NFPA certifies that L3Harris, Motorola Solutions devices meet latest fire standard

L3Harris and Motorola Solutions recently announced that their P25 radios with LTE connectivity have been certified as meeting the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1802 standard, which is considered to be the most stringent testing regime for public-safety devices serving the firefighting community.

NFPA informed officials for both L3Harris and Motorola Solutions on Dec. 13 that their solutions—both the handheld devices and remote speaker microphones (RSMs)—had been certified as meeting the 1802 standard, making them the first products to achieve this certification.

Todd Perdieu, director of strategy and product-line management for L3Harris, said the company’s XL Extreme 400P radio and XL Extreme Speaker Microphone had to pass 150 primary tests and “thousands” of sub-tests included in the 2021 standard to achieve NFPA 1802 certification. Achieving this certification reflects the L3Harris’ “continual commitment to open standards” and has resulted in the Extreme radio being “the safest and most durable radio available on the market today,” Perdieu said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.

While L3 Harris has been selling its Extreme device and speaker mic since December 2021, Motorola Solutions decided not to make its APX NEXT XN P25 smart radio and XVN500 remote speaker microphone until after receiving the NFPA certification, according to Scott Alazraki, senior product planning manager for Motorola Solutions.

“We were not going to sell this product until it had the [1802] certification from NFPA,” Alazraki said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “There’s a label on the device [reflecting NFPA 1802 certification], and you can’t add that later. It has to come from the factory with that, so we were eagerly awaiting the completion of this certification.”

Many fire-service customers also have been anticipating confirmation that the Motorola Solutions device and speaker mic met the challenging 1802 standard, according to Alazraki.

“We have a good idea that there’s a strong demand for this product,” he said.

Perdieu said that, although L3Harris has been selling its device and speaker mic for a year, he believes demand for the product will increase noticeably when the market learns of the NFPA 1802 certification.

“There have been a number of customer that have specifically expressed  interest in knowing that the NFPA certification was imminent,” Perdieu said. “That want to wait for the NFPA certification and get that stamp of conformance [before purchasing the product], so they’re super excited that we’ve reached this milestone.”

But Alazraki noted that he does not believe all fire department will opt for the NFPA 1802-compliant solution. Instead, he believes there will continue to be a “strong demand” for Motorola Solutions’ APX XE portfolio of mission-critical devices.

“There are going to be some customers who—for whatever reason—feel that they’re fine with the current XE product line,” Alazraki said. “There are going to be others who just want the radio to meet the most stringent standards [NFPA 1802].”

Ken Rehbehn, a volunteer firefighter who is the founder and principal analyst at CritComm Insights, also noted that that upgrading to NFPA 1802-compliant devices likely is not option for all fire department.

“Never underestimate the cost challenges in the long tail of U.S. fire service agencies,” Rehbehn stated in a recent blog. “Rural agencies will likely maintain the status quo without regulatory requirements, insurance constraints, or proscriptive grant guidance.”

Meanwhile, both Motorola Solutions and L3Harris plan to leverage the knowledge gained in developing products to meet the challenging NFPA 1802 standard in future products.

Alazraki said that NFPA 1802’s “next-level” testing forced Motorola Solutions developers to consider new device designs and materials to meet the standards stringent physical requirements, resulting in knowledge gained that he is confident will be leveraged in future products.

“We absolutely learn things from these products that make us look at how we design radios in the future and how to improve things,” Alazraki said.

Perdieu also said that L3Harris plans to build on the success of developing products that meet the NFPA 1802 standard.

“This is just the beginning for us,” Perdieu said. “Now, with NFPA [1802] certification, … we’re going to keep the ball rolling with continued integrations for Two47 incident command and additional features, like integrating to manufacturers’ airpacks.”