Pearlfish,
we in Vermont have been a code cycle ahead of the nation (210.12).
at first i did many service upgrades with AFCI's pedaling them to customers as a fail safe for older wiring , in that they need fear no arc again.
of late, all the fallicies and inconsistencies have surfaced, i no longer advocate them as a 'bandaid' for older wiring, or any that would be installed in the grey 'exposed' area.
here's one....
compare GFCI's to AFCI's in the sense of survivability, read Mr. Ken Silerstien's article on page 150 of the Sep. 02' Electrical Contractor mag....
I had seen that GFCI's had many ROP's in the last cycle to this end,( probably it went some cycles back) inspectors etc had seen many malfunction in the field....
note most are not proximal to the panel,( as AFCI's) where voltage variants/sags/swells/spikes, and all form of dirty power will occur....
one would think .....good for the goose/good for the gander
???
