United Kingdom (UK) Fire Industry News

Fire doors are always important, but it can be even more crucial for those who manage buildings with a sleeping risk such as hotels and hospitals. The condition of each door can dramatically impact the performance of the door to hold back, smoke, gasses and fire. Here are some simple things to keep in mind to ensure that the resident’s premises and their occupants remain protected. A fire door is only effective barrier to fire (and possibly smoke) when its shut. prop open fire doors So,...

STRATA softshell jacket is ideal for outdoor work which can take place after sunset or in gloomy conditions Those responsible for overseeing PPE for businesses should already be looking ahead to the colder months and assessing whether they’re existing garments meet standards, according to leading PPE manufacturer Skanwear. Working with innovative protection brand STRATA, Skanwear has unveiled its latest jacket that comes with a lifetime guarantee against faulty workmansh...

Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall along the southern East Coast of the U.S. in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, bringing with it extensive rain and wind, and prompting extensive evacuations. The National Hurricane Center has also issued advisories for other tropical storms and hurricanes, and is asking communities to prepare ahead as these storms move closer to land. Electrical safety tips To help navigate these storms and prepare throughout hurricane season, NFPA enc...

Drones are an important new tool for the fire service and have already proven their ability to save lives. Willingness to embrace drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) for fire applications varies widely by department, and it’s not just larger departments that are making the investment. Some smaller departments are investing in drones in a big way, even as some larger departments are reticent. Firefighting Drone Programs Departments may start with a small drone just to “try i...

Kentec fire alarm and detection solutions on display at Security Essen 2018 Kentec is showcasing its life-critical control systems at Security Essen, with its next generation Taktis 16 loop analogue addressable fire panel taking centre stage. Taktis 16L fire panel The Taktis 16L extends the current Taktis fire panel to provide up to 144 zone indications. It supports more than 2,000 detection devices and can network up to 128 panels, making it ideal for the largest sites such...

Bosch Building Technologies has introduced its Safety Systems Designer, a free and easy to use tool for planners of EN54 fire detection systems. The software supports both stand-alone and system architectures with up to 32 modular fire panels being distributed via several buildings or up to 32 loops per panel. It is thus suited for a broad range of installations, including schools, shopping malls, industrial facilities, office buildings and more. The Safety Systems Designer supports the entire...

In 2017, ASSA Sweden took the decision to rebrand to ASSA ABLOY. This move was considered to be a logical evolution for the ASSA brand and a step towards further strengthening the company’s project specification capabilities and brand power. The rebranding is now underway in the Scandinavia region, with rebranded products and packaging starting to be phased in through 2018. Re-branding strategy In the United Kingdom, although the company’s products will be branded as ASSA ABLOY, AS...

Over three million fire doors are installed every year in the UK, yet incorrect specification, poor installation and a lack of maintenance is still a common occurrence. In light of this, and to coincide with Fire Door Safety Week, ASSA ABLOY UK is holding a dedicated event at West Midlands Fire Service’s headquarters in Birmingham to help raise the bar on standards of quality for fire door safety. The event will take place on Thursday 27th September and is aimed towards building owners, f...

Flooding, severe weather, prolonged power cut, heatwave, large smoke plume, chemical leak…how would the users cope in an emergency situation? Cambridgeshire’s emergency services and other Local Resilience Forum (LRF) partners such as local authorities, Cambridgeshire County Council, health organizations, and the Environment Agency, are joining forces for the whole of September to share top tips and advice to help get local residents prepared for a number of different emergency situ...

Purchasing a vehicle that checks off all the organization’s needs/wants within the budget can be a challenging and lengthy process. There’s an endless list of customizations and factors to consider. Here are four items to include in the ARFF purchase to obtain the best tools for the mission. ARFF vehicles Built to be durable and safe Bump steer can occur when the vehicle does not have an independent suspension Any ARFF vehicle is built with the mindset of durability and safety. O...

September is Campus Fire Safety Month, and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and The Center for Campus Fire Safety (The Center) are working together to promote their national Campus Fire Safety for Students campaign. The campaign, which raises awareness about the dangers of fires among college-aged students who live in on- and off-campus college housing, serves as an important reminder for students, parents, fire safety professionals, and safety educat...

Skanwear has set out to completely revolutionise customer interactions, opting for a more personal approach with bespoke care The experts in Arc and FR Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Skanwear has announced it is working on measures to improve the customer experience. Skanwear stocks clothing and accessories designed to prevent injury from arc flash and electric shocks in industrial sectors. It has set out to completely revolutionise customer interactions, opting for a mo...

Emergency Reporting (ER), the cloud-based reporting and records management software solutions provider for Fire and EMS agencies, has teamed up with the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), to release a comprehensive guide, which shows fire service leaders how to increase their fire department’s volunteer base. NVFC’s recruitment guide The guide, ‘How to Build a Smart Recruitment Program: Your Guide to Getting More Volunteer Firefighters’, is available for download f...

The extent of the passive fire protection remediation work required in England’s social housing stock has been revealed by a new investigation, the findings of which suggest that thousands of families are being exposed to unnecessary risk. A study by Inside Housing magazine analyzed the fire risk assessments for 1,584 residential tower blocks (approximately 40% of the stock of social housing tall buildings) and discovered that major problems with fire doors and compartmentation were widesp...

Checkmate Fire are long-time advocates of the benefits of third-party certification for all passive fire protection and their belief has been further strengthened by the Government’s ongoing investigation into the quality of fire doors. The company believes that all fire doors should be certified by an approved UKAS certification scheme, and it appears that the Government is now moving towards implementing this. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has examine...

The new line of addressable detectors includes photo, photo/thermal, and heat detectors, along with bases and accessories Honeywell, a pioneer in Connected Buildings, is helping customers get ahead of upcoming building code changes and improve fire detection through a new line of addressable smoke and heat detection devices available across all Honeywell Fire brands. The devices improve detection of fires involving synthetic materials that are commonly used in modern building...

