Fire Safety Risk Assessment - Case Studies

Barlow Fire Department was dispatched mutual aid to assist with an accident with entrapment. The crew was given the first assignment to stabilize the passenger vehicle and trailer of truck. The company requested the Amkus O cutter and speedway cutter. The crew assisted in deploying these tools to assist in extrication efforts. After a 15-20 minute extrication time, the patient was free from the vehicle.

The Oxford Fire Department Engine 3, Command A responded to a 3-car MVA with possible entrapment. Upon arrival Engine 3’s crew extricated a severe female patient from the SUV using Amkus GH2S2-XL pump with AMK-24 spreader and AMK-25E cutter. On scene, the patient was considered to have severe injuries including possible fractured right foot with diminished breath sounds on the right side. The patient was extricated successfully and transported to the local hospital via EMS.

Elko County Fire Protection District in Elko County, Nevada recently received delivery of four Toyne Tailored Apparatus. Toyne delivered two Wildland, one Pumper Tanker, and one Rapid Attack apparatus in early February. With one of the largest counties in the nation, Elko County Fire Protection District has had to expand its fleet of fire trucks in order to tackle the growing threat of wildfires in northeastern Nevada. Wildland apparatus Two Toyne Wildland apparatus were built to identical sp...

The approximately 200-strong department of the Professional Fire Brigade Sarajevo proudly presents its new personal protection equipment (PPE). The equipment consists of FIRE MAX 3 jackets and pants as well as TWISTER protective boots, all of the highest quality and protection level. The Fire Brigade Association of the Canton of Sarajevo procured the equipment. The Rosenbauer partner Firing d.o.o. based in Visoko, 35 km northwest of Sarajevo, supervised the procurement with the support of Rosenb...

Fike Corporation recently earned the right to protect a large and unique library complex located in Mexico. The library is a four-story structure built to house millions of literary volumes, and also includes an auditorium, administrative offices, library stacks, and reading rooms. The library also boasts large centralized computer services designed to bring greater computer access to library visitors. The unique library architecture, high-tech equipment, and massive literature collection prese...

Anaheim Hills, CA, devoted to preserving the natural beauty of their community, has built the nation’s first underground electrical switching station. With only a three-tiered retaining wall and metal door showing, above the substation lies a gorgeous park, complete with running paths and quaint park benches. The Park Substation is an innovation of the city’s public utility department in cooperation with the local neighborhoods, resulting in a new recreation area, rather than an uns...

Built within a dolomite rock mine reinforced with 7-foot bolts shot into the ceiling, and located in an area considered quite low in seismic activity, the Mountain Data Center is ideal for record storage and IT service offerings. Tier IV data center The facility boasts the latest in high-tech security and archive storage, is managed by IT professionals and even preserves air quality by restricting trucks inside and using only electric equipment. This acute attention to detail has earned The Mo...

On September 24th, 2004 BRS-Intron, a computer company based in Visby, Sweden, averted what could have been a major disaster. Because it is a full-service company, specializing in complete product solutions, servicing, and financing, BRS-Intron’s business is heavily dependent on the continuous operation of its business systems. For this reason, it chose Fike Corporation’s FM-200® (HFC-227ea) clean agent fire suppression system for the protection of its computer equipment. T...

The new Mystique Community Ice Center opened its doors in Dubuque, Iowa just in time to meet the chill that’s in the air. Home to the United States Hockey League’s expansion team, the Fighting Saints, the 3,200 seat arena is dedicated to all things ice. Since the Ice Center, like any sporting venue, may contain large amounts of people at any given time, the Local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) required a voice evacuation system to be included in the overall life safety solution...

Has the advent of “cloud computing” reduced the need for automatic fire suppression systems in data centers? There have been many discussions in the Information Technology, Telecom, and Fire Suppression industries recently regarding this topic. With data stored and backed up in multiple, different physical locations, one line of thinking says there is less need for an automatic fire suppression system. A fire or other catastrophic event, at worst, results in the loss of relatively i...

