Fire Safety Testing - News

Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen's Association’s (CVVFA) Candice McDonald is featured in a new e-Book authored by CVVFA’s good friend, Chief Dennis Compton. Candice McDonald and 30 other exceptional women have been featured in the new e-Book for their vital roles in the fire service. Candice McDonald featured in new e-book Chief Dennis Compton chose to include Candice MacDonald in his e-book, describing her as a leader who balances her professional, family and volunteer respons...

On-call crews need to live or work within five minutes of a fire station, which makes it a real possibility for those now working remotely, just like Phil Gower. Phil responds to emergencies from Cranbrook fire station during the day, in the evenings, and at weekends as required, including when he’s working from home. Author's quote He said, "My employer is really supportive of my role as an on-call firefighter and understands that in an emergency, there’s somebody out there who u...

Over 70 colleagues from the fire sector gathered at the Oriental Club in Stratford Place, London to celebrate the FPA's platinum jubilee. Guests included current and former government ministers, and staff from the NFCC, IFE, and the London Fire Brigade, among many others. More than merely a victory lap or a gathering of old friends, the event was also a poignant reminder of what can be achieved within the sector with a collective and unified voice, and a singular message.  FPA C...

Fire services across Yorkshire are re-iterating their advice to road users on what to do when coming across blue light vehicles, with more cars now on the roads due to lockdown restrictions easing. Stay calm, pull over safely and give as much room as possible is the key message from the four brigades–South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, and Humberside. Drivers are also being urged not to perform emergency stops in the middle of a road. This, the services say, can end up slowi...

According to the NFPA, every 1 in 31 Christmas tree fire is deadly. Most households and businesses across the United States will bring a Christmas tree inside, decorated with ornaments and string lights. Fire risk with Christmas tree While Christmas tree fires are rare, they still happen and can result in fatal injuries. It’s important to be aware of the fire risks that come with owning a Christmas tree so that users can focus on creating the safest environment possible. If the user...

The adoption and implementation of hazard-resistant building codes is the most effective community mitigation measure against hazard risk. According to FEMA's Building Code Save Study, 65% of counties, cities, and towns across the United States of America (USA) currently have not adopted modern building codes. Getting community ready FEMA's new Building Science Resource Library, launched in October 2021, contains materials focused on creating disaster-resistant communities, including detailed...

Amthal is celebrating its landmark 21st anniversary, and growth from a two-man residential security company to a 50 strong team, integrated fire, and security specialist. Launched in 2000, by close friends John Allam and Paul Rosenthal, Amthal now has over 50 members in the team and operates on a Europe-wide basis providing installation maintenance and monitoring services across all commercial, residential and public sectors. In 2008, Jamie Allam joined the management team to become Commercial...

Globally renowned Japanese life safety solutions provider, Hochiki, has launched in the Danish market, with its most powerful and sophisticated fire control and indication system yet, L@titude. Following Part 13 certification, which then paved the way for DBI approval, this market renowned system uses an interface that is available in multiple languages, simple to use and understand. L@titude life safety system The new L@titude life safety system combines the very latest hardware and software...

The UKAS Academy Training Team continues to evolve with learners at the forefront of everything they do. A key objective of theirs is to ensure that they deliver valuable content to their customers to empower them to add value to their organizations and support them in the continuous improvement of their service. Over the coming year, they will be undertaking a three-part quality improvement project, designed to enhance their training programs and provide a delegate experience that is highly le...

Nic Preston, Director of Qualifications of FireQual, discusses the work of Fire Doors Complete Ltd. and their new association with FireQual with MD, Neil Ashdown. Nic Preston: Can you describe the work of Fire Doors Complete Ltd. and how you support the fire safety industry? Neil: At Fire Doors Complete we specialize in fire doors and helping building operators comply with the legal requirements of the 2005 Fire Safety Order. Not just building operators but we help all that manufactu...

The shipping industry is responsible for three percent of global GHG emissions every year. The good news is that the necessary technologies to achieve a significant emissions reduction from shipping are already available. “The climate crisis requires urgent action. We already have technologies that make vessels significantly more fuel efficient, preserve the marine environment, reduce fuel costs and enable a more sustainable value chain,” says Alexander Enström, Executive Vice...

The Association for Specialist Fire Protection has announced the shortlist for its 2021 Passive Fire Protection Awards, with the winners due to be announced on 26 November at the Association’s Awards Lunch at the Edwardian Hotel in Manchester. The awards will be presented by broadcaster, naturalist, and marine biologist Monty Hall. The 2021 event will see awards presented in six categories, each recognizing excellence within the passive fire protection industry, at a company and...

