United States of America (USA) Fire Industry News

This is a national effort, led by the Government, to make high-rise residential buildings safer, and give a better understanding of high-rise residential buildings across the country. It has come off the back of the tragic Grenfell Tower disaster and is in its second phase. ACM cladding The first phase of the program focused on Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding. This saw SYFRS, and other fire services right across the country, work with building owners to identify buildings with ACM...

Rave Mobile Safety (Rave), a trusted partner for safety software protecting millions of individuals, announced the acquisition of SwiftReach Networks (SwiftReach), a foremost provider of emergency notification and incident management solutions. The combination of Rave and SwiftReach will provide wide-ranging capabilities and unmatched infrastructure to ensure optimal communications under the most demanding circumstances. Todd Piett, CEO of Rave, said, “The addition of SwiftReach and its F...

Even with slightly relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, Christmas in 2020 will be very different from the ones everyone is used to celebrating. Not everyone will be able to gather together under the same roof to spend the festive period together. Some will be in isolation or stuck abroad, away from family and friends. Together or apart, fires can still happen at Christmas time; in fact, it’s statistically the worst time of year for fires - which sadly can be some of the most destructive. In 202...

A fire in a utility room at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center was quickly extinguished, Baltimore County fire officials said. Fire officials said firefighters were called around 3:09 p.m. for a fire on the third floor of the hospital in Rossville. Hospital alarm system Fire officials said the hospital alarm system sounded and as firefighters were en route, the sprinkler system activated. Officials said firefighters found heavy smoke on the third floor and it took about 45 minutes to put...

A one-alarm fire at a northwest Houston hotel forced guests to evacuate early Saturday morning, according to the Cy-Fair Fire Department. At approximately 4:40 a.m., fire crews were dispatched to a Holiday Inn Express hotel located in the 9100 block of West Road on reports of a fire. On arrival, crews observed fire and smoke visible from a third-story unit. Sustaining smoke damage Firefighters attacked the blaze and extinguished it quickly, said Captain Daniel Arizpe, a public information off...

From August to November, areas of Western North America brace for fire seasons that grow increasingly more destructive. 2020, in particular, has brought the United States some of the most destructive wildfires seen throughout US history. In California alone, over 4 million acres have been burned in over 9 thousand incidents, claiming 31 lives and over 10 thousand structures. When looking at the totality of fire damage in all of Western North America, this number nearly doubles, with over 8 mill...

Technology and innovation are shaping the future of the fire industry. During 2020, TheBigRedGuide.com published many articles touching on research, development, and new technologies. This roundup will review some of the most popular articles, including links to the original content. Thermal Imaging & Augmented Reality (AR) Combining thermal imaging and augmented reality (AR) enables firefighters to see through smoke, in effect enhancing their vision in the life-threatening environment of...

Wildfires represent extreme instances of the deadly destructiveness of fire. There seem to be more wildfires every year, and there are certainly larger and more deadly wildfires all over the world than ever before. Wildfires dominate the public perception of the most extreme consequences of fire. This look back at 2020 will highlight some of the articles about wildfires published by TheBigRedGuide.com, with links to the full-length original articles. The wildfire season in 11 Western U.S. stat...

Global coatings manufacturer Hempel has enhanced its established and proven Olympic+ and Oceanic+ antifouling range and is, launching five new antifouling solutions: Oceanic Protect+, Oceanic Flex+, Olympic Protect+, Olympic Flex+ and Olympic Protect. Building on their proven effectiveness, reliability and impressive value-for-money, these five new products deliver additional benefits and choice within the existing product range. Hempel’s Olympic+ and Oceanic+ antifouling coatings have be...

The staff at Hardstaff Barriers has been busy over recent weeks, growing moustaches of different shapes and sizes – raising £1400 in funds for charity. Throughout the month of November 2020, four members of the Hardstaff Barriers’ team took part in the ‘Hardtash’ challenge, in order to raise money for Movember, the men’s health charity. Movember – Men’s health charity Hardstaff Barriers is a globally renowned manufacturer and supplier of roadsid...

Ensuring fire doors are up to standard is a valuable task that should not be underestimated. To comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, fire door installation and maintenance is a key requirement for every business to which the order applies. Regular inspection To ensure fire doors will perform as intended in the event of a fire, regular inspections should be undertaken. Six-monthly inspections are recommended by BS 9999, consisting of extensive checks of each component. I...

During the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 8 someone attempted to set fire to Nidaros Cathedral - the world’s northernmost medieval cathedral, built beginning in 1070, and Norway’s national sanctuary located in the city of Trondheim. Luckily, the fire was quickly detected by Autronica Fire and Security’s AutroGuard® protectors. The recently developed protector has technology that enables fast and reliable smoke detection. The Nidaros Cathedral is one of the first buildings where A...

On Friday 11th December 2020 Coopers Fire took part in National Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save the Children and raised a brilliant £102.00! Save the Children exists to help every child reach their full potential. In the UK and around the world, they make sure children stay safe, healthy and keep learning, so they can become who they want to be. Tackling major problems They lead the way in tackling problems like pneumonia, hunger, and protecting children in war while making sure eac...

With Grenfell inquiries continuing to uncover a number of fire safety issues, it’s clear that decision makers must learn from critical mistakes in a bid for better fire safety standards. Karen Trigg of Allegion UK highlights the key lessons that must be taken from Grenfell to help ensure a disaster of this magnitude never happens again. On the 14th June 2017, UK witnessed a tragedy. A myriad of critical issues, whether the result of mistakes, oversights or neglect, led to the largest fire...

The holiday season is fraught with possible dangers from fire. Ranging from dried-out Christmas trees to overloaded electrical circuits, the dangers are high in a season when awareness may be at a low point. Fire departments are well positioned to communicate these dangers to citizens. Social media makes it easier than ever to spread “messages of good habits” when it comes to fire prevention in homes and businesses. A Look At The Statistics The dangers are high in a season when aw...

