Fire Insurance - News

Derby Crown Court sentenced Thirunavukkaradu Kuladaisamy to suspended prison time, as well as a large fine and court costs for fire safety breaches, after a fire in a converted house two years ago. Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service attended a fire at 1057 London Road, Derby on the night of 23 November 2019. According to local newspaper reports at the time, the police and fire service officers remained at the scene of the fire all night investigating the blaze. Fire safety regulations Respond...

The new training year 2021 has begun and with it three new trainees have joined G-TEC. The company warmly welcomes - Anna Katharina Bücking, Lara Steindecker and Tim Henrichs, who will complete their training as Technical System Planners. While Lara Steindecker and Tim Henrichs started their training in Siegen, they are also pleased to have won the first trainee for their Hamburg location. G-TEC wishes all trainees every success and fun with many interesting projects. G-TEC announces star...

Whether it’s the building, roads, schools, or offices around us, a civil engineer has been involved in the design and construction of the structure. Civil engineers are the ones who plan, design and manage construction projects, in order to create and improve buildings that make up the majority of the United Kingdom (UK) and the world at large. Workwear for civil engineers Owing to this nature of their job, civil engineers spend a lot of time on the project and are in many different loc...

HURST Jaws of Life has introduced eDRAULIC 3.0, taking its fastest and most powerful battery-powered extrication tools and making them faster, operational in both fresh and salt water, and now also the smartest through a smart dashboard display that provides operators with real-time feedback on tool status. “We’re continually evolving HURST Jaws of Life extrication tools to make first responders’ jobs safer, easier, and more efficient, and eDRAULIC 3.0 takes tool innovation to...

Howe & Howe Inc., a subsidiary of Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron Inc. company, unveiled its latest innovations for the firefighting community – its next-generation Thermite EV2, an all-electric firefighting robot, as well as its new, handheld controller. The Thermite EV2 is an all-electric firefighting robot operated by a software-driven controller to effectively target fires with a modular design, including a multi-position nozzle and additional attachments. Thermite EV2 Ho...

BAFE Fire Safety Register has teamed up with building services membership scheme operator, NAPIT to offer a new competency scheme for organizations involved with Grade D fire alarm systems.  Two years in the making, the new scheme will assess the competency of organizations that provide design, installation, commissioning and maintenance services for BS 5839-6 Grade D fire detection and fire alarm systems in domestic premises. BAFE and NAPIT partner on new Competency Scheme This new comp...

The Fire Standards Board for England has published the Prevention Fire Standard setting out what fire and rescue services should be doing to keep communities safe from fire. This is the seventh Fire Standard to be published and sits alongside the operational response Fire Standards released earlier this year. The Protection Fire Standard will be published in September 2021. New Prevention Fire Standard published Fire and rescue services will look to use the Prevention Fire Standard to ensure...

Following an extensive development process over two years in the making, the BAFE Fire Safety Register and NAPIT are proud to announce a new Scheme to assess the competency of organizations, who provide design, installation, commissioning and maintenance services for BS 5839-6 Grade D fire detection and fire alarm systems in domestic premises. BAFE DS301 Scheme BAFE DS301 (For the Design, Installation, Commissioning and Maintenance of Grade D Fire Detection and Fire Alarm Systems in Domestic P...

With more people planning to spend time outdoors over the coming weeks, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) is urging residents to take some simple steps, in order to reduce the risk of a wildfire breaking out. Wildfire awareness campaign A week-long wildfire awareness campaign (running 26 July – 1 August) is taking place, following a period of warm and dry weather, and with more people expected to be outside, enjoying the countryside, due to COVID-19 restrictions easing and...

East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is encouraging the public to use NHS 111 online for medical advice, with demand for 999 calls increasing and ambulance staff helping more patients. NHS 111 online service The NHS 111 online service offers patients quick advice on the best option for them to get the care they need, including getting a call back from a trained clinician or nurse, booking them an appointment in A&E or providing advice on how to help them recover. The call c...

In 2021, the Felixstowe Community First Responders (CFRs) embarked upon a variety of fundraising activities to replace aging lifesaving equipment. The funds will be used to purchase new equipment in line with improvements to their skillset, running costs, and keeping up with the rapidly increasing size of the team of volunteers. This is in addition to their primary goal of responding to local emergency medical calls to stabilize, treat and reassure patients until the arrival of an ambulance cre...

A Sheppey homeowner is helping Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) share life-saving safety advice after a vanity mirror sparked a fire in the bedroom of his home. The blaze developed in the occupant’s bedroom in Belgrave Road on Sheppey, on a sunny afternoon on Friday 16 July, and is believed to have started after sunlight reflected from a vanity mirror onto some bedding. The heat from the mirror's reflection caught the bed alight, which then spread throughout the room within a matter o...

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...

Artificial intelligence is set to supercharge the way safety advice is delivered to the public, following the launch of a new service by fire officers in South Yorkshire. South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service has launched a brand new system that allows local residents to get a virtual fire safety check from the comfort of their own homes. All people have to do is text a number from their mobile phones, or scan a QR code, and they will be asked a series of questions on things such as smoke a...

Verint Systems (Verint), the globally renowned customer engagement company, has that it has won an AI Breakthrough Award for excellence and innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Verint Intelligent Virtual Assistant Professional (IVA Pro) Package is the winner of the ‘Best Virtual Agent Solution’ award. Earning its fourth consecutive AI Breakthrough Award, the company previously won ‘Best AI-based Solution for Customer Service’ award in 2020, ‘Best Chatbot Sol...

