 has been revised to be more in line with the requirements of the ICC 500-2014. Another improvement is a matrix which shows the remaining differences between the FEMA P-361 and the ICC 500.
There have been several changes in the ICC 500 too numerous to discuss here. I think the most positive item is commentary for the document (yeahhhhhh) which is long overdue. There is a committee of which I have volunteered that is currently working on the commentary document which should be out later this fall.
Be careful out there!