United Kingdom (UK) Fire Industry News

Apollo announces that it is the Headline Sponsor for The Women in Fire Safety Awards on 4th November. New to 2021, the awards have been set up to honor the outstanding achievements and contributions of women within the fire safety community. These awards will also be supported by some key industry names such as IFSM, the FPA, and the ASFP. Recognize, motivate and promote women The purpose of the awards is to address a historical gender imbalance and champion a more progressive industry t...

Working at an industrial site involves its dangers and one of the major risks is head injury. The human brain is very fragile and is most susceptible to being affected by shock, bumps, or any other head injury. In fact, according to the research, head injuries seem to be one of the major causes of fatal accidents on industrial sites. Whether it is a construction site, where users are hanging 50 ft above the ground, or a mining site, where users are 50ft below the ground, protecting the head is...

Apollo announces that it is the Headline Sponsor for The Women in Fire Safety Awards on 4th November. New to 2021, the awards have been set up to honor the outstanding achievements and contributions of women within the fire safety community. These awards will also be supported by some key industry names such as IFSM, the FPA, and the ASFP. Recognize, motivate and promote women The purpose of the awards is to address a historical gender imbalance and champion a more progressive industry t...

Premier Inn is the biggest chain of hotels in the UK, featuring in many towns and cities making up a network of over 800 hotels nationwide. With the continued popularity in air travel, Premier Inn decided to construct a hotel at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4. The construction of the hotel was an eight-storey, 613-bedroom hotel offering various size bedroom suites along with customer lounge and restaurant. Protec were employed to design, supply, install and commission both fire alarm and emergency...

The construction of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, which is one of the UK’s super hospitals and at the time of creation was the largest project of its kind in the country outside of the Olympics development. The steel and glass towers of the hospital now dominate the city’s skyline. The facility has the largest single-floor critical care unit in the world, with 100 beds. Service personnel are treated in single rooms or four-bed bays in a 30-bed military section located in the...

Nittan Europe is delighted that they could take part in The Fire Safety Event at NEC Birmingham, held on 7th – 9th September 2021. This free-to-enter event was aimed for visitors to gain direct insight into the latest fire protection and prevention products and solutions, to maintain the very highest standards of fire safety management. The Nittan team have had an incredibly successful three days at the event. Many thanks to all the visitors and customers for making the first presence at...

2020 saw the United Kingdom hit with a worldwide pandemic of a respiratory disease called COVID-19. It saw thousands of people hospitalized and cause a severe strain on the country’s NHS services. The UK government decided to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and assist the under-pressure NHS, by building seven new temporary hospitals, located around the United Kingdom. The seven hospitals were to re-purpose existing, multi-function public buildings, such as London’s ExCel, Birmingham&rs...

The Laurus Trust is a Multi-Academy Trust predominantly based within the Greater Manchester area. The trust consists of seven schools which are: Cheadle Hulme High School, Laurus Cheadle Hulme, Laurus Ryecroft, Didsbury High School, Hazel Grove High School, Gorsey Bank Primary School and Cheadle Hulme Primary School. In 2017, The Laurus Trust, along with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), selected BAM Construction Northwest, based in Salford, to deliver the Laurus Cheadle Hulme, Ch...

Thermal imaging cameras are indispensable for modern firefighting operations. They are used for situational awareness, in search and rescue operations, or to locate the seat of the fire, to name just a few of the many applications. The cameras are an indispensable tool, especially for inside fire attacks, as they provide SCBA crews with a good view even in zero visibility. They see what is not visible to the human eye, namely the heat radiation from objects and people. It is like having a sixth...

“Most nights, the fire alarm goes off after midnight in the building where I live. It rings for about 20 minutes before security switches it off. This has been happening for almost three years. The alarm has never yet been the result of a real fire, but I fear the day when it is. Everyone’s become so complacent now that I worry no one will react when an emergency does happen – and there will be very serious consequences.” The day-to-day experience of this Dubai resident...

Module 5 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry focuses on firefighting, with opening statements setting out a detailed analysis of operational, cultural, and leadership shortcomings of the London Fire Brigade. The Inquiry is interested in how the London Fire Brigade trained and prepared its staff for responding to fires in all buildings as construction methods have changed over the decades. Different legal firms Module 5 began with opening statements from three different legal firms, representing the...

ImageTrend, Inc. announces the release of the first Collaborate Short Report: 2018-2020 National Trends in Firearm-Related Incidents in the Prehospital Setting. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) identified firearm-related incidents as the top five causes of death for individuals under the age of 65 in the US. Volume one, issue one of the Collaborate Short Report focuses on how these incidents have changed across age groups and different regions from 2018 to 2020 by looking at a large sample...

Fire Chiefs and Fire & Rescue Services across the United Kingdom have recognized the emerging practice of ‘wedging fire doors open’ as an increased threat to fire safety in a post-COVID world. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said, “We have identified that some premises are wedging open self-closing fire doors as a COVID-19 control measure intended to reduce the need to touch locks and door handles. Self-closing fire doors are fitted within your premises to...

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) has implemented Dräger’s Cleaning Solution as part of its new state-of-the-art decontamination facility, designed to ensure optimal cleaning and disinfection of firefighter equipment. The initiative will not only help protect firefighters from harmful carcinogens and germs, but the innovative nature of the new decontamination and cleaning regime will also help improve the useful working life of the equipment the firefighte...

WeMaintain has hired a UK Fire Division Head, signaling PropTech’s further move into the fire alarm and suppression market.  The hire follows WeMaintain’s acquisition of the fire systems maintenance company Shokly in a stunning year for the start-up, marked by $36m in Series B funding, contracts to supply elevator and escalator solutions to KeolisAmyDocklands (DLR), Workspace and British Land, and praise from French President Emmanuel Macron.    Integrating IoT...

