Software news

Verint Systems (Verint), the globally renowned customer engagement company, has announced the completion of the previously announced transaction to acquire Conversocial, a renowned company in conversational customer experience services, delivered over messaging channels. Conversocial acquisition On August 10, 2020, Verint issued a release, ‘Verint Expands its Cloud Platform Capabilities to Help Brands Accelerate Digital-First Customer Engagement’, stating its intent to acquire the...

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created to not only equip the addition with a new fire protection system, but to modernize the rest of the building’s outdated system and retrofit it into the newly installed system.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...

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...

Increasingly, end users in the construction, industrial and wastewater markets are realizing the need for higher heads or to pump liquids greater distances, over challenging topography. Professional Engineers and municipal designers have previously had little choice but to overextend pump performance limits of conventional self-priming centrifugal trash pumps, potentially shortening the life of the pump and risking safety issues in the process. Thousands of hours of research and development and...

Loudoun County has established a voluntary database that provides emergency responders with important health information, in compliance with Virginia’s Marcus-David Peters Act, which was signed into law in December 2020. Virginia’s Marcus-David Peters Act The law aims to provide behavioral health responses, when an individual is experiencing a crisis, related to mental health, substance abuse or developmental disability, in the US state of Virginia. The bill requires that by July 1...

Businesses and building owners can now check on the fire safety status of their properties remotely with the Bosch remote fire safety app, running on the new ‘remote interact’ feature of the Bosch remote services portfolio for Bosch fire alarm systems. The application provides peace of mind to end-users and system integrators alike who can easily monitor the condition of their fire alarm systems from a distance. The app also sends push notifications in the case of emergency events &...

Armstrong Fluid Technology has unveiled its industry-renowned Design Envelope Fire Pump unit, along with Fire Pump Manager, a new and connected service for tracking pump performance. In addition to providing important new safety benefits, Armstrong’s new Design Envelope Fire Pump holds the distinction of being the first self-regulating, variable-speed fire pump, to meet NFPA-20 (2019 Edition), Section 4.8 standards. variable-speed fire pump This innovation allows simplification of the p...

PlanRadar announces a new partnership with IFC Group (International Fire Consultants), one of the fire safety consultancies. From the end of August 2021, IFC Group will use PlanRadar in the field to manage inspections, fire risk assessments, and audits across their projects globally. The company supports its clients at every stage of their projects, from design to delivery and maintenance, and on projects of all sizes and levels of complexity. Fire safety measures With increased scrutiny on b...

Zeta Alarms Ltd is pleased to announce that their latest EX-Pro extinguishing panel now boasts 3rd-party certification to EN 12094-1 and EN54 parts 2&4 from BSI. This modern extinguishing panel includes a LCD display showing the event history along with adjustable flood times and countdown of extinguishing sequence. The panel has 5 on board outputs with the facility to add a further 3 or 8 using an optional PCB, which can be mounted within the panel enclosure.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service has welcomed nine new on-call firefighters to stations across the county. The group completed their phase one, 10 week training course this month and now have the core skills required to operate safely as a firefighter with their new stations. The on-call firefighters will now respond to a wide range of emergencies in their communities, which could include anything from rescuing people trapped in cars following a collision, to responding to a local house f...

PlanRadar has announced a new partnership with IFC Group (International Fire Consultants), one of the United Kingdom’s renowned fire safety consultancies. From the end of August 2021, IFC Group will use PlanRadar in the field to manage inspections, fire risk assessments and audits, across their projects globally. The company supports its clients at every stage of their projects, from design to delivery and maintenance, and on projects of all sizes and levels of complexity. PlanRadar &nda...

London Waterproofing Specialists is one of the first waterproofing companies in the UK to offer Prokol's pure polyurea hotspray technology — an innovative solution that joins the superior performance of pure polyurea with a rapid coating application system. As an approved applicator of the latest pure polyurea technology and Prokol's other waterproofing and fire-retardant coating solutions, the specialist waterproofing contractors can provide a durable and versatile alternative to convent...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has authorized the use of federal funds to assist the state of California in combating the French Fire burning in Kern County. On Aug. 24, the state of California submitted a request for a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) for the French Fire. At the time of the request, the fire threatened approximately 4,000 homes in and around Wofford Heights and Kernville. Fire threat The fire also threatened dozens of businesses, schools, a fire s...

Infographics launches Microsoft Teams app, Azure AD, and Office 365 integrations for fire service management solutions – empowering FRS professionals to execute tasks and workflows directly from their core productivity systems Infographics, the fire service software, and Microsoft specialist, announces the launch of new Microsoft Teams and Office 365 integrations for its FireWatch and Prevent + Protect fire and rescue management and workflow suite. Secure and seamless user identity manage...

The Government has announced an extension to the date ending recognition of the CE Mark in Great Britain. CE Marked goods may continue to be placed on the GB market until 1st January 2023. This extension means that all product sectors have until 1st January 2023 to prepare to use the UKCA Mark, except Medical Devices. The UKCA Mark can be used and the Government is encouraging businesses to start using it as soon as possible, with it becoming mandatory for placing goods on the market...

The Association for Specialist Fire Protection has published three new Advisory Notes offering guidance on the fire protection of structural steel. 2021 version Addressing specific concerns identified by the industry, the ASFP's Advisory Note 19 sets out its position on the use of critical steel temperatures above 650°C. In an update to the previous edition from July 2020, the 2021 version notes: 'It is vital to ensure that the appropriate limiting temperature is used in the spe...

BSI Group (BSI), in its role as the UK National Standards Body, has published a new set of requirements for the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in development projects, including individual house-builds, large-scale developments and estate management. The loss of biodiversity as a result of human activity is having increasingly severe impacts. As a result, governments, businesses and organizations of all types are acting, not only to protect biodiversity, but to ensure it thrives....

Safety reporting body - CROSS-UK published a report earlier this month highlighting the fire risks from poorly maintained green walls, as changes to fire safety law mean that the external walls will become part of fire risk assessments.  Green walls have been a popular way of making urban areas more attractive, contribute to biodiversity and help mitigate the impacts of climate change. Close-down procedures This new report from CROSS-UK discusses how building close-down procedures that...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorized the use of federal funds to help with firefighting costs for the Schneider Springs Fire burning in Yakima County, Washington. The state of Washington’s request for a federal Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) was approved by FEMA Region 10 Acting Administrator Vincent Maykovich on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, at 6:25 p.m. PT. He determined that the Schneider Springs Fire threatened to cause such destruction as would constitute a...

Starting on July 13th, the Dixie Fire has already become the 2nd largest fire in California history and the largest active fire in the United States, covering more than 670,000 acres across Butte, Lassen, Plumas, and Tehama counties and displacing thousands of people. With nearly 6,000 fire personnel deployed – spanning federal, state, and local public safety agencies, including California Governor’s Office of Emergency Management, California Conservation Corps, El Dorado Hills Fire...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has authorized the use of federal funds to assist the state of California in combating the Monument Fire burning in Trinity County. On August 17, 2021, the State of California submitted a request for a Fire Management Assistance Grant declaration for the Monument Fire burning in Trinity County.  At the time of the request, the fire was threatening 5,053 residential structures in and around Junction City, Weaverville, Hayfork, and Douglas City,...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has authorized the use of federal funds to assist the state of California in combating the Caldor Fire burning in El Dorado County. On August 17, 2021, the State of California submitted a request for a Fire Management Assistance Grant declaration for the Caldor Fire burning in El Dorado County.  Fire threat At the time of approval, the Caldor Fire was threatening approximately 7,500 homes in and around Pollock Pines, Grizzly Flats, Camino, a...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorized the use of the federal funds to help with firefighting costs for the Twenty-Five Mile Fire burning in Chelan County, Washington. The state of Washington’s request for a federal Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) was approved by FEMA Region 10 Acting Administrator Vince Maykovich on Monday, August 17, 2021, at 10:39 p.m. PT. He determined that the Twenty-Five Mile Fire threatened to cause such destruction as would constitute...

The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2021 Annual Fire Service Achievement Awards. NVFC’s awards recipients Theodore Schroll Jr. will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by ADT, Robert James will receive the Chief James P. Seavey Sr. Health and Wellness Leadership Award, co-sponsored by VFIS and Ward Diesel Filter Systems, Paige Davis will receive the Junior Firefighter of the Year Award, sponsored by California Casualty, and t...

Bosch Security Systems has announced the release of new Aviotec firmware version 7.81 that comprises AI algorithms, which can now detect fire and smoke in changing weather and light conditions. Aviotec firmware version 7.81 The AI algorithms have been developed further in the Aviotec firmware version 7.81, in order to ensure reliability for sheltered outdoor areas. The fire risk in these areas and nearby buildings can now be reduced with intelligent, fast and reliable detection. In the past,...

Seek Thermal, the supplier of thermal sensors for the public safety market, announces the Reveal FirePRO X, the latest version of its high-resolution personal thermal imaging camera (TIC) for firefighters. The upgraded, handheld thermal imaging camera features a new charging port, which makes it even more durable and easier to access when needed. Additionally, a new four-bay multi-charger is available, allowing for compact housing and versatile mounting options for placement in the fire station...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorized the use of federal funds to help with firefighting costs for the Ford Corkscrew Fire burning in Stevens County, Washington. The state of Washington’s request for a federal Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) was approved by FEMA Region 10 Acting Regional Administrator Vincent Maykovich on Monday, Aug. 16, 2021, at 8:41 p.m. PT. He determined that the Ford Corkscrew Fire threatened to cause such destruction as would constitute...