Fire Protection news

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) is, on No Smoking Day, warning that smoking kills- and not just because of the effects it has on health. Every year thousands of fires in the UK are caused by cigarettes, lighters, and other smoking materials, such as pipes and cigars, and many of these could be prevented if smokers followed safety guidelines. Area manager Scott Donegan said as the pioneering cause of fire-related fatalities, it's important to be aware of the potential dangers...

A South Yorkshire recruitment campaign aims to change perceptions of women in the fire service. South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s ‘A Firefighter Is A Firefighter’ campaign includes a new hard-hitting video, which highlights the fact that all firefighters meet the same standards and do the same job regardless of their gender. Campaign to inspire women At the same time, the service will be publishing a fresh episode of its official podcast, Shout, featuring women from across...

It's a record: for the first time, a total of 14 teams will compete in the European Robotics Hackathon (EnRicH) from 12 to 16 June 2023-more than ever before. On the site of the nuclear power plant Zwentendorf near Vienna, which never went into operation, participants from Austria and Germany, but also from Poland, Finland and even Canada, will test the current state of their robotic systems. They all face the challenging scenarios developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Inform...

The Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP) is delighted to have won the Trade Association Forum’s (TAF’s) Skills Development Award for its training offering. The Award, which was presented at an Awards dinner at the Brewery in London on 23 February, recognizes the ASFP’s drive to improve its effectiveness and raise competency levels in passive fire protection. Competency Pathway The ASFP has developed a series of passive fire protection training courses, across mu...

Honeywell, a pioneer in fire and life safety, launched the first fire alarm system with UL-approved self-testing smoke detectors that can be tested automatically, changing the way fire and life safety systems are installed, tested, and maintained. The Notifier Inspire™ fire alarm system with self-test detectors is designed to help create a safer building environment by increasing facility managers' awareness of system needs while equipping service providers with digital self-testing tools...

Infographics are pleased to announce that Surrey Fire and Rescue Service has gone live with its latest program of FireWatch-driven technology innovation.  FireWatch solutions The project provides anytime, anywhere access for its FRS users, including their ‘On Call’ Fire Fighters and Managers, increases real-time visibility of availability and resources, and integrates live data with the joint control room. The program included several key areas: Rollout of the FireWatch M...

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) has released the shocking video after the owner of the property, in Halifax, agreed it needed to be seen, to educate the public on the dangers of lithium batteries. The video shows the owner rushing downstairs in the middle of the night after being woken by a popping noise, created by the batteries of an electric motorbike being charged inside the house. The sound indicated the batteries were failing due to thermal runaway–this is when too mu...

The ASFP is saddened to hear of the passing of the Fire Protection Association (FPA) Managing Director (MD), Jon O’Neill.  Jon was and continues to be one of the original advocates of improving fire safety standards within design, construction, and occupation. ASFP team and members  Jon O’Neill was single-minded in creating an environment that endeavored to lower the frequency of major fire events and associated casualty numbers. He continued to lobby those in positions...

Broadcaster and safety campaigner - Nick Ross CBE has been announced as the new Independent Chair of Trustees for the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC). With a long-standing background in public health and community safety, as well as a celebrated career in journalism, including as presenter of the BBC’s Crimewatch program, Nick will take up the role of independent chair for NFCC from April. NFCC - professional voice of UK fire and rescue services The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFC...

Residents in Rossington, Stocksbridge, Askern, Penistone, Dearne, and Birley are being challenged to step up and join their local fire crew, as the county’s fire service launches another on-call firefighter recruitment drive. New vacancies have arisen at the stations in each of these areas with more staff needed to keep the fire engines’ wheels turning and respond to fires, floods, road traffic collisions, and other emergency incidents. Fire officers say there has never been a bette...

Starting signal for the planning of the VdS-FireSafety Cologne on December 6 and 7, 2023: Exhibitors from the fields of fire protection and safety can now secure one of the exhibition spaces at koelnmesse and benefit from the multifaceted program of the major industry get-together. The attractive mix of international trade fair, first-class conferences, thematic forums and a new edition of the VdS-FireSafetyTalk (VdS-BrandSchutzTalk) on the trade fair stage is expected to attract more than 4,0...

A party drug warning has been issued by firefighters following several serious road traffic collisions. Firefighters in Bradford are staging an event to highlight the dangers of using nitrous oxide behind the wheel. nitrous oxide Crews from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) will be at Centenary Square in Bradford on March 19, when they will have a mock road traffic accident showing what can happen while taking nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas. The gas is becomin...

Visitors to fire technology specialist Geofire’s FIREX International stand E80 will be able to get a sneak preview of the latest addition to the highly successful Agrippa acoustic range – a new Agrippa pillow alarm. The Agrippa ‘listen and learn’ technology, also available in the door holder and closer, is being used to alert deaf or hard-of-hearing people if the fire alarm sounds while they are sleeping. Pillow Alarm features and functions The Agrippa pillow alar...

Agrippa fire door holders are proving to be the perfect solution for a number of the UK’s prime care home operators, to ease access for residents while protecting them in the event of a fire emergency. A spokesperson for prime UK care homes operator where 29 wire-free Agrippa fire door holders are in use confirms that they are the perfect solution. “They are wire-free so they were very easy to install with no disruption, and have proved to be perfectly reliable, with no false activa...

Comelit-PAC’s fire system has been installed by CFS Systems on an 800-room student accommodation complex, dedicated to serving Crewe's new medical health science campus. The Apollo Buckingham Health Science Campus (ABHSC) offers degrees in biomedical sciences as well as medical foundation and conversion courses for health workers. The campus is majority owned by the University of Buckingham and Apollo and could have at least 3,000 students at the Crewe site by 2024. risk assessment...

