Fire Rescue - Case Studies
Fitting a new life safety system to any public space can be a complex job, but when undertaking this task in a hospital, during a pandemic, the complexity increases tenfold. When Pyrotec Fire and Security were chosen as the contractors to update an existing fire detection system at Wycombe General Hospital, there was only one life safety device manufacturer that would fit the job – Hochiki. Based in High Wycombe in the heart of Buckinghamshire, Wycombe Hospital provides urgent treatment a...
Due to the concentration of production resources and inventories in ever-larger operating facilities, fire loads and possible consequential fire damage in food processing plants have risen considerably in recent years. The causes of fires are manifold: short circuits, ignition of packaging materials, fires in cold storage rooms, or grease fires are just a few of the causes. The consequences of fires can threaten the existence of companies. High property damage, expensive remediation measures as...
Chubb recently installed a hybrid fire solution, comprised of a combination of hardwire and wireless fire systems, in Glenapp Castle, a 21-bedroom, luxury five-star hotel in Ayrshire, Scotland. The solution meets the historic Scotland preservation agency’s stringent requirements. Chubb is a part of Carrier Global Corporation, the foremost global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable, and intelligent building and cold chain solutions. Challenge The owners sought to convert the castl...
The Ponchartrain Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, named for the original title given to the area by French settlers, was erected in 1965. After going through many ownership changes, name changes, and eventually closing in 2009, the 25 story tall, 367 room luxury hotel was resurrected in 2012 by Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts. The Crowne Plaza Ponchartrain Detroit was officially opened for business on July 17, 2013. Just as the once distinguished Ponchartrain Hotel had succumb to years of neglect, s...
Premier Inn is the biggest chain of hotels in the UK, featuring in many towns and cities making up a network of over 800 hotels nationwide. With the continued popularity in air travel, Premier Inn decided to construct a hotel at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4. The construction of the hotel was an eight-storey, 613-bedroom hotel offering various size bedroom suites along with customer lounge and restaurant. Protec were employed to design, supply, install and commission both fire alarm and emergency...
The construction of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, which is one of the UK’s super hospitals and at the time of creation was the largest project of its kind in the country outside of the Olympics development. The steel and glass towers of the hospital now dominate the city’s skyline. The facility has the largest single-floor critical care unit in the world, with 100 beds. Service personnel are treated in single rooms or four-bed bays in a 30-bed military section located in the...
2020 saw the United Kingdom hit with a worldwide pandemic of a respiratory disease called COVID-19. It saw thousands of people hospitalized and cause a severe strain on the country’s NHS services. The UK government decided to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and assist the under-pressure NHS, by building seven new temporary hospitals, located around the United Kingdom. The seven hospitals were to re-purpose existing, multi-function public buildings, such as London’s ExCel, Birmingham&rs...
The Laurus Trust is a Multi-Academy Trust predominantly based within the Greater Manchester area. The trust consists of seven schools which are: Cheadle Hulme High School, Laurus Cheadle Hulme, Laurus Ryecroft, Didsbury High School, Hazel Grove High School, Gorsey Bank Primary School and Cheadle Hulme Primary School. In 2017, The Laurus Trust, along with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), selected BAM Construction Northwest, based in Salford, to deliver the Laurus Cheadle Hulme, Ch...
Hardstaff Barriers has installed more than three miles of its popular MASS barrier in Birmingham, United Kingdom (UK), as part of an exciting project to create a priority bus route for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The globally renowned Vehicle Restraint System (VRS) manufacturer and supplier has installed 5,000 meters of the red and white steel barrier – its largest-ever MASS installation – on the A45 between Heybarnes Circus and Bordesley Circus, while widening work is carried out....
New vehicles have been deployed at Maidenhead, Hungerford, Lambourn, Crowthorne, Mortimer, and Caversham Road fire stations. They are a standard Ford Ranger Crew Cab (5 seats) fitted with a permanently installed canopy over the rear bed for safety and security. The vehicles are all fitted with a towbar as standard a blue light emergency response package and scene lighting. Improving logistics The new Ford Ranger vehicles will provide logistical support at incidents and improve the resilience...
Thermo Fisher is a biotechnology company that is the result of a 2006 merger between Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific. Since the merger, the company has gone on to become a multinational corporation with offices all over the world. Recently, the Middletown, Virginia office had a new fire protection system installed. Brewer Fire, a contractor based out of Charleston, West Virginia was chosen to head the project. Brewer decided to utilize Potter’s PFC-6800 Fire Alarm Control Panel, and...
The Green Bank Observatory is located in Green Bank, West Virginia and is home to the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. The area is an ideal location for the telescope because mountains surrounding the satellite act as a natural funnel, pushing radio signals towards the large dish. The observatory’s purpose is to act as surveillance for a potential meteor collision, to measure the distance between stars, and search for intelligent life forms in the universe. The expan...
Built in 1938, Spring Lake Heights Elementary School in Spring Lake Heights, New Jersey was ready for an upgrade. Three of the school’s existing classrooms were to be renovated, as well as the addition of two completely new classrooms. A plan was created to not only equip the addition with a new fire protection system, but to modernize the rest of the building’s outdated system and retrofit it into the newly installed system. Along with new monitoring equipment and peripheral devices...
Licking County, Ohio was formed in 1808, with its county seat located in Newark, which is 33 miles northeast of Columbus, Ohio. At the center of town, sits the Licking County Courthouse. The courthouse was constructed in 1878, and remains one of the town’s most prized historical possessions. In recent years, it became evident that updates to the building’s fire security facilities were necessary. The previous system was an all-in-one fire and security system, which didn’t leav...
