Fire Industry News for October 2021

Jo Bird and company are one of the very limited numbers of UK companies who have signed up to a pledge to halve the company’s CO2 emissions by 2030. Being heavily involved in the offshore wind sector may have been one of the reasons for being shortlisted by SWMAS and it has been audited by Ashley Webber at Balanced energy to measure CO2 levels with suggestions as to how this could be reduced to help achieve this ambitious goal. This was a very detailed report looking at estimating the le...

Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc., a subsidiary of REV Group® and a manufacturer of custom-built, heavy-duty fire apparatus, announces the addition of Patriot Fire USA to its nationwide dealer network. Patriot Fire USA is now the Ferrara dealer for Maryland, serving customers throughout the state. About Patriot Fire USA Located in Grasonville, Maryland, Patriot Fire USA recently opened a new facility that will provide quality service from a highly experienced team. Additionally, the facil...

Spartan Fire, LLC, a subsidiary of REV Group®, and a manufacturer of specialized cab/chassis products for the fire service, announces that Edward (“Ed”) DeVito has joined the company as Vice-President/General Manager. With over 20 years in various key operations leadership roles, Ed has tremendous experience in the chassis industry including 12 prior years in manufacturing, production engineering, and supply chain with Spartan Motors. Most recently, Ed was Vice-President of Oper...

Merseyside firefighters are among those rescue personnel, who are being deployed to help Greece fight wildfires that continue to devastate parts of the country. The team is made up of firefighters from Merseyside, Lancashire, London, South Wales, West Midlands, and NRAT (National Resilience Assurance Team) officers. They will be flying to Athens, the capital of Greece, to help with the firefighting task. National Resilience Assurance Team The team deployment comes, following a formal request...

Firefighters are serving the community from Theale Community Fire Station, after successfully relocating from Dee Road Fire Station in Tilehurst. The relocation has been made possible due to a team effort involving staff from across the Service, led by the Capital Projects Team, who have worked effectively with the contractors on site. Contractors Knights Brown began the build in January 2020 and despite the challenges of working during a global pandemic, they have completed the build and...

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) is urging festival-goers to be aware of some important safety advice before attending Reading Festival this bank holiday weekend. David Grayson, Watch Based Station Manager, said, “While we want you to have a great time and enjoy the festival this weekend, we also want to remind you of some vital safety advice that could make all the difference to your festival experience.” “Remember, a fire can destroy a tent in under 60 second...

28 Fire Cadets from across the County showed off their new skills at a Graduation Ceremony held at Whitley Wood Training Center on 21 July 2021. Fire Cadets is run at four fire stations across the County – Crowthorne, Maidenhead, Newbury, and Whitley Wood. It is an initiative that encourages young people between the ages of 12-16 to experience what being a firefighter involves. Fire cadet course The course is an opportunity for young people to develop new life skills by taking part in f...

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) is supporting the month-long Fire Kills Smoke Alarm Purchasing campaign, encouraging households across the County to purchase enough smoke alarms to cover their entire household.  A common reason for a smoke alarm failing to activate is because the smoke didn’t reach the detector, meaning that one smoke alarm may not be enough to provide the best chance of escaping a fire in the home. Having numerous smoke alarms offers better protecti...

Recruitment for wholetime firefighter apprentices has now closed. The role of a firefighter is varied and as well as responding to a range of incidents, it includes providing fire safety advice and engaging with local communities, through safety advice events, education activities and campaigns. For the first time, RBFRS will be recruiting apprentices into this crucial role. Much like previous wholetime recruitment, anyone, from any background or walk of life can apply to be a firefighter appre...

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) is supporting this month’s Fire Kills smoke alarm testing campaign, urging households across the County to test the smoke alarms in their houses regularly.  Statistics show that only 26 percent of all households who own a smoke alarm test them regularly and in the year ending March 2020, there were 199 fire-related deaths in the home. Testing smoking alarms By supporting the Fire Skills smoke alarm testing campaign, RBFRS hopes to enc...

The finishing touches are being applied on the project to build Theale Community Fire Station by the contractor, Knights Brown. Building work on the new station began in January 2020 and rapid progress has been made throughout, as highlighted by this timelapse footage captured on site. Collaborative working opportunity This new station supports the ongoing commitment to working collaboratively with emergency service partners, offering a shared location for Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue...

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) is recruiting the next group of Fire Cadets for the new academic year. About the initiative Fire Cadets is a youth initiative for young people between 12 and 16 years old and is run by firefighters and members of RBFRS staff and volunteers, with educational support from the Safety Education Team. Fire Cadets participate in practical and theoretical fire and rescue service activities, including hose drills, breathing apparatus procedures, and fir...

Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc., a subsidiary of REV Group® and a manufacturer of custom-built, heavy-duty fire apparatus, announces the addition of Fire Service, Inc., to its nationwide dealer network. Fire Service, Inc. has added the Ferrara product line at its full-service center in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. About Fire Service, Inc. Opened in 2020, the modern facility offers sales, service, parts, repairs, fire apparel, and gear. Fire Service, Inc. has been serving the fire apparatus an...

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) announce that it has achieved Level Three ‘Leader’ status in the Disability Confident scheme. In becoming a Disability Confident Leader, the service joins approximately 360 other organizations who have achieved this level, of over 20,000 organizations who have signed up to the scheme. Submission and evaluation before accreditation This achievement is a testament to the work of colleagues across all areas of the service to ensure that...

