Champion Rescue Tools FIRE PUMPS  (6)

The fire sprinkler system in your building is a critical safety measure and, when needed, it can save lives. Still, even the best systems can malfunction, and sprinklers do occasionally fail. When they do, they can drench the interior of your building, damaging everything from furniture and personal belongings to drywall and building materials. As a property manager, dealing with fire sprinkler failure can feel overwhelming. What do you do next? Where do you start? And why did the sprinkler system fail in the first place? In this post, we’ll discuss the common causes of accidental discharge, and what to do if it happens to you. Reasons for Fire Sprinkler Systems Failure Today, all building fire sprinkler systems must meet NFPA 13 standards. These National Fire Protection Association benchmarks define safety requirements for components and installation, and help ensure that sprinkler systems are well maintained and ready to perform. Still, fire sprinkler systems can fail. Here are a few of the most common culprits: Aging parts Building renovations (collisions with construction equipment, displacement or disturbance, etc.) Incorrectly placed heating systems that activate sprinklers Vulnerable pipes that freeze and cause sprinkler heads to burst Corrosion Fire sprinkler malfunctions can be incredibly problematic, causing extensive damage to your building Regardless of what causes the sprinklers to discharge accidentally, fire sprinkler malfunctions can be incredibly problematic, causing extensive damage to your building and requiring costly repairs from a water damage repair contractor. 5 Things to do if Your Sprinklers Fail There are no flames in your building, but your sprinklers are soaking everything in sight. You have to move quickly to avoid even more damage. Stay calm and follow these five steps: Get everyone out Even if there’s not an active fire in the building, water poses its own set of dangers. To avoid problematic slip and fall conditions, get everyone out of the area immediately. Move them to a safe location outside the building, preferably one you’ve agreed on in a previously established evacuation plan. Shut off electrical equipment Water and electricity are a deadly combination. To avoid electrical shocks, shut off all nearby electrical equipment and appliances, and then, turn off the building’s main power supply, as you exit the building. Turn off the water main Instead of wasting time shutting off broken sprinkler heads individually, go to the building’s main water supply immediately and shut it off at the valve. This will stop all water flow and prevent additional water damage. Take photos of the scene Once it’s safe to re-enter the building, document the scene. Use your smartphone to take photos of broken sprinkler heads or anything else you believe may have caused the accidental discharge. Additionally, take photos of the damage the sprinklers caused to floors, walls, personal belongings, and more. These photos can help response specialists understand the cause of the malfunction and may streamline your insurance claims process. Contact a restoration specialist Even if your water damage looks minimal, you’ll need to contact a skilled water damage restoration expert, like the Chicago-based maintenance and service company, ServiceMaster Restoration by Zaba.  Accidental sprinkler discharges soak drywall, destroy carpets and textiles, and lead to dangerous mold and mildew growth, which can happen just 24-48 hours after water exposure. Prevent worsening damage and the dangerous conditions by contacting a sprinkler repair specialist right away. Cleanup and water damage restoration services Using your documentation, your insurance company will work to determine the cause of the sprinkler failure Using your documentation, your insurance company will work to determine the cause of the sprinkler failure. This can be a lengthy process that takes weeks or even months. As that happens, your cleanup team will focus on providing water damage restoration services. Typically, fire sprinkler water damage involves ‘blackwater’- a dangerous mixture of sediments and other contaminants that leave behind an unpleasant smell and a film that can destroy belongings. To reclaim your space, the water damage restoration service will focus on extracting the remaining water, drying the space to prevent mold and mildew formation, and decontaminating all surfaces. This is a critical step that you can’t afford to rush. Work with the best water damage cleanup company you can find to ensure positive results. Protecting Your Sprinkler Systems in the Future While it’s impossible to completely avoid every accidental discharge, there are certain steps you can take to safeguard your sprinkler system. Proper maintenance, for example, allows you to avoid preventable issues that could lead to malfunction. You should also take care to keep all remodeling and construction work away from sprinkler heads and systems to avoid accidental damage. These are simple tips, but they can help keep your building and tenants safe and dry - both now and in the future.

