Fire and Rescue news

London Fire Brigade's rapping firefighter, Stephen-remell Coleman Stephen-remell has written the track to tell people that London Fire Brigade is looking for new firefighters from all walks of life. "Follow me my people this is the way, sign your name for fire brigade open days. Oh what a rush, no job can touch, the job that I got this job is too much. We need more brothers and sisters let's go, don't matter if you're x or y chromosome". The line above is from a new hip...

Firefighters are warning Kent residents to cook with safety in mind Firefighters are warning Kent householders to cook with safety in mind. The alert follows a fire in Herne Bay in the early hours of yesterday morning (22 November). Crews are specifically advising residents not to drink and cook after a man had to be pulled to safety from his smoke-filled flat by firefighters. The warning comes after the man, in his forties, who had been drinking, fell asleep w...

NFPA 1600 and 14 other NFPA first responder codes and standards have received DHS's QATT designation  This is the first block of standards to receive this “Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology” designation by the DHS. NFPA 1600, Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs and 14 other NFPA codes and standards have been designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as "Qualified Anti-Terrorism Tec...

New Look was fined £400,000 after pleading guilty to breaches of fire safety Sentencing of New Look took place at Southwark Crown Court on 25 November, 2009 after they pleaded guilty to two breaches of the RRO. The high street retailer New Look has been fined £400,000 and ordered to pay £136,052 in costs after pleading guilty to serious breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the "RRO"). It is the largest fine under the RRO. Lon...

The seminar will feature real world projects using gazetteer data for a variety of applications The first Addressing Issues seminar will take place on 10th February, 2010 at Winford Manor Conference Centre near Bristol and further dates and venues will be announced soon. A free seminar programme designed to promote the effective use and management of geographic information by Emergency Services will begin on 10th February, 2010. Sponsored by spatial technology company GGP...

City of Westminster Magistrates' Court fined the landlord for seven breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) A landlord has been ordered to pay over £20,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to breaches of fire safety legislation. City of Westminster Magistrates' Court fined Mohammed Khan, £10,150 for seven breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Mr Khan has managed the property since 1997. The prosecution followed a numbe...

NFPA Firewise Communities program encourages local solutions for wildfire safety by involving others The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is celebrating the milestone achievement of surpassing 500 communities participating in its national Firewise Communities Program. The program is an interagency effort designed to encourage wildfire safety by involving homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers, firefighters, and others at the local le...

  Kochek Company has appointed Kurt Voland to the newly created position of Director of Sales and Marketing   Kochek Co has appointed Kurt Voland to the newly created position of Director of Sales and Marketing. In his new position Voland will provide a single point of contact between the field sales force and the factory and increase coordination with the management team and company goals. Voland has degrees from Norwich University and Western State College...

London Fire Commissioner, Ron Dobson, this week celebrating 30 years service with the London Fire Brigade Ron was awarded with the Queen's Fire Service Medal in 2005 and received a fire mark for his 30 years service from the Chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, Councillor Brian Coleman AM FRSA. London Fire Commissioner, Ron Dobson, is celebrating thirty years service with the London Fire Brigade, but as Chief Fire Officer of the UK's largest fire...

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate addressed students and faculty at Savannah State University The event was sponsored by the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Student Organization (HSEMSO). FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate addressed students and faculty at Savannah State University, in Savannah, Georgia. The FEMA Administrator praised students for choosing to study emergency management and recognized the administration of Savannah State, a Historical...

 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano ( Manuel Broussard, FEMA) The meetings were held to discuss critical infrastructure security. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today hosted the first in a series of roundtable meetings with private sector leaders. She also unveiled a new web site designed to inform the public about the Department's critical infrastructure protection, readiness and resiliency e...

The courses are registered with CIBSE providing CPD points Staged at venues throughout the country, the courses are designed to keep traveling time and costs to a minimum. From basic fire detection design to detailed training for specific issues such as Approved Document B, FIA training courses offer real and tangible benefits for all involved in fire protection from designer to user.The modular approach of the courses provides a number of stand alone units that allow...

UL and NFPA are working together this season to remind consumers to think about savings and safety Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) are working together this season to remind consumers to think about savings and safety. Surveys from the National Retail Federation and Information Resources, Inc. suggest that uber-competitive bargain-hunting will dominate as this year's trend among families who have spent the...

The CSB investigative team plans to thoroughly examine the facility's fire safety practice CSB investigators continue to examine the events and circumstances surrounding the catastrophic tank explosion and fire. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has announced that it will be conducting a full investigation of the October 23, 2009 explosion and fire at Caribbean Petroleum Refining.  At 12:23 a.m. on October 23, a large vapor cloud ignited at the Caribbean Pet...

U.S. firefighters responded to roughly 1,300 home fires involving cooking equipment on Thanksgiving in 2007 The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is calling on cooks across the nation to consider fire safety whilst cooking, because Thanksgiving is the day with the greatest number of home fires in the USA. U.S. firefighters responded to roughly 1,300 home fires involving cooking equipment on Thanksgiving in 2007, roughly three times the daily average of cooking...