Honeywell, a provider of Connected Buildings, is helping customers get ahead of upcoming building code changes and improve fire detection through a new line of addressable smoke and heat detection devices available across all Honeywell Fire brands. The devices improve detection of fires involving synthetic materials that are commonly used in modern buildings, and offer improved system reliability against false alarms. In addition, these devices have been designed to meet new industry requiremen...

Firefighters are asking local businesses and residents for help in protecting properties, after tackling several bin fires in Sittingbourne in recent days. five wheelie bin fires In the last six days, crews have been called to five wheelie bin fires including: Tuesday, 21 August - Two fire engines were called at 9.34pm to a large metal wheelie bin that was alight at the back of a shop in Sittingbourne. They used a high pressure hose reel to put the fire out. Wednesday, 22 August - Crews were...

Eleven new on-call firefighters have joined fire stations across Cambridgeshire after completing a three-month training program. The latest group of on-call recruits passed out last month, in front of proud friends, family, and instructors, and are serving their communities as firefighters around their work and home life. The new recruits are now on-call after completing three months of training at the Service’s training center in Huntingdon and will now be joining crews at Ramsey, Hunti...

Free to attend and consisting of nine shows, UK Construction Week 2018 is set to be a show to remember: Timber Expo, Build Show, Civils Expo, Plant & Machinery Live, Energy 2018, Building Tech Live, Surface & Materials Show and HVAC 2018 running from 9-11 October and Grand Designs Live which is open to the trade on 10-11 October. UK Construction Week brings together all stakeholders within the built environment across every facet of design, build and product innovation. As one of the la...

The West Midlands Fire Service is committed to attracting more firefighters who are women or from minority backgrounds has been praised by the Government. Only 5.2% of firefighters in England are women, and just 3.9% from a black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME). But, since we adopted a new recruitment approach in January, 33% of our successful candidates have been women and 32% BAME. By 2020/2021, the fire service is aiming for 60% of new starters to be women and for 35% to be from...

Comelit Group and Traders Warehouse will be joint exhibiting the new fire systems alongside Comelit’s latest in door entry technology at ElexShow 2018 Traders Warehouse is the exclusive distribution partner of choice, across all five UK branches, to offer Comelit Group’s new state-of the-art fire detection solutions. The security distribution group, already a Comelit Gold Partner, has enhanced its product portfolio by introducing Comelit’s full range of Th...

ISO 9001:2015 is awarded for fulfilling criteria for a quality management system by an organisation, by ensuring higher level structure with an increased importance given to risk Nittan Europe, a manufacturer of conventional and addressable fire detection products, has been awarded ISO 9001:2015 certification. This achievement marks Nittan’s ability to deliver high quality products and systems to market. ISO 9001:2015 is awarded for fulfilling criteria for a quality m...

Maritime safety equipment manufacturer and global servicing provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment has signed with Rosenby Engineering to exclusively distribute the award-winning Danish startup’s HydroPen fire extinguishing system for container vessels. VIKING’s Product Management and New Building Director Jørgen Holm, sees the HydroPen System as a leap forward for protecting container vessels, their cargo and crew from one of modern shipping’s most hazardous situations....

Emergency Reporting (ER), the globally renowned company for easy-to-use cloud-based reporting and records management software solutions for Fire and EMS (Emergency Medical Services) agencies, has announced a partnership with Fire Recovery USA, the global company in Fire and EMS Billing services. The Emergency Reporting and Fire Recovery USA partnership will help fire department operations to maximize their cost-recovery efforts, for incident-related responses, as well as fire prevention and als...

Skanwear is a specialist provider of protective garments and equipment that are fire resistant and designed with arc flash in mind Arc Flash and Flame Resistant PPE experts, Skanwear, are on a mission to inform businesses about the risks of arc flash and how to minimise them. There are at least two arc flash incidents occurring every day, with an average of two of these proving fatal, according to OSHA. As a result, Skanwear made its first seminar in its webinar series dedica...

The fire escape hood Parat 5500 protects the user against fire gases, vapours and particles with a CO P2 filter The fire escape hood Parat 5500 is now available in a flame-retardant holster constructed from aramid material as the variant PARAT 5550. The holster, which was specially developed for fire rescue teams, in combination with the fire escape hood is system approved together with the Dräger breathing apparatus according to EN 137:2006, Type 2. The holster can be a...

POK S.A.S, the globally renowned fire safety equipment provider, who is in constant search to create innovative products, has designed a new generation of robotic monitor, the Jupiter. Designed to fight fire effectively as close as possible to the source, this remote-controlled system allows fire brigades to operate in complete safety and with high efficiency. The Jupiter The Jupiter is the latest generation robot, which is extremely user-friendly and operational in all environments Ideal for...

ASSA ABLOY UK is holding a dedicated event at West Midlands Fire Service’s headquarters in Birmingham to help raise the bar on standards of quality for fire door safety Over three million fire doors are installed every year in the UK, yet incorrect specification, poor installation and a lack of maintenance is still a common occurrence. In light of this, and to coincide with Fire Door Safety Week, ASSA ABLOY UK is holding a dedicated event at West Midlands Fire Service&r...

Nittan Europe announce the publishing of Technical Guidance Sheets (TGS) No. 21, 22 and 23. The summary of each document is below. TGS-21 Issues Concerning HYBRID BS 5839 Part1 & Part6 Systems in HMOs. TGS-21 addresses growing concerns surrounding the installation of fire safety systems in House of Multiple Occupation (HMOs). In recent years, there has been a tendency for system designers to advise landlords and building owners to specify ‘hybrid’ systems – installing...