Apollo Fire Detectors is the Headline Sponsor for The Women in Fire Safety Awards on 4th November. New to 2021, the awards have been set up to honor the outstanding achievements and contributions of women within the fire safety community. These awards will also be supported by some key industry names such as IFSM, the FPA, and the ASFP. The purpose of the awards is to address a historical gender imbalance and champion a more progressive industry to continuously motivate and promote women who e...

To help support the Fire Door Safety Week 2021 campaign, ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions UK & Ireland has announced the launch of a new best practice guide - ‘Fire Doorsets’ guide, on how to specify, install, maintain and inspect fire-certified doorsets in residential and commercial buildings. ‘Fire Doorsets’ guide The ‘Fire Doorsets’ best practice guide has been compiled, based on the knowledge and expertise of ASSA ABLOY’s FDIS-trained inspectors, a...

FireQual is developing a qualification that will look to provide the underpinning knowledge and the skills required by those who work within the area of fire door installation. In addition, reflecting on the core messages of the reports, Building a Safer Future – Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety (May 2018) and Setting the Bar (2020), FireQual will be looking at how core practical competencies of individuals can be accurately and consistently assessed. FireQual t...

South Yorkshire’s fire service has become the first in the country to test the connectivity from its control room to a new national network which will transform the way emergency services operate. ESN critical communications South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue is a pioneer organization for the new Emergency Services Network (ESN) critical communications system and worked with the Home Office on approval for its Systel mobilizing system- the software it uses to send fire engines to emergenc...

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service has been awarded a grant from the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund. This is a new funding pot encouraging the creation of a UK regulatory environment that supports innovation and growth. Teaming up with the National Fire Chiefs Council, the University of Northampton, and Eyecademy Ltd, the West Sussex-led project will deliver a new web-based fire risk assessment tool. The interactive tool will improve users' understanding of fire safety. fire risk assessment...

FireQual is developing a qualification that will look to provide the underpinning knowledge and the skills required by those who work within the area of fire door installation. In addition, reflecting on the core messages of the reports, Building a Safer Future – Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety (May 2018) and Setting the Bar (2020), FireQual will be looking at how core practical competencies of individuals can be accurately and consistently assessed. FireQual t...

Amid a tumultuous time for the healthcare industry due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the top 25 health insurance companies remained in tight competition when it came to member satisfaction, according to new research released by Verint®, The Customer Engagement Company™. The range for satisfaction (SAT) scores from highest to lowest was just under nine points out of a possible 100, suggesting that all the top 25 health insurers are highly competitive, according to the Verint Experie...

The Fire Safety Event, held at Birmingham’s NEC, saw a welcome return of exhibitions for the fire industry. After 18 months without a trade show, it was fantastic to be out meeting people again and, judging by the numbers in attendance, it was an event the industry was definitely ready for. event review The event featured more exhibitors than ever before and a comprehensive program of seminars.  Visitors to the Detector testers stand were able to experience the latest in testing te...

On Tuesday, October 5, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) will host Keeping Hazardous Environments Safe, a conference for those who work in industrial settings, the chemical and petrochemical sectors, emergency management, plant operations, occupational health and safety, code enforcement, the fire service, and the energy field. The one-day program will feature educational sessions, industry roundtable discussions, networking opportunities, live chat exchanges, sponsor demonstratio...

Thermal imaging is an advantageous tool for firefighters on the frontline. As thermal cameras have become more compact and affordable, their availability has expanded, along with their usefulness. We asked our Expert Panel Roundtable: How does thermal imaging serve the needs of firefighters and how is it changing?  

“Luckily, today fire safety is a topic not only experts and constructors, but also the end-consumer is interested in,” said Marc Husband, Purchasing Director at Leader Doors, one of the UK’s renowned door manufacturers and retailers. Over the last few years, there have been many changes in building regulations for flats, apartments and offices for fire safety. Any building with more than three floors needs to be equipped with FD30 rated 30-Minute-Fire-Doors, to ensure that in t...

Global safety equipment manufacturer, MSA Safety Incorporated (MSA safety) has opened the doors of a new 20,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, USA. Celebrated this morning with a formal ribbon-cutting event, the building opening establishes MSA Safety’s Cranberry Township campus as global center of excellence for gas detection technology. Cranberry Township Manufacturing Facility The single-story manufacturing facility, which is located next to M...

Following the successful 2014 launch of the AirCore TAF35 firefighting robot and the 2020 launch of the TAF60 firefighting robot, Magirus is now taking the logical next step in the field of robotics, remote-controlled firefighting, and emergency vehicles. Wolf R1 tactical robot The company’s new Wolf R1 tactical robot has been specially developed to meet the significantly increased requirements of complex, high-rise firefighting and rescue operations. It combines performance and multi-fu...

Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company, announced that it has completed the purchase of an ownership interest in Boise Mobile Equipment (BME). This investment will facilitate greater collaboration between Pierce and BME within the wildland market. Furthermore, Pierce will support BME as the business moves from a factory-direct model to an independent dealer distribution model, with a focus on the West Coast, which will provide new and existing BME customers with comprehensive...

Fires have devastating consequences, not just posing a threat to property, but also to human life. Fires can also have detrimental impacts on the environment, with one of the largest associated environmental issues being water runoff occurring from tackling the fire. What is Fire Water Runoff? - Water is widely used to extinguish fire, thanks to its accessibility and effectiveness. Typically, water isn’t hazardous and doesn’t pose any threats, however, it can easily become contamin...