A Knowsley tower block played host to a major training exercise when the Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) led an exercise to test their response, in the case of a major high-rise fire incident. MFRS’ fire safety training exercise Around 80 emergency service staff, eight fire engines, two support vehicles, and an aerial platform ladder vehicle descended on the unoccupied Gaywood Green, on Broad Lane, in Kirkby, United Kingdom, on Thursday, July 22, 2021, as part of the fire saf...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) is warning of the dangers of open water, following the tragic death of a young man in Crosby. Fire crews were called to Crosby beach, at around 7.24 pm, on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, following reports that five people were in difficulty in the water. Two fire engines, the search and rescue team and the rescue boat, Marine Fire One, were sent to the scene. Crosby beach rescue operation Crews assisted the RNLI and Coastguard with recovering the people fr...

After a few years of painstaking R&D, Jo Bird announces the launch of the first IP66 rated cabinet. The Firebird range was already setting the standard with the excellent IP56 rating but following the principles of Kaizen, the R&D team was not prepared to rest on their laurels. The prototype cabinets have gone through extensive testing for both dust and water ingress which was carried out by the TUV Sud testing house. JB80 fire hose cabinet The JB80 fire hose cabinet is designed to co...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) is celebrating after being commended by Ofsted Inspectors for producing some of the best and most highly skilled firefighters in the country.  The education watchdog visited MFRS’ Training & Development Academy (TDA) in June as part of a monitoring visit. In a report published this week, inspectors said the Service had made “significant progress” in all areas, the highest judgment a provider can receive. Firefighter apprent...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority (MFRA), part of the Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS), has begun a 12-week consultation on proposed changes, to emergency response cover in Aintree and Croxteth, following initial approval to create a new superstation and training center. The consultation will run from 15th July to 7th October 2021. Integrated Risk Management Plan The plans were outlined in a recent consultation on the innovative Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) for 2021-2...

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) is supporting the National Fire Chiefs Council’s cooking safety campaign in July, urging residents to take extra care when cooking at home and when using barbecues in the warm weather.  Ian Barks, Central Hub Prevention Manager, said, “Half of all accidental fires in the home start in the kitchen, often because people get distracted by their phone, TV, or by interactions with friends and family. Whatever happens elsewhere in...

Innovative plans to increase the number of fire engines and create specialist fire stations across Merseyside, United Kingdom have been unanimously approved. The plans contained within Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service’s (MFRS) Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) 2021-24, represent a continued optimism for the fire service, after a lengthy period of cuts, which has resulted in the loss of fire stations, fire engines and firefighters. Integrated Risk Management Plan Bold plans put...

Thomas Hilse has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Magirus, the global firefighting equipment business of CNH Industrial. Thomas Hilse succeeds Marc Diening, who after the successful turnaround and sustainable re-positioning of the company, elected to leave the company at personal request, in order to pursue new challenges. New CEO appointed “With Thomas, we appoint a Senior Manager to continue the successful development and further strengthen Magirus’ pos...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) is urging people to think of the consequences of their actions after vandals left residents in a Liverpool high-rise building without a working fire alarm system. Crews were called to high-rise accommodation on Cheapside shortly after midnight on 27th June after the fire alarm sounded, indicating a potential fire somewhere in the six-story building. Inactivated Fire alarm systems In line with MFRS’ pre-determined attendance to incidents involv...

Magirus and Alpha Robotics have entered into a long-term partnership agreement for the development of intelligent products, in the field of firefighting and BOS. After the very successful cooperation so far, Magirus and Alpha Robotics have decided to further intensify the cooperation and to set it up for the long term. The cooperation focuses on the new area of Intelligent Fire Fighting Technology (IFT). Magirus - Alpha Robotics partnership The future tasks and challenges in the field of fire...

More than 80 staff from Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service took part in a major incident training exercise aboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel RFA Fort Austin, the first for 18 months due to coronavirus. Part of an initiative with Cammell Laird, the training exercise put 10 fire and rescue teams through their paces with two different emergency scenarios - both set on the 23,384-tonne vessel which is berthed at Cammell Laird’s facility in Bidston, Wirral. The first scenario involved...

Magirus Lohr has manufactured firefighting vehicles in Styria for almost 100 years. Now, the Styrian manufacturer, part of the Magirus Group, has opened its new site in Zettling, a municipality belonging to Premstätten near Graz in Austria. At the opening, the company also presented a number of trendsetting product innovations. "The new plant will allow us to serve our customers even better in coming years. The newly opened site offers the best conditions for innovation, production, and cu...

Safety Technology International announces that it will be attending the very first virtual event as Europe’s largest gathering of fire safety professionals goes digital. FIREX 2021 FIREX International Connect 2021 will bring the fire safety community together online throughout the entire month of June – two years on from FIREX International 2019, its last fire industry tradeshow in the UK. The virtual online event is a unique opportunity for buyers to browse fire safety...

In times of crisis, people look to secure their safety; as the world prepares for “the new normal” it is vital to move from a reactive mindset to a proactive one, with health and safety at the forefront of people’s minds. Access control systems As businesses begin to reopen and the public sector unlocks, access control will play a key role in infection control – keeping employees, customers, and the general public safe from the transmission. Post-COVID research di...

Student halls of residence are synonymous with false fire alarms; burnt toast, drunken accidents, or reckless pranks, every false alarm contributes towards the dangerous effects of alarm fatigue. Alarm fatigue occurs when a person becomes desensitized to an alarm due to repeated false alarms and as a result fails to react appropriately in an emergency, having potentially fatal effects. false fire alarms Recent Home Office data revealed that false fire alarms remained the largest inc...

The RNLI was featured on the BBC news yesterday showing how they are preparing for the coming season. This includes an increase in the number of lifeguards on the beaches. Very apt with the lovely sunshine they enjoyed. With the prospect of few, if any foreign holidays this year, coastal and inland waterways are likely to be busier than ever. Water rescue equipment The lockdown has given many organizations the chance to update their water rescue equipment and the photo shows Michael Gemmell f...