According to Henry Shuler, Owner and Consulting Engineer for Shuler Consulting Company, one of the biggest issues with the old station was its location, which was in a tiny city lot crammed into a corner between the road and a commercial business. In addition, the lift station was at limited capacity, as it only had four pumps. “When you have that much sewage going into a very small wet well, corrosion becomes an issue. Odor was also a problem,” said Shuler. “So beyond just th...
James Hall founded in 1863 in Southport, Lancashire is a wholesaler, manufacturer and distributor of goods to around 640 SPAR shops in the north of England. With over 150 years of experience in the food retail and wholesale industry, James Hall has acquired a range of businesses to help support their SPAR brand. James Hall owns multiple warehouses and distribution centers within the north of England. One being their primary purpose-built distribution center first constructed in 2010. The distri...
The London Aquatics Centre is located in Stratford, on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park complex and is designed by renowned architect, Zaha Hadrid. Constructed by Balfour Beatty in 2008 and completed in July 2011, well in time ready to feature in the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics events. London Aquatics Centre The London Aquatics Centre is home to a 50-meter competition swimming pool, a 25-meter competition diving pool and a 50-meter warm-up pool, with all of them featuring a movable fl...
To address the growing population and projected water demand over the next 30 Years, HCWA recently completed a master plan update that includes two booster pump stations – the Fairview booster pump station and the Southeastern booster pump station. Due to the elevation, part of the area near the Fairview booster pump station was being fed from another county. The water treatment plants are in the southern portion of the county, so it would take 30 to 40 miles of transmission to get to the...
The fleet service company, BwFuhrparkService GmbH is procuring 76 forest firefighting vehicles (FlKfz WBBk) from Rosenbauer, on behalf of the German Armed Forces. The decisive factor in the award of the contract for the procurement of forest firefighting vehicles to Rosenbauer Germany was the most economical offer in the tender. Robust off-road chassis and extinguishing technology These vehicles are built according to the tactical needs of the fire services and equipped with the latest techno...
A housing association has been fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £23,407 prosecution costs for breaking fire safety laws following a fatal fire in a tower block. Lewisham Homes was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, January 29, after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to failing to properly maintain fire doors at the block in Deptford and failing to review an existing fire risk assessment which was carried out in 2008. The prosecution was brought by the London Fire Brig...
The Gare de Lyon in Paris, France, one of the most important and beautiful railway stations in Europe, is now protected with high pressure water mist (HPWM) system from AQUASYS. The HPWM system was installed together with local and long-term partner - Uxello Risque Spéciaux and has now been officially approved. High pressure water mist system The installation of the high pressure water mist (HPWM) system in the main hall of the station started back in 2016 and was carried out in severa...
There are often vehicles in a fire department’s fleet that are highly specialized and unique. Firefighters have fond memories of these vehicles and cherish the missions on which the devices provided critical assistance. The volunteer fire department in Windischgarsten, Upper Austria, has one such unique small firefighting vehicle in service. It is built on a very special chassis – a Pinzgauer – from Austria. New Or Old Vehicle Since a replacement for the Pinzgauer was schedu...
E-ONE®, a subsidiary of REV Group® and a manufacturer of fire apparatus announces the delivery of four (4) TITAN® 4×4 Air Transportable (AT) ARFF vehicles for Public Works and Government Services Canada on behalf of the Department of National Defense Canada (DND). The TITAN AT meets all the performance requirements of NFPA 414 and is specifically designed to fit on a C-130 Hercules aircraft, allowing the vehicles to be deployed by air through...
Since 1997, San Bernardino International Airport (SBD) has been home to the U.S. Forest Service Airtanker base which serves as the backbone of aerial firefighting in Southern California. The Airport's operational support is more critical than ever. Wildfire activity has increased significantly in recent years and could continue to worsen, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). Fighting these blazes takes a cooperative effort, and peak operations will...
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...
Previously, the St. Georgen Volunteer Fire Department dried their hoses using an inclined hose drying system, in which the fire hoses are suspended between the ceiling and the floor at an angle of 30°. Not only was this laborious, the drying result was also not ideal with the hoses sagged in the middle or hung together at the edges and therefore, still remaining wet. Wintersteiger Drytech drying locker The Wintersteiger Drytech drying locker for fire hoses is a special solution that...
Four fire engines have been deployed at fire stations in Royal Berkshire, as part of ongoing investment by the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority. Bracknell, Ascot, and Wokingham Road (in Reading) are the latest fire stations to receive a new Volvo fire engine, as part of a joint procurement process project between Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS), Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes, and Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service. Upgrading to new engines The Volvo fire en...
Fire missions, rescue missions, work missions: the new L32A-XS 3.0 turntable ladder from the Dresden fire brigade is not only equipped for one, but for a wide variety of purposes. Compact dimensions, very good maneuverability and at the same time high performance - these are the characteristics of the XS turntable ladders Rosenbauer since their market launch a few years ago. The concept of the turntable ladders with tilting jib was continuously developed by Rosenbauer. In the current 3.0 versio...
Jacksonville, FL Local 122 has been helping local law enforcement close out mission persons’ cases at an impressive rate, thanks to an emerging system that can accurately predict likely locations. Virtual Search Planning (VSP) The system, called Virtual Search Planning (VSP) combines case studies, multiple data points on individuals, geography and weather, and then uses mapping software to predict directional patterns and possible locations of missing persons not believed to have been ab...
Two seven-story residential apartment buildings in the cultural and social hot-spot of Cardiff Bay are now protected by evacuation alert systems from UK manufacturer, Advanced. The EvacGo panels have been installed to meet the criteria set out in the BS 8629 Code of Practice for the design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of evacuation alert systems for use by fire and rescue services in England and Wales. Audible warning in emergencies Situated in Cardiff Bay’s Tiger Quay...