Within traditional commercial and industrial firefighting systems, engineers have primarily focused on permanent installation designs rather than entertaining alternative or supplemental mobile firefighting systems. Permanent installation design is typically better understood, supported, and supplied throughout the fire protection engineering and manufacturing community. However, mobile firefighting systems provide unique solutions and advantages compared to their permanent installation cousins such as flexible deployment, simpler servicing, improved economy, and much higher performance availability. The combination of both systems is frequently the most strategic solution for the facility operator. Limitations of fixed installation systems Permanent installation (fixed) systems include everything from sprinklers, foam systems, primary watermain pumps, and the plethora of piping in between. A large refinery complex will need to address various hazard mitigation and control problems that span both hardware and personnel needs. In the event standard hazard mitigation safety procedures and equipment have failed, the facility immediately initiates a hazard control operation. Passive fixed systems automatically engage the hazard through an array of sensors, mechanical triggers, and control algorithms. A properly designed system with adequate hazard coverage, preplanning, preventative maintenance, and testing will successfully terminate the hazard, while firefighting personnel respond and ensure no further hazards develop. This conceptual approach relies on hardware and personnel all operating as planned…. Combining permanent and mobile apparatus “According to plan” would never have any failures or fires, but history has a different script. In the worst-case petrochemical scenario, fixed systems fail to extinguish a hazard putting the entire response on human and mobile hardware resources. This would include but is not limited to firetrucks, mobile high-flow pumping systems, large mobile monitors, foam proportioning units, and large diameter layflat hose. This type of response escalates into a larger scale operation, sometimes involving agencies beyond the facility operator itself. Although a low probability event, the risk to life and property is significantly substantial. Fixed systems may be rendered inoperable due to the loss of electrical power or actual physical damage Reducing fire-related expenditureMore typical than the worst-case scenario, facilities experience both maintenance-related system downtimes and natural phenomena damage such as extreme weather and seismic events. In this case, fixed systems may be rendered inoperable due to the loss of electrical power or actual physical damage. In any of these situations, mobile fire apparatus may fill the gap requirements of the facility as their flexible storage and deployment would protect them from everything but the worst natural disasters. Their further benefit is that a smaller set of mobile apparatus resources may be used to protect a larger amount of infrastructure, especially while in use in a mutual-aid program between facilities and communities. According to the NFPA’s report “Total Cost of Fire in the United States”, fire-related damages and expenditures from 1980 to 2014 have risen from roughly $200B (adjusted for inflation to 2014) to nearly $330B. The greatest expenditure is in fire safety costs in building construction, amounting to $57.4B. Although the overall losses per year as a ratio to protection expenditures has dropped by roughly 70% over the past 30 years, petrochemical facility losses have continued to rise over the same time. In the worst-case petrochemical scenario, fixed systems fail to extinguish a hazard  Petrochemical facility challenges According to the NFPA, refineries or natural gas plants had reported an average of 228 fires or explosions per year through the 1990s. Furthering this data with Marsh’s “100 Largest Losses, 25th edition”, refinery losses have continually expanded throughout the last two decades with 11 of the top 20 largest losses of the past 40 years happening during or after the year 2000. Two primary drivers of this trend are the advanced age of petrochemical facilities and their staggering complexity. As oil margins fall, upstream operational businesses are detrimentally affected by reduced investment in everything to new equipment, maintenance and passive safety systems. There is an observable correlation between a major oil price drop followed by upstream facility fire losses. Even with reduced investment and oil throughput growth rates, US refinery utilisation at the end 2017 was at 96.7%, the highest since 2005 (Marsh, The Impact of the Price of Oil). The short story is that systems and personnel are being asked to do more with less with each passing year. Cost-effective mobile apparatus systems  Mobile fire apparatus is generally more cost-effective to procure when using standardised designs and application methodology. They can access open water sources by either drafting (when in close proximity to the water) or using floating source pumps (for variable level or difficult access water sources). Mobile fire apparatus is generally more cost-effective to procure when using standardized designs and application methodology With this open water access, they can provide significantly more water (upwards of 10,000 GPM or more per system if necessary) than any typical fixed fire pumping solution. Moreover, as their primary benefit, they are easy to move and deploy. This benefit allows them to be utilised at the point of hazard as needed while being easily accessible for service. While fixed systems are installed at “every known” hazard and must be continually maintained to operate effectively, mobile systems may be used sitewide or across facilities. This flexibility reduces overall capital expenditure requirements and establishes a valuable primary and secondary firefighting system depending on the hazard and facility resources. Combining fixed and mobile systems Permanent installation fire suppression systems are a mainstay of modern day firefighting. They provide immediate passive response with little human intervention. However, as facility utilisation is pushed to maximum capacity while fixed systems continually age out without adequate replacement or maintenance, mobile systems will need to both fill the response gap and provide a final wall to total loss incidents. The reality is that both fixed and mobile systems need to work together to provide the safest possible operation. Service and training requirements need to also be maintained to manage an adequate, or even better, exemplary response to hazard control incidents. Managing major facility uptime requires continuous oversight and to drive hazard mitigation standards throughout the organisation, including executive management. A safe, reliable and fully-functional plant is also a profitable and cost-effective plant much like a healthy worker is a better worker. Protect your people and property and you will protecting your company’s future.