The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority has approved a slight rise in its portion of council tax. Compared to the previous year, the rise will be six pence per week for Band A taxpayers, and 10p per week for Band D taxpayers. However, despite the rise, the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority precept remains the fourth lowest cost-per-head-of-population in the country. The authority took this decision following a survey earlier this year, where members of the public were asked if...

This month sees a change of leadership at the Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP). Current ASFP CEO - Steve Davies is stepping down to take up a new challenge with Corrosion Resistant Products Ltd, a division of Indutrade. The ASFP’s Business Manager - Mike Ward will be taking over as its new Managing Director. Steve Davies is moving on having led the Association through a period of huge development and growth over the last two years, putting down strong foundations for the...

Agrippa fire door holders have been successfully installed at Surrey’s leading specialist Science College to improve access for staff and students, and reduce the effects of door wear and tear while protecting occupants in a fire emergency. Blenheim High School, at Epsom, Surrey, is a co-educational, publicly funded specialist Science College. With in excess of 1,300 students the need to ensure smooth traffic flows while maintaining safety and security and unrestricted access are a priori...

A massive £200,000 fine plus costs and a four-month suspended prison sentence, handed down to a central London hotel owner for putting lives at risk by flouting fire safety laws, is the latest in a number of high-profile prosecutions sending out a strong message to those that own and manage hotels about the importance of fire safety. When fire safety officers visited the six-floor, 18-room hotel to carry out a routine inspection they discovered numerous fire safety breaches, including fai...

Fire protection solutions manufacturer, Advanced, has provided intelligent fire panels to protect Alnmouth Friary, a Franciscan monastery overlooking the Alnmouth coastline in Northumberland.  An Advanced MxPro 5 analog addressable fire panel was installed in the Friary to provide protection that is high-performance and fault tolerant. Alnmouth Friary was originally built as a private dwelling in the early 20th Century and the main ministry offers hospitality to visitors and is also the ho...

Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company, announced that authorized dealer Allegiance Fire & Rescue, a division of Massachusetts-based Allegiance Trucks, LLC, has earned the distinguished Pierce Dealer of the Year Award for 2022. The award recognizes a dealership’s outstanding customer service, the impact it has made on the fire service community, and its growth as a company over the past year. In addition to the award, Allegiance is celebrating the near completion of...

The recent announcement from the Department for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) on proposed changes to Approved Document B (ADB) of the Building Regulations is welcomed by the BSA as a common-sense step to improve fire safety in care homes. The government is proposing several new updates to ADB including recommendations to mandate sprinklers in care homes, regardless of height, and is inviting responses to the consultation which is open until 17 March 2023. UK care homes Accordin...

Firefighters across South Yorkshire are asking the county’s residents to not believe everything they read or hear when it comes to fire safety. The warning, issued by South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, comes amidst a ‘cost of living’ crisis that has seen potentially dangerous money-saving ‘hacks’ being shared online. Fire crews have also attended a number of fires locally, over the winter period, which have been started through unsafe heating practices. The service...

Those responsible for the safety of high-rise residential buildings in England have six months from April to register with the new Building Safety Regulator. The Building Safety Regulator was established to protect high-rise residents from unsafe building practices in England, in response to the Grenfell Tower fire. Under the Building Safety Act, high-rise residential buildings which are 18 meters tall or higher, or at least seven storeys, with two or more residential units are defined as &lsqu...

Home is the place where everyone goes after a long day at work or school. It’s where they cook their favorite meals and make memories with their families. But home — the place where people feel safest— can also be where they’re most at risk. A house fire can occur at any moment and destroy everything within a matter of minutes. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), firefighters were called to more than 1.3 million fires in 2021 and responded to a...

A young person from Barnsley taking part in a fire service development scheme has been praised by paramedics for coming to the aid of an older person. Harry Prew arrived late for a session at Barnsley fire station, as part of South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s Prince’s Trust Team Program. It was only later that it was revealed he’d discovered an older man in a ditch. He called the emergency services-waiting with the man and made him comfortable, until the ambulance service ar...

Konica Minolta and MOBOTIX are intensifying their strategic partnership in the USA. A close technology partnership has existed for years around the FORXAI Video Security Solution (VSS), a comprehensive end-to-end video security solution that helps companies analyze processes, situations, and behavior. MOBOTIX business development The Konica Minolta team structure is now being expanded and reorganized for a deeper sales and logistics partnership. Joint logistics centers will ensure nationwide a...

Amthal is working with the global media production company, Gravity Media to secure all of its sites across the UK, ensuring dedicated security, fire safety, and ultimate site protection for its team and high-profile visitors. Gravity Media is a provider of cutting-edge, live creative and media services. Home to state-of-the-art equipment and world-class production facilities, with a 30-year pedigree, it leads the way in global sports and entertainment content creation.  Creating an integ...

Ram Air Gear Dryer is a proud sponsor of the 2023 World Police and Fire Games taking place from July 28 – August 6, 2023, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Held biennially, the World Police and Fire Games is an Olympic-style competition with more than 8,500 athletes representing law enforcement, firefighters, and police officers from more than 50 countries across the world. These athletes compete in more than 60 unique sports.   

Military veterans and firefighters Kev and Mike Sutcliffe are undertaking the challenge to raise funds for The Grenfell Foundation and The Firefighters Charity. Kev works for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) while his brother works for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS). The duo will be conquering Bridgewater Place as they climb 24 stories 72 times. The 24 storeys symbolize the height of Grenfell Tower, and the 72 times symbolizes each life lost at the devastating tow...