Arlington County, VA Local 2800 is formally requesting that Arlington County Manager, Mark Schwartz allow Local 2800 to be recognized as the exclusive bargaining unit for the county’s fire and EMS personnel. “This is an historic time for Arlington,” said Arlington County, VA Local 2800 President, Brian Lynch, adding “Until the new collective bargaining law was passed, Virginia firefighters were denied a seat at the table, on critical safety issues for firefighters and th...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) is urging smokers to light up outside to reduce the risk of fire in homes across the county. Despite the number of people smoking in the UK falling, Kent is seeing a continuous trend in the number of property fires linked to smoking – with fire crews tackling the equivalent of one smoking-related fire every single week. 'Smoke Outside, Feel Safer Inside' campaign Most often these types of fires start when smokers light up and then fall asleep or get d...

When TFT introduced the Extend-A-Gun telescoping waterway series, it revolutionized the way monitors could be utilized on fire apparatus. Extend-A-Guns allow deck mounted monitors to easily raise from a stowed position to operate above apparatus obstructions like cab roofs, lighting, hose reels, or generators. The manual and RC version of Extend-A-Gun can be found on fire trucks around the globe. TFT is adding to the series with the new Extend-A-Gun VP. The VP’s deploy and stow operations...

Houston, TX Local 341 (Houston Fire Department) President, Marty Lancton is back on the job, after an independent arbitrator ruled the city had violated his rights and had no cause or authority to indefinitely suspend him in January. Houston Fire's President re-instated The independent arbitrator went even further and ordered the immediate reinstatement to his special assignment, working full time as the Local 341 President and ruled he must be welcomed back with full back pay and benefits. &...

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...

UKAS is delighted to announce that Lorraine Turner, UKAS Accreditation Director, has been appointed as a Member of the newly formed Interim Industry Competence Committee (IICC). The formation of the IICC coincides with the recent announcement of the Building Safety Bill in Parliament by Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State for Housing. The Bill outlines a program of actions aimed at preventing a recurrence of the problems that contributed to the Grenfell Tower fire. Foremost amongst these meas...

Anglia Fire Protection is looking at electrical fires and how to reduce the risk of them occurring in homes. One of the most common causes of fire in the home is electrical goods. From white goods to faulty chargers, electrical items are the number 4 risk of fire in the home. Here are some top tips to help reduce that risk. Anglia Fire Protection offers key pointers on how to avoid electrical fires at homes: Residents should make sure that all electrical appliances have a British or Europea...

Online supermarket - Ocado has suffered another robot fire at one of its fulfilment centers, impacting deliveries across south east England. The fire on 16 July was caused by three robots colliding on the grid that controls the fulfilment of shopping orders at the technology firm. Fifteen fire engines The fulfilment centre processes over 150,000 orders a week for the joint venture between Ocado and Marks and Spencer. More than 1,000 robots move around the grid, collecting food from crates and...

As much as Hollywood makes out how dangerous working on an oil rig can be, it’s surprisingly true. Major Hollywood films, such as Deepwater Horizon, tell the events of the dangers that can happen while working on oil rigs, which are situated in the middle of the ocean. Furthermore, without the correct training provided or the workwear, many oil rig workers’ lives can be at risk, when carrying out their tasks. In this article, Granite Workwear looks at the type of workwear that is re...

In focus contains contributions from the four existing Police Fire and Crime Commissioners and two PCC candidates looking to take on fire. Since the PCC elections in May this year, the number of Conservative PCCs has expanded to 30 and they are now far in the majority across England. Prior to the May elections, the Home Office published the first part of a review into PCCs and made it clear they wanted to expand the model across the country. The much-trailed Fire White Paper will cont...

UL is investing in the installation of fire-resistance test furnaces at the FPA’s test laboratory. As part of the collaboration, tests for fire resistance, which form the basis of UK Regulations and support third-party product certification, will be processed quickly and effectively.  Negotiations and construction planning for the new laboratory facility have commenced, with the new lab due to open in early 2022. Author's quote FPA Managing Director, Jonathan O’Neill OBE said...

Johnson Controls, the globally renowned company for smart, healthy and sustainable building solutions, has launched the Johnson Controls Community College Partnership Program. As part of the program, Johnson Controls will give US$ 15 million, over the next five years, to support academic scholarships at non-profit community colleges. community college Program Starting in the 2021‒2022 academic year, Johnson Controls’ program will endow a total of US$ 1 million to ten community colleges a...

The UK’s national fire safety organization, the Fire Protection Association (FPA), is further developing its collaboration with UL, a global pioneer in safety science, to support fire testing in the UK by expanding testing and laboratory capacities at the FPA’s test laboratory in Blockley, Gloucestershire. UL is investing in the installation of fire-resistance test furnaces at the FPA’s test laboratory. As part of the collaboration, tests for fire resistance, which form the ba...

The FPA has published a technical questionnaire developed by RISCAuthority to be completed at the design stage of building planning. The questionnaire is designed to elicit technical information around quality assurance where Modular Building methods have been used, to assist insurers with understanding the building design and construction system. The key challenges addressed are the insurance perils of fire and water exposure. Technical Checklist for England Modules are large and heavy compo...

Ministers have approved a new apprenticeship scheme for fire engineers but without an end-point assessment body in place, universities won’t be able to offer it in the autumn. This new qualification route for fire engineers comes at a time when demand for this expertise is on the rise. Planning Gateway 1 requires a Fire Statement to be produced. When this first stage of the ‘golden thread’ for buildings comes into force on 1 August, fire engineers will be needed to help comple...