The November 15 - 21, 2021 week is all about celebrating the heroes of road safety and Hardstaff Barriers is proud to be taking part in the celebrations. The Road Safety Week runs from November 15 to November 21, 2021 and is celebrating the work of people across the United Kingdom, who play a key role to make the roads a safer place for everyone. Road Safety Week Hardstaff Barriers value every single member of their hard-working team, who work around the clock to supply, manage and install th...

The Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union (MPFFU) is five affiliates stronger after 8th District Vice President Mark Sanders led a ceremonial oath of membership for the 70 new members at the MPFFU 6th District fall meeting. MPFFU President Mark Docherty, Secretary-Treasurer Terry Chesney, and 6th District Vice President Matt Sahr were also present. Addition of new members “It’s an honor to represent the 8th district in welcoming our newest members. Thanks to the MPFFU and 6th...

Fire officers have welcomed the conviction of a man who started a fire outside flats in Rotherham.  Alex Teasdale of Meadow Close, Dalton, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and given a 10-year restraining order at Sheffield Crown Court on 5 November, after pleading guilty to committing arson recklessly as to whether life would be endangered at the property in Dalton, Rotherham in September 2019. The fire – which involved household waste – quickly spread to the exterior of t...

Six fire engines and 2,000 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) have started their journey across Europe to Ukraine.  The de-commissioned fire engines have been donated to Fire Aid by Kent Fire Rescue Service (KFRS), together with a vast array of equipment, including PPE donated by fire and rescue services from across the country. KFRS Supports Fire Aid Mission In Ukraine KFRS Station Manager, Mike Pitney, said: “Last year, hundreds of Ukrainian firefighters worked for weeks...

The Association for Specialist Fire Protection has announced the shortlist for its 2021 Passive Fire Protection Awards, with the winners due to be announced on 26 November at the Association’s Awards Lunch at the Edwardian Hotel in Manchester. The awards will be presented by broadcaster, naturalist, and marine biologist Monty Hall. The 2021 event will see awards presented in eight Award categories, each recognizing excellence within the passive fire protection industry, at company and ind...

Leda Security has been a part of the ARA Group for over two years now and is an important product line within the ARA Manufacture Division. Offering products including bollards, gates, hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) products, turnstiles and commercial bicycle racks, the alignment between Leda Security and ARA Manufacture allows for significant manufacturing efficiencies around Australia and New Zealand. Physical security systems Leda Security systems have been installed on government projec...

The Government has confirmed that verification bodies for the UK ETS scheme do not need to be registered as a UK legal entity or have an office in the UK, but they shall need to hold the appropriate accreditation (ISO 14065) from the UK’s National Accreditation Body, i.e. UKAS. The UKAS assessment will take into account any relevant accreditation where this has been granted by a National Accreditation Body that is a signatory to the EA Multilateral Agreement (MLA) and, where such accredit...

As a direct result of the findings of the Hackitt Report and subsequent government focus on the recommendations for the wider fire safety environment, FIREX International, the UK’s fire industry tradeshow, has taken the decision to fully commit to supporting and promoting third-party approvals, independent accreditation, and competency for construction products and services. This will mean all exhibiting companies with relevant fire protection or prevention systems and materials will need...

UK Building Regulations regularly update the importance of fire safety compliance for building structures and require all buildings to have adequate fire protection measures in place, in order to protect both property and lives. Regular fire risk assessments Regular fire risk assessments and monitoring of the quality of buildings ensure that no corner of a building remains unprotected. Most types of buildings are well-equipped with fire extinguishers, alarms and other fire safety measures, so...

Following the success of the virtual roundtable discussion last November at London Build Online, have arranged another one this November – this time in person – at the London Build Expo 2021, taking place at Olympia, London, UK, between 17 November and 18 November 2021. While the first discussion looked at the importance of early engagement in fire stopping mostly from the design point of view, are planning to build the forthcoming discussion around the coordination and management o...

Shortly before 2.30 pm, the Computer Aided Dispatch and telephony systems experienced a failure. The national contingency plan was enacted and 999 calls were rerouted to neighboring ambulance services while the fault was traced and fixed. The systems are up and running. East of England Ambulance Services also liaised with other blue-light services to ensure they were aware and could contact by other means. They would like to thank the staff who have worked incredibly hard to support patients an...

Events such as the Grenfell Tower disaster have had a profound impact on the way the construction industry reviews its building standards. Matt Ryan, the UK Country Manager at PlanRadar, explains how digital tools are providing the next step in fire safety inspection and compliance. The revelations uncovered by the ongoing Grenfell Inquiry show that, worryingly, UK housing is still falling short of the mark, when it comes to fire safety protocols. Recently, the London Fire Commissioner called f...

As Americans prepare for much-anticipated travel in the coming months, the safety of transportation and roadways is a concern for most travelers, according to a new survey facilitated by 3M. Nearly half—or 47 percent—of U.S. respondents plan to travel for a vacation or trip, within the next six months, and