More accidental, fatal house fires occur in the winter months, than at any other time of the year As the temperature drops and people spend more time at home using heaters, candles and cooking hot food, serious house fires increase - that's the stark message from London's firefighters this winter. The London Fire Brigade has released new figures about accidental, fatal house fires, which show that fatalities in accidental dwelling fires are falling year on year. However, the...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service tackles dangerous driving by young people The campaign will be launched at Larkfield Fire Station on Tuesday, 24 November. The shocking image of a young girl in a body bag is set to adorn the backs of buses as Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) steps up its push to tackle dangerous driving by young people. "Reckless driving: cut it out before we have to cut you out!" is the warning from firefighters who are supporting this hard-hitting...

The solutions on show help security and safety professionals to keep abreast of the latest developments The event marked the 20th anniversary of Safety and Security Asia and was jointly held with "Homeland Security Asia 2009" and "Fire & Rescue Asia 2009". Conference and Exhibition Management Services (CEMS) in collaboration with Safety and Security Asia officially opened "Safety and Security Asia 2009" at Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Cent...

Prince George's County recorded no deaths in fires in any homes protected by home sprinklers Recent findings from a key study show the overwhelming effectiveness of mandatory home fire sprinklers in saving lives in municipalities with mandatory fire sprinkler codes for homes. Prince George's County, Md., the first county in the nation to require residential fire sprinklers in its building code, has reported that since 1992, when the code was first adopted, there...

The new NFPA report outlines the big losses caused by wildland fires The report appears in the latest issue of NFPA Journal®, the official magazine of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). For the fifth time in the past 10 years, the largest loss associated with fires and explosions occurred in wildlands, and for the second year in a row, it happened in Southern California, according to the newly released National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) report...

RHoK brings together disaster relief experts and software engineers to develop solutions to critical issues The event brings together top programmers to develop solutions to disaster relief challenges.FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate keynoted the inaugural ‘Random Hacks of Kindness, Disaster Relief Codejam' (RHoK) initiative. RHoK is sponsored by industry leaders such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! in conjunction with NASA and the World Bank, and brings together d...

KFRS officers carried out late night inspections in licensed premises in Maidstone town centre Officers from Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) carried out late night inspections in licensed premises in Maidstone town centre on Saturday in response to public concerns of overcrowding. KFRS fire safety enforcement inspectors were out in force making sure that measures were in place to enable rapid and safe evacuation in case of a blaze. At this stage, inspectors are wor...

CSB Chairman John Bresland asked US jurisdictions to adopt the ASME Pressure Vessel Code CSB Chairman John Bresland released a new video safety message, asking jurisdictions across the country to adopt the ASME Pressure Vessel Code.  The message is aimed at reducing the number of accidents involving catastrophic pressure vessel failures in process industries.The safety message can be viewed on CSB.gov and on the CSB's safety message channel,...

Carl Barlow has won an award for long service at the London Fire Brigade A London Fire Brigade firefighter, who once starred in the famous 'boy on a bike' Hovis advert in the 1970s, has been presented with a long service award for serving Londoners for 30 years. Carl Barlow, 50, who now earns his crust as a Crew Manager at Islington Fire Station, said: "I've thoroughly enjoyed my career as a firefighter. I love the variety - you never know what's going to happen f...

All new one- and two- family dwellings in the US are to have residential fire sprinklers starting 2011   American homes are one step closer to being more fire-safe, following an October 28 vote at the International Code Council (ICC) hearings in Baltimore, Md. The vote reaffirmed national building codes making it mandatory for all new one- and two- family dwellings to have residential fire sprinklers starting in 2011. American homes are one step closer to b...

IFSEC India offers the ideal platform to network with over 9000 key fire and security professionals IFSEC India 2009 proved to be the most successful to date when 11,447 security professionals from all over the globe descended on Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India, between 29 - 31 October. Opened by the Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit, the show was jam-packed with more than 250 internationally renowned exhibitors and hours of unparalleled educationa...

A new Realistic Fire Training (RFT) unit for firefighters is to be officially opened next week A new state-of-the-art training facility for firefighters is to be officially opened next week (17 November) at Ashford Fire Station Crews using the Realistic Fire Training (RFT) unit, in Ashford, are exposed to the real conditions they face during a blaze, otherwise only experienced at genuine incidents. The new facility consists of a tower with a three-storey house attached, si...

FEMA Administrator W. Craig Fugate. FEMA/Bill Koplitz Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate yesterday addressed the National Voluntary Organisations Active in Disaster (National VOAD) Board of Directors Meeting. The gathering of national nonprofit organisations, that are dedicated to disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, took place at the Salvation Army headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. "FEMA's only one part of our nation's...

An estimated average of 3,800 fires occurs each year in university dwellings The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) United States Fire Administration (USFA) has issued a special report examining the causes and characteristics of fires in college and university residential buildings that include dormitories, fraternity, and sorority houses.  Thef report, University Housing Fires, was developed by the National Fire Data Center and is a part of the USFA's Topi...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service has issued an electric blanket safety warning after a house fire in Tonbridge Kent Fire and Rescue Service is issuing an electric blanket safety warning after a house fire in Tonbridge left an elderly couple needing to be temporarily re-housed. The fire broke out in an upstairs bedroom of their two-storey home in Brook Street in the early hours of Sunday morning as the couple slept. They awoke to a smouldering fire at the end of their...