NFPA 101, Life Safety Code, establishes the fire protection and life safety requirements for different occupancies. For day care occupancies (both new and existing), it mandates that draperies, curtains, and other similar loosely hanging furnishings and decorations must be flame-resistant. The code explicitly requires this flame resistance to be verified through testing in accordance with NFPA 701, Standard Methods of Fire Tests for Flame Propagation of Textiles and Films. NFPA 701 provides the standardized laboratory test procedures to assess the flame propagation characteristics of these materials, ensuring they meet a minimum level of fire safety performance critical for environments with vulnerable occupants.

B. NFPA 703: This standard specifies requirements for fire-retardant-treated wood and fire-retardant coatings for building materials, not for textiles or draperies.

C. NFPA 704: This standard is the "fire diamond" system used to identify the hazards of materials for emergency response; it does not set performance criteria for furnishings.

D. NFPA 705: This document is a recommended practice for conducting a field flame test, not the official laboratory test standard required by NFPA 101 for compliance.

1. NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, 2021 Edition.

Section 16.7.5.5 (New Day-Care Occupancies): "Draperies, curtains, and other similar loosely hanging furnishings and decorations shall be flame resistant as demonstrated by testing in accordance with NFPA 701, Standard Methods of Fire Tests for Flame Propagation of Textiles and Films."

Section 17.7.5.5 (Existing Day-Care Occupancies): Contains identical language to Section 16.7.5.5, referencing NFPA 701.

2. NFPA 701, Standard Methods of Fire Tests for Flame Propagation of Textiles and Films, 2019 Edition.

Section 1.1 (Scope): "This standard establishes test methods to assess the propagation of flame of various textiles and films under specified fire test conditions."

3. SFPE, The SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, 5th Edition.

Chapter 15, Section 15.5.2.1 (Test Methods for Textiles): "The most widely used tests for draperies, curtains, and other hanging textiles are those in NFPA 701... The Life Safety Code (NFPA 101) requires that hanging textiles in most public occupancies pass NFPA 701." (p. 458).