Expert Commentary

The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington brought the need for search and rescue capability into sharp focus  The role of firefighters has evolved to include the provision of search and rescue operations for various natural and man-made disasters. Search and rescue professionals have to be suitably clothed and equipped to meet the demands of these challenges, resulting in the rapid development of specialised Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) clothing. In this art...

Having the proper fire safety and chemical-protective equipment is imperative where risk of hazardous chemical exposure is great With businesses still facing the effects of the economic crisis with budget cuts, safety remains a key concern when it comes to finding cost-effective solutions without compromising public safety. One type of incident which many businesses are not properly equipped for is hazardous chemical exposure. Ian Hutcheson of Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics...

  Airport firefighters operate very differently to their municipal fire and rescue colleagues For the thousands of firefighters covering over 80 major commercial airports throughout Europe, life is very different from that experienced by their municipal fire and rescue service colleagues. The differences range from the type of regime they experience to the types of emergency they are called upon to deal with on a daily basis. Richard Cranham, Business Development Manage...

Are new VA standards cause for alarm? Dr Steve Harrison, Product Engineering Manager at ASL Safety & Security, considers certification requirements in the voice alarm (VA) sector and how pending new standards will differ from predecessors. What's new, what should we be interested in, when are the implementation deadlines and what is the best route towards compliance?  With major new voice alarm standards set to come into operation in Britain in 2011 (British Standard...

Extricating collision victims requires advanced medical care After a vehicle collision of significant force - as in the case of high-speed impact - it is likely that the occupants of the car, particularly the driver and front seat passenger, will be entrapped. Brendon Morris, Holmatro Rescue Equipment's Consultation & Training Manager, and a rescue paramedic in South Africa for many years, discusses the need for an advanced level of care for entrapped patients in vehicle e...

  Fire departments must be well-prepared for the dangers of water and ice The fire and rescue service practice of identifying target hazards and developing plans for potential incidents should include the dangers of water and ice, says Gerald M. Dworkin, Technical Consultant at Lifesaving Resources Inc. In this article, he discusses the best practice for the creation and training of ice rescue teams. On March 14, 2000, Ralph Johnson, a 72-year-old male and avid fisherm...

Not just for the lawn: sprinklers should be brought inside the home to maximize domestic fire protection A new NFPA advocacy campaign is pushing for home fire sprinklers. In this article Lorraine Carli, Vice-President of Communications at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), gives her personal take on the issue. Nearly 10 years ago, my husband and I built our home in a typical New England development. It was a demanding process filled with lots of decisions. We pi...

  2008 saw a 15% increase in UK commercial fire damage After a 15 percent increase in commercial fire damage in the UK throughout 2008, the need for effective preventative fire protection is growing. Ian Moore, Managing Director of D-Tec (Detector Technologies Limited) explains how Video Smoke Detection (VSD) can help. Now more than ever organisations should carefully consider the impact that large scale fires, left unchecked, can have on their operations and take...

  Electrical work in UK homes can critically limit their fire defences The structural ability of domestic buildings to resist and withstand fire can be critically reduced by electrical work within walls and ceiling linings. In this article Mike Clark, Technical Director of the Electrical Safety Council, the UK-based not-for-profit organisation, explains some of the related issues. Fire safety in domestic buildings generally requires that certain walls, floors...

In this article, Ian Moore, Managing Director of D-Tec (Detector Technologies Limited) explains the issues involved in protecting against fire hazards in aircraft hangars There is little doubt that aircraft hangars, due to their sheer size and volume, represent an especially testing environment when it comes to fire safety. More specifically, the potential to actually detect smoke before a large-scale fire has taken hold may be problematic using conventional methods, due the way smoke and fire...

  The speed and efficiency of CBRN response are critical to its success Michael Peters and John Breedlove of Intelagard, Inc., industry leaders in CBRN decontamination and containment and fire suppression, explain how best to prepare for and respond to a CBRN incident. "CBRN responders, you must honestly assess your current capabilities to determine what is needed to strengthen the effective response to a CBRN incident. Your initial response will have a dramatic i...

  Christmas lights, candles and decorations pose fire and safety risks to homeowners In this article, Lorraine Carli, Vice President of Communications at the NFPA, and John Drengenburg, Manager of Consumer Affairs at Underwriters Laboratories, urge consumers to practice "TLC" safety for safer decorating this season Festive lights, ornamented trees, candles and other in-home decorations are not the only indicators that the holidays are upon us. Statistics from the Cons...

  Fire safety in road or rail tunnels is critical in avoiding potentially disastrous incidents Roger Wilton, Assistant Technical Manager of the Fire Industry Association (FIA), explains the challenges of preventing underground fires. Fires in tunnels tend to make headline news, largely because of the potential loss of life that such an incident presents. At the turn of the new millennium three catastrophic fires in as many years ensured that tunnel protection beca...