Fire Protection - News

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) will be joining fire services across the United Kingdom (UK) to celebrate and recognize the incredible work women across fire and rescue services carry out every day. This year’s theme is #EmbraceEquity, promoting a gender equal world, free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. NFCC supports fire services to be inclusive The National Fire Chiefs Council want to see more women and people from d...

The ability to trade across borders is vital to the UK’s success. To do so, businesses need to understand the rules-based system of trade and have confidence in market frameworks based on standards and accredited conformity assessment.  In signing this Memorandum of Understanding, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and the Institute of Export and International Trade have agreed to strategic cooperation in sharing knowledge and supporting the dissemination of good business pract...

Over a fourteen-year career, Laura Boocock, 39, has progressed through the ranks to the position of Calderdale District Commander, which means she currently holds the highest rank ever as a female firefighter at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS). Despite women being more than half the population, only eight out of 100 firefighters nationally are women, with similar statistics within WYFRS. Using International Women’s Day (Wednesday) as a platform, Laura is urging women to com...

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...

The International Association of Fire Chiefs’ Health, Safety, and Survival Section have announced the launch of a new Virtual Training Series designed to reduce preventable injuries and deaths in the fire service. These trainings cover a wide range of fire service topics, including assembling a peer support team, cardiac health awareness and the benefits of early detection, the impacts of bullying on members’ health and wellness, and how to choose the right occupational healthcare p...

The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), is offering a new Hazmat Train-The-Trainer program: Partners in Training (PIT) Crew. This project will help first responders gain the knowledge and skills they need to train others in their communities on hazmat safety and response. NVFC’s Hazmat train-the-trainer program The NVFC will provide 15 in-person tra...

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...

One of Apollo’s next-generation products being displayed is the REACH Wireless range. Praised by customers for its intuitive user-interface and easy setup process, REACH Wireless makes it easier to solve challenging installation situations, such as extensions and occupied residential blocks using Apollo’s hard-wired addressable loop systems. Visitors at the Apollo stand will have the chance to get their hands on REACH equipment and experience first-hand just how easy it is to insta...

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...

Intertek, a globally renowned Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide, will join fellow corrosion and coatings industry companies from March 19 to March 23, 2023, at the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP) Conference and Expo in Denver, Colorado, United States of America (USA). The negative effects of corrosion on materials and equipment are significant, causing not only production delays and costly repairs, but also extreme safety and environmental impa...

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...

To keep Victoria’s roads safe and smooth, the City is piloting a new pothole finder software that scans roads for damage to help locate and fix potholes as they develop. pothole finder tech Data from the new tool builds on city-wide road condition assessments conducted every three years and has significantly increased the number of potholes detected and repaired in Victoria. The pothole finder tech complements increased paving and road upgrades supported by additional funding for road m...

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...

Our 2023 training schedule continued recently as we supported engineers participating in the Accelerated Development Programme by Chubb Fire & Security. The session, led by DT’s Paul Gatens and Simon Flavell, covered products from across the DT portfolio with a focus on Testifire – a system of choice for Chubb due to the ease at which it offers compliant testing. The training covered; the set-up and use of the product and ensured each engineer was able to deliver compliant te...

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...

Kentec Electronics, a manufacturer of life-critical control systems, has launched the Loop Explorer 2 (LE-2) software to provide installers with a faster, more secure means to program and configure fire control panels that delivers a highly secure means of controlling access to the engineering software and access to Kentec’s technical support. Loop Explorer 2 LE-2 supersedes the LE-1 and will be used to commission all Kentec’s analog, addressable control panels, providing one sof...

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...

Dräger, a pioneer in the fields of medical and safety technology, is calling for fire escape hoods to become part of any fire safety plan where evacuation takes more than a couple of minutes – including educational facilities, hospitals, hotels and high-rise buildings. Fire escape hoods are designed to provide wearers with crucial minutes of protection from fire-related vapors, particles and gases, including carbon-monoxide. Dräger’s PARAT smoke hood range provide wearers...

Chubb Fire and Security, one of the life safety service providers is this week attending the Annual SafeZone EMEA Conference taking place in Birmingham, UK. The award-winning event connects business pioneers with experts like Chubb, to share innovation, best practices and how they operate with SafeZone solutions.  Chubb has partnered with CriticalArc on the SafeZone application since 2021. Forming part of Chubb visiON+ offering of connect safety services, SafeZone powered by Chubb combines...

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...

Taking the time to investigate and evaluate the options for turnout gear lockers is an important step in the purchasing process. Not all locker systems are created equal, nor with the same attention to detail. Turnout Gear Locker The Industry Standard for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) storage was created in 1998 with the introduction of the GearGrid Turnout Gear Locker. Since then, other look-a-like products have come and gone. When the facts, features, and benefits are reviewed, it bec...