Champion Rescue Tools' new free extrication training DVD will be launched at FRI 2009 Video teaches new technology vehicle extrication featuring latest Volvos & SUVs Champion Rescue Tools, the leader in next-generation, hydraulic rescue tools able to quickly cut apart the safest, 5-star crash-rated vehicles, and Volvo Cars of North America continue to demonstrate their mission to keep vehicle passengers safe and help firefighters save lives. Their jointly-sponsored Five Star Extrication Training Academy proudly announces the upcoming national release of its latest free new vehicle technology (NVT) extrication training tool for firefighters: the Five Star Crash Course training DVD. This NVT extrication training DVD features the latest new vehicle construction, unusual materials, updated extrication techniques, the most advanced hydraulic rescue tools and safety. To date, the Five Star Extrication Training Academy has trained thousands of firefighter training officers and their departments in the latest techniques and tools to speed extrication of victims of serious accidents involving the safest, 5-star crash-rated vehicles. This unique training tool will be introduced, and handed out free, to qualified fire fighters at Fire Rescue International 2009 in Dallas, Texas, August 25 - 29 at Champion's exhibit booth # 2343. Attendees of FRI will not only be able to receive this free training DVD at Champion Rescue Tools' exhibit booth, but also to meet and talk with the Five Star Extrication Training Academy's nationally recognized fire service instructors. "Champion's no-cost Five Star Extrication Training Academy has received great acclaim and attention from fire departments around the country," said Alan Discount, Champion Rescue Tools' CEO. "Our mission is to save lives; and the huge interest in our free training academy made us realize the best way to train more firefighters in the best techniques and tools to get victims out of 5-star crash-rated automobiles was to make our training academy classes available at no cost on DVD." "Every day victims of serious accidents in 5-star crash-rated vehicles wait while many fire departments use obsolete tools to cut through the tougher metals used in new vehicle technology construction," said Carl Haddon, Champion's National Training Director. "This waiting time is crucial in the ‘golden hour' fire fighters have to extricate injured accident victims and get them to needed medical treatment. Our hope is that the new information provided in our Academy classes and this DVD will help firefighters work more effectively and safely when dealing with accidents involving newer, 5-star crash-rated cars." "Volvo has been thrilled to provide in excess of $700,000 of new cars this year alone to help firefighters learn more about new car construction and how to be successful in quickly performing passenger extrications," said James Hope, Senior Manager Product Communications for Volvo Cars of North America. "By partnering with Champion Rescue Tools and a variety of additional sponsors that make up the Five Star Training Academy, we have been able to help train firefighters, and indirectly save more lives - which is one of Volvo's core values. In fact, in an effortto further expand the distribution of this much-needed training information, Volvo will be posting the Five Star Crash Course training DVD on its website and its blog, after its debut at FRI."

Champion Rescue Tools will showcase a new Volvo SUV extrication training vehicle at FDIC Specialist in rescue tools will show new training vehicle at FDIC Champion Rescue Tools, the leader in next-generation, hydraulic rescue tools able to access the passenger compartments of the safest, 5-star crash rated vehicles, will showcase a Volvo XC90 cut-away SUV in the company's exhibit booth (#422) at the FDIC conference in Indianapolis from April 20-25, 2009. The Volvo XC90 extrication training SUV displays new vehicle technology (NVT) construction in one of the safest cars on the road today. The XC90's cut-away skin is peeled back in strategic places to show the interior details of door and roof post construction, as well as other safety features of the SUV. This interior view of the passenger compartment provides firefighters with crucial information to improve vehicle extrication techniques in five-star crash rated vehicles. "The Champion and Volvo partnership to train firefighters in the best NVT extrication techniques will come to FDIC this year," said Alan Discount, Champion Rescue Tools' CEO. "The fire service is facing serious difficulties extricating victims of auto accidents when using obsolete extrication tools on NVT. Champion and Volvo are continuing to work together to provide firefighters with the information, tools and training to save lives." "Volvo's increasing participation in Champion Rescue Tools' training efforts has already resulted in hundreds of fire fighters in California learning how to cut apart Five-Star crash rated automobiles with the latest technology rescue tools," added Carl Haddon, Champion's National Training Director. "Firefighters who participated in our free Five-Star Extrication Training Academy classes were amazed how quickly Champion's rescue tools cut through the toughest parts of new Volvo cars." To see Volvo's XC90 cut away SUV and Champion Rescue Tools' next-generation vehicle extrication tools, visit Champion's booth at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis April 20-25, booth #422.  

Champion Rescue Tools has moved to new, expanded corporate headquarters Expanded facility includes 5-star extrication training academy Champion Rescue Tools, the leader in next-generation, hydraulic rescue tools able to access the passenger compartments of the safest, 5-star crash rated vehicles, announced it has completed its move to a new, expanded corporate headquarters. The new facility includes executive and administrative offices, product assembly and warehousing, and both classroom and hands-on training facilities for the new company-sponsored 5-star Extrication Training Academy. The 10,000 square foot headquarters is located at 814 Berry Court, Upland, CA 91786. "Champion's sales continue to grow rapidly requiring us to move to a significantly larger corporate headquarters," said Alan Discount, Champion Rescue Tools' CEO. "We were extremely pleased to find a location that both met our expanding administrative and production needs and provided a west coast base for our new national training academy which will commence in January 2009." Champion Rescue Tools (www.championrescuetools.com) is the technology leader in next generation, hydraulic rescue tools for the first responder. The company's patented line of vehicle extrication tools is proving to be the most effective and efficient tools to remove victims of serious vehicle accidents, particularly in the safest cars being manufactured today. Founded as Patton Hydraulics in 1978, the company has built specialty hydraulic tools for a variety of industrial applications for customers including GM, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Honda, and Chrysler.