Wharton Esherick (1878-1970) was an artist who produced paintings, decorative frames, woodcuts, sculptures, and furniture. While Esherick’s work is displayed in major American museums and private collections, a large compilation of his work is found in his studio. His studio has been preserved and maintained since his death, enabling visitors to learn more about the artist’s life as well as view his work. With so many valuable artifacts and artwork in one studio, a superior fire pro...

Southern Supply Company is a wholesale distributor located in Springfield, Missouri. Southern Supply has a critical data center through which it handles all of its business activity, from shipping and receiving to accounting, for its 12 locations in Missouri and Kansas. Because it is key to the operation of its business, Southern Supply decided to protect its data center with a clean agent fire suppression system, rather than just a traditional sprinkler system. By choosing a clean-ag...

On the evening of April 3, 2009, a financial institution located in downtown Chicago was protected from the possibility of a large fire. Earlier that evening, an electrical component in the self-contained air conditioning unit had overheated and caught fire. The AC unit was located near highly sensitive equipment in a computer room. Fortunately, the computer room was protected with a Fike clean agent suppression system, using the gaseous chemical suppressant, DuPont™ FM-200® — d...

The Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise (LITE)™ in Lafayette, LA is a state-of-the-art 3D immersive visualization resource center featuring one of the world’s first six-sided, digital virtual reality cubes, as well as the world’s largest digital 3-D theatre. This leading-edge visualization environment is powered by one of the largest shared memory resources in the world, a 4.1TB of RAM high-performance computing system. The LITE facility, a State entity governed by a B...

On December 2018, the Stuart Fire Department was called to a single-vehicle MVA just west of Menlo. The vehicle was a 2001 Chevy Silverado X 2. The vehicle had hit a guard rail and cleared a creek and landed on its top entrapping both patients. Stuart Fire had cribbed around the vehicle and were using rescue jacks to help with the lifting to provide an opening to extricate the patients. There still was no large enough opening to get the patients out the window. Amkus spreaders The rescuers th...

In April, 2009, a financial institution located in downtown Chicago was protected from the possibility of a large fire. Earlier that evening, an electrical component in the self-contained air conditioning unit had overheated and caught fire. The AC unit was located in close proximity to highly sensitive equipment in a computer room. Fortunately, the computer room was protected with a Fike clean agent suppression system, using the gaseous chemical suppressant, DuPont™ FM-200® — d...

In 2005, the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District (CJCFPD) updated the dispatching system at its Adams Dairy Parkway location in Blue Springs, Missouri. The updates included creating a state-of-the-art 911 call center complete with a sophisticated computer, CAD network and emergency response equipment. Mindful of the necessity to protect the high-value, new equipment and its important service to the community, CJCFPD called on long-term partner, Fike Corporation, and their local dist...

A U.S.-based division of a cosmetic manufacturer employs high-value data center technology to maintain their day-to-day operations. Protecting this high-value asset equipment from fire is essential and had been accomplished with a Halon fire extinguishing system. However, it is now known that Halon is damaging the ozone and adding to the global warming problem. In response, the European Community issued regulation 2037/2000, making the removal of Halon mandatory by 2003. The European-based corp...

The vital role that infra-red transit heat sensors can play in protecting waste management sites from the threat of fire has been illustrated by an incident at a dry mixed recycling (DMR) plant. The nature of waste recycling means that the range of materials being processed is varied. In this case a 18v lithium ion battery was shredded, with the resulting damage causing the battery to arc. With no protection fitted to the shredder outfeed, the battery was carried into a dosing bunker where it c...

Kevin Swann, Managing Director of Kentec, a renowned life safety control systems manufacturer, discusses fire safety in waste management and recycling plants, using a recent installation at Grundon’s new Bulk recycling facility in Banbury as an example of how fire systems can be used to protect large and complex facilities. Fire safety in the recycling and waste management sector is critical. Waste is often readily combustible and once started, fires can be extremely hard to extinguish, s...

Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company, has announced that it has delivered a custom Pierce Ascendant 107’ Heavy-Duty Aerial Ladder to the City of Cambridge Fire Department in Massachusetts. The new apparatus was sold by New England’s exclusive Pierce dealer, Minuteman Fire and Rescue (Minuteman Trucks, Inc.). Features include a custom Arrow XT chassis, 107' of vertical and 100' of horizontal reach, 16’ stabilizer spread, and 1,500 gpm waterway flow capacity....

WAGNER Rail GmbH, based in Haar near Munich, has installed a fire protection solution in a people mover in Russia for the first time: at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. Ensuring passenger safety Since May 2018, the so-called Cable Liner has been running fully automatically on a route of around two kilometers, connecting the northern and southern terminal complexes. It is the first Cable Liner to run underground in a tunnel. To make the journey as safe as possible for passengers, the producer,...

Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company, has announced that it has secured an order of 11 custom apparatus for Greenwood County Fire Service in South Carolina. The order is made up of custom apparatus including five Saber FR pumpers, four Pierce dry-side tankers, an Ascendant 107’ aerial ladder, and a Pierce 100’ heavy-duty rear mount aerial tower. This monumental apparatus order for Greenwood County Fire Service has been placed in partnership with South Carolina&rs...

The Storm Lake Fire Department in Storm Lake, Iowa has expanded its fleet’s ability to respond to the variety of incoming calls it receives, after purchasing two custom-built Toyne apparatus. The department received delivery of a pumper tanker and a rapid attack in mid-November of 2018. These new trucks were a welcome sight to the ever-alert Storm Lake Fire Department, which responded to over 170 calls in 2017. Tanker Characteristics Storm Lake’s new pumper tanker is mounted on a S...

A powerful network of C-TEC’s ZFP addressable fire panels is safeguarding Sunbury Manor School in Middlesex. Programmed with sophisticated cause and effects to suit the school’s special requirements, the 4-loop touch-screen control panels connect to a series of detection devices including 250 of C-TEC’s EN54-23 certified visual alarm devices to provide top quality fire protection at the 1025-pupil capacity school. Emergency Lockdown Policy The system also has a lockdown facil...

The South Holland Fire Department, located south of Chicago, Illinois, employs 24 full-time and 19 paid-on-call firefighters. These employees staff two stations 24 hours a day and respond to nearly 4,500 calls annually. The department protects approximately 22,000 residents with a response area comprised of over 8,000 homes, industrial facilities and commercial businesses. Just a few miles to the west, the Midlothian Fire Department, located in the village of Midlothian, Illinois, maintains two...

In Eskişehir, located in the northwest of Turkey, the newly opened "Odunpazari Modern Museum" is devoted to modern and contemporary art from Turkey and the world. The modern design of the museum is based on the history of the location in the province of Odunpazari; this is made visible by the horizontal wooden planks in the exterior and interior. A local partner of AQUASYS integrated a high-pressure water mist system into this architecturally complex new creation. The minimal water requirement...

Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company, has delivered five Pierce Enforcer pumpers and an Ascendant 107’ Aerial Ladder to the City of Mobile, Alabama’s Mobile Fire-Rescue Department (MFRD). The delivery represents the first Pierce apparatus to be put into service for the department. Enforcer pumpers Mark Sealy, Fire Chief, the City of Mobile Fire-Rescue Department (MFRD), said “As our fleet began to age, we understood the critical need to put apparatus into...

The Bonnieville Fire Department in Bonnieville, Kentucky recently added a new Toyne Pumper to its fleet, expanding its firefighting power. The department welcomed its first Toyne fire truck, in late November. Pumper Features Toyne manufactured Bonnieville’s custom pumper on a Freightliner M2 106, four-door chassis. The apparatus uses a Cummins ISL9 350 horsepower engine and is driven by an Allison 3000 EVS transmission. Designed for firefighting versatility, this Toyne Pumper boasts a Ha...

One of the world’s most famous hotel-chains, DoubleTree by Hilton, part of Hilton Worldwide, has selected a high-performance fire system from industry renowned fire systems provider, Advanced at their eight-story, 366-rooms hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. The challenge was to replace an existing system, integrate speakers to all guest rooms and ensure that all audio messages and strobes were fully synchronized across the hotel, in the event of a fire situation, without the need for costly...