South Yorkshire’s Fire Service is highlighting the story of a firefighting hero killed during the Sheffield Blitz-exactly 80 years after the events that took his life. Frederick Parkes Spencer was the only permanent, full-time Police Fireman–as they were then known–to have been killed when thousands of tons of explosives were dropped on Sheffield on the night of 12 and 13 December 1940. South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has already honored Frederick by naming one of the confer...

HazSim's Founder - Phil Ambrose originally developed the HazSim Pro to increase the situational awareness of his peers and improve safety training through realistic experiences.  The HazSim Pro is currently used to train thousands of personnel in Fire, Military, Oil and Gas, and Power facilities across North America. The system is used for basic hazwoper, HazMat Tech/Spec, Confined Space, and any training for those who encounter dangerous atmospheres. Hands-On Simulation Training "The Ha...

When a fire broke out, in the early hours, at a food distribution warehouse in Hastings, United Kingdom, an automatic sprinkler system activated and extinguished it, minimizing damage and ensuring that the business would be able to return to operations later that day, with the little disruption caused due to the fire. East Sussex Fire & Rescue  On Sunday, October 4th, 2021, at 6 am, fire engines and firefighters from East Sussex Fire & Rescue were called to the A.F. Blakemore and...

The USDA Forest Service seeks public input on two proposed directives that would address safety and reliability for powerline operations on national forests and grasslands. The proposed directives would implement provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill and amendments made in 2018 to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The proposed directives also align with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue’s direction to make national forests and grasslands healthier and more productive. The pr...

With the end of the year approaching, it’s time to start planning for next year and preparing for a building’s fire and life safety inspections. As a professional in the fire and life safety industry, LSS Life Safety Services are constantly urging that a building’s fire and life safety protection systems be properly maintained. This means both passive fire (fire/smoke dampers, fire doors, fire barriers), as well as active fire (sprinklers, fire extinguishers) protection system...

PAS 79-1:2020 and PAS 79-2:2020 replace PAS 79:2012. Please note PAS 79:2012 has been withdrawn.  This has been superseded by two new documents: PAS 79-1:2020 Fire risk assessment. Premises other than housing. Code of practice (published December 2020). PAS 79-2:2020 Fire risk assessment. Housing. Code of practice (published December 2020). BAFE published information regarding the public consultation in April 2020. Generic fire risk assessment guidance The BSI website notes that t...

Saab signed a contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration and received an order for an integrated sensor and command and control system for use with ground-based air defense. The order value is approximately 2.1 billion SEK and the contract period is 2020-2025. The order includes several Saab’s multifunctional radar Giraffe 4A and upgrades of the Swedish Armed Forces’ existing Giraffe AMB surface radars. Saab will also update existing and deliver additional command and...

EFT announces the recent opening of its End Point Assessment Center. As a NET Approved Center, it will be specializing in assessment for the Fire and Security Pathway Apprenticeship. It is committed to quality and believes the test center to be the center of choice. The facilities have been purpose-built to a high standard to ensure the best experience is achieved for all apprentices as they complete their assessments. This includes breakout areas for apprentices and the use of kitchen facilit...

Jactone Products is a 3M approved original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of Pre-Engineered PAFSS fire suppression systems using 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid as the extinguishant. 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid When Jactone launched the PAFSS automatic fire suppression systems range several years ago, one of the environments it designed the systems to protect were those requiring a clean agent extinguishant, this included elec...

Firefighters are ready to assist the UK’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccines after an agreement was reached between the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the fire and rescue service National Employers. The agreement allows firefighters to assist other public sector organizations with the track, trace, and isolate measures, and to check that potential higher risk premises are COVID-secure. Firefighters will inspect workplaces where relevant authorities have raised concerns about COVID-security, not...

“At Hempel, we want to put sustainability at the heart of how we do business, and we want to do it with a high level of ambition and credibility. By working with the SBTi, we can enter this journey knowing that we are guided by a very well-credited program,” says Hempel CEO, Lars Petersson. Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP, and the founder of SBTi stresses the need for more companies to do as Hempel and commit to fighting climate change on a scientific basis: “The science is clea...

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is investing more than £25 million in state-of-the-art technology which will further improve the safety and quality of care that staff is able to provide to patients. The investment will see every frontline member of staff issued with an iPad so that they can access a brand new electronic patient care record (ePCR) system quickly and easily while on the road. This includes details of previous ambulance callouts and the patient’...

Checkmate's CheckSafe initiative was seen in action when COO, David Woffendin, and Operations Director, Simon Kelly visited one of the South East based sites, where they were shown around by Supervisor, Deividas Jocys.  CheckSafe embeds a culture of working safely on-site and encourages that doing so is a collaborative effort. The question “Am I working Safely?” encourages building users to communicate easily with the business, and enables them to “correct and learn&rdq...

From a 48-storey fire in the UAE, to a 200-firefighter-strong blaze at student accommodation in the UK, several high-profile, high-rise fires continue to keep the focus of utilities, regulators, developers, and public associations everywhere on actively seeking ways to reduce the risk of fire with innovative materials. Statistics show that the majority of fire related fatalities occur in a domestic setting between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. Protecting high-rise residential buildings from fire...

Glen Echo Fire Department and Santa are pleased to announce the 2020 “Santa Run” schedule. This year, Santa will be visiting from December 14th to December 23rd. As with years past, Santa will do everything he can to make sure he visits each neighborhood on the appointed dates, but this year he wants to make doubly sure everyone stays warm and safe. Some modifications have been made to help protect all of you, as well as Santa and his helpers: Santa asks that they wave from the ho...