Fire Emergency Response - News

Specialist AEI Cables has sent out a message to the supply chain highlighting the need to use only approved cabling in critical signal and control equipment following the announcement of a revised version of the Code of Practice covering these areas of performance. In an open letter to many customers, industry bodies and organizations, the supplier is underlining how the systems powered by these cables – including smoke and heat extraction systems – are so critical in assisting fire...

Alexander Enström joins coatings manufacturer, Hempel, to lead its marine organization, as Hempel looks to build on its leadership position in the marine industry. With a strategic ambition to double revenue by 2025, Hempel is keen to build on its leadership position in the marine segment. Hempel is already the pioneer in fuel-saving hull coatings and fuel-efficiency monitoring services, which help marine customers reduce fuel costs and radically lower their carbon footprint. The company...

There are many ways that portable gas detectors for personal use can deliver individual protection for key staff, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kevin O'Donnell, EMEA Business Development Manager at Teledyne (Teledyne Gas and Flame Detection), has answered some pertinent queries regarding the same. COVID-19 and gas detection link The packaging, transportation and storage of COVID-19 vaccines at low temperatures necessitate the use of dry ice, which is a form of carbon dioxide (CO2). If CO2 esca...

At three in the morning, members of the Glen Echo Fire Department began waking up. It was not a fire or medical emergency, but it was another call to serve. Glen Echo volunteer firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics, along with the Department’s Chief and Operations officer were designated to support the 59th Presidential Inauguration. In previous years, the Department had deployed one or two units to the event, but this year the little Department nestled in a small community at the bottom edg...

A mental health response car that is a joint initiative involving Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and the East of England Ambulance Service is live across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, in the UK. The ambulance response car will be crewed by a paramedic and a specialist mental health practitioner and will respond to 999 calls where there is a mental health concern. Following funding from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group, it will operat...

Vaccination sites around the county are being supported by Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service staff pitching in to help with getting residents immunized against COVID-19. Staff from across all areas of the Service, from emergency call handlers and support staff to fire officers and both on-call and wholetime firefighters, have all been giving help at vaccination sites. Staff response  Group Commander Wayne Swales, the Officer coordinating the support project, said, “The respons...

Wearing the correct clothing in a workplace can oftentimes prevent serious injury. Risk assessments are carried out and employees must meet the regulations put in place by their employer as well as industry regulations. Wearing shorts and a t-shirt in a high-risk workplace is generally not acceptable. But wearing high-visibility workwear, hard-hat, proper shoes and clothing is what’s needed to prevent. Granite takes a look at why protective clothing is so important. What Is PPE? PP...

E-ONE®, a subsidiary of REV Group® and a foremost manufacturer of fire apparatus, is pleased to introduce a completely new line of build-ready Custom Pumpers, available in multiple configurations at competitive market prices and with faster delivery times. This new line of Custom Pumpers will feature two (2) primary body construction styles AFT5000 and AFT1000 with several models available for each. Through the rigorous voice of customer research, E-ONE received feedback to offer vari...

As the rising number of COVID admissions pushes patient capacity limits, ensuring compliant fire safety has never been more important. As hospitals battle through the second major wave of the virus, concerns have been raised around the NHS’ on-going maintenance backlog and the impact on safety and infrastructure. In January 2021, figures suggested that the total backlog was the equivalent of the annual running cost of the entire NHS estate, which was around £9.7bn in 2019/20. Despit...

A solar-powered, mobile gate designed for traffic control with ease of use in mind. SentriGate is a solar-powered mobile gate for traffic control that can be easily deployed by just a single person. SentriGate incorporates a key-fob so that the gate can be operated remotely up to 50 meters, or 150 meters with a long-range fob, allowing operators the ability to control vehicle access from a distance. Ideal for construction sites, waste recycling sites, and weighbridges this gate can be installed...

Open Security & Safety Alliance (OSSA), an industry body comprised of stakeholders from all facets of the security, safety and building automation space, has announced joining Euralarm, the association of European manufacturers, installers and service providers from the electronic fire safety and security industry. By joining the Security Section within Euralarm, OSSA will contribute valuable expertise in the domain of Internet of Things (IoT), while leveraging on Euralarm’s profound...

GFE is delighted to introduce a new module, the ZONE-MIMIC. Assembled in a Dual Gang (DG) Box, the ZONE-MIMIC is designed to be used with GFE's Chameleon addressable control panels. Features  The GFE team has developed a module for ‘Mimic Boards LEDs’, to signal fire conditions or system status for each individual zone. It also features a ‘lamp test’ input, a buzzer driver output, and a ‘local’ buzzer silence input. These are just some of the many feat...

In modern parking garages, the number of electric charging stations and parked e-cars, e-scooters and e-bikes is constantly increasing. However, fires involving electric vehicles are more complicated than those involving conventionally powered vehicles. The use of high pressure water mist (HPWM) systems enables highly efficient and safe fire protection in the case of fires involving electric vehicles. High pressure water mist systems Task in the event of an e-car fire is usually to move the o...

Damien Ward has been in the passive fire protection industry for over 13 years now, and he has found that it’s one of those industries that someone is either in, or they have no real idea about – at least, not beyond the basics. A bit like the Freemasons, or the Illuminati, or the Order of the Phoenix (that does exist outside of Harry Potter, right?). Following the devastation of Grenfell, users probably know that there’s a cladding crisis in the country, and they definitely k...

Elbeco introduces the new BodyShield™ External Vest Carrier V4. Based on extensive wear testing and evaluations, changes were made to the BodyShield™ that address an improved side closure performance while providing enhanced mobility and comfort. Features The addition of a 2" knit elastic extension to the end of each front side panel providing an extra range of motion while relieving the FastLock closure of direct stress when bending, getting in and out of vehicles, running, etc....

An inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) confirmed that Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service (RBFRS) has adapted and responded to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic effectively, thereby highlighting the additional support that the fire service has been offering its communities, throughout this public health crisis. RBFRS response to COVID-19 In August 2020, the UK Home Secretary commissioned HMICFRS to examine how fire and rescue...

Volunteers are special people, willing to share their time and passion to help others, simply because they care and want to make a difference. Those inspirational individuals form an important part of Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS), working alongside operational crews and office-based teams to help keep communities across Kent and Medway safe. Trying new challenges KFRS is fortunate to have 34 volunteers supporting a range of roles, and now the service is looking to welcome more people...

The Agility team is excited to announce the addition of Solid Responder LLC as their first exclusive authorized dealer for the US State of Florida. Solid Responder Solid Responder is the brainchild of Joe Hernandez from Disaster Medical Solutions, who has served as the DHS/FEMA National Coordinator and Lead Instructor for the US&R Medical Team Training Program and Lead SME for current curriculum development at FEMA. Solid Responder provides equipment designed, developed, tested, and prove...

Rosenbauer America, a renowned global manufacturer of custom fire apparatus, has announced the appointment of Mark Fusco. He will be assuming the role of Vice President of Sales & Marketing at the company. Marketing and sales expert Mark Fusco brings with him more than two decades of marketing and sales experience to Rosenbauer America. His expertise includes channel development, go-to-market strategy, sales, inventory, and operations planning (SIOP), precision technologies, and data insig...

At the beginning of 2020, the Asian region was gripped by the coronavirus earlier than Europe. When the virus was still known as a purely “Asian” issue in the media in Austria, Rosenbauer still thought that it would be under control in a few months and that they could continue the Asian business as normal. But they knew better with hindsight. Travel restrictions have now been in place for more than 10 months, and all stakeholders in the fire service industry have had to put up with...

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have been recognized nationally for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, SFRS was praised for its positive contributions to the local community and commitment to the welfare of its staff. In August 2020, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) was commissioned by the UK Home Secretary to examine how fire and rescue services are responding to the pandemic. Effective command and control frameworks...

UKAS was pleased to contribute to CQI’s recent report ‘The Future of Work’, which explores the realities of “digital transformation” in the workplace. When considering the age of digitalization (often referred to as the 4th Industrial Revolution) ‘The Future of Work’ report considers the key drivers for change that were identified by CQI’s Research Advisory Panel.  These include: Big data and analytics Augmented reality Artificial i...

The end of a challenging year is worth celebrating and so is Twiceme's second anniversary. The last year was difficult for many, while surprisingly promising for a few. Although it was far from the year, Twiceme hoped for on a humanitarian level, new learnings were gathered and adjustments were made, which will result in new opportunities in 2021. Twiceme Technology’s journey towards becoming a global standard of accessible vital info faced several obstacles in early 2020, however, these...

A national inspection has praised the response of South Yorkshire’s fire service to the COVID-19 pandemic. South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue adapted to the pandemic effectively, carried on delivering its core services and provided additional support to the community during the first phase of the pandemic. Inspectors also found that staff well-being was made a clear priority for the service and praised senior pioneers for actively promoting well-being services, in a report published b...

The community is at the heart of Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS), and on-call firefighters help to strengthen those links by serving the villages and towns where they live and work.  Luke Pritchard is an on-call firefighter based in Faversham, where he lives with his wife and their two young children. Having grown up in the town, the 35-year-old wanted to be a firefighter at his local fire station from a young age and successfully applied for the role four years ago.  Comments of...

With distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine accelerating around the globe, hopes are high that society can reclaim a sense of pre-pandemic normalcy in the coming months. Organizations may look to call many of their remote workers back to physical buildings as the vaccine rollout continues. However, there are unique new challenges to in-person work in a post-pandemic world, as organizations who have maintained in-person workforces can attest. Managing an in-person workforce in 2021 Marc Bognar,...

The pandemic has made it difficult to predict demand from one month to the next, when it comes to field service engineering. This makes the flexibility of employing contractors even more attractive. In Autumn 2020, STANLEY Security Solutions approached the Zitko contracts team with a considerable challenge: resource a group of 8 – 10 contractors to support the company’s operations in various UK regions. The requirement was for an immediate start and the specification was strict: mul...

Over the past 24 hours, 08:00 am 20/01/2021 to 08:00 am 21/01/2021, Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) have received 233 calls through its Joint Fire Control. Of the 233 calls, Joint Fire Control received 140 flood-related calls. 71 calls of external flooding, 57 calls of internal flooding, and 12 calls where the flooding posed a risk to life. Amongst the busiest station areas during this period were Abercrave, with 11 incidents, Llandeilo 8, Ammanford 8, Carmarthen 7, and Wel...

Warwickshire residents are warned to check their chimneys as Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service has attended a series of chimney fires across the county in recent times. The Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service have been called out for multiple chimney fire incidents in Leamington Spa, Rugby and Northend, in the United Kingdom, just in the last seven days. Chimneys need to be swept regularly Residents are reminded that chimneys must be swept regularly by approved chimney sweeps, as consiste...

Firefighting kit has a number of functions. It protects crew members in a wide range of situations and makes them instantly recognizable in an emergency. Replacing the firefighting kit at the right time keeps fire firefighters and rescue personnel safe and comfortable, no matter what the emergency. Call outs for firefighters  According to the UK Home Office, in the last year, 28 per cent of call-outs for firefighters and rescue staff involved responding to fires, 42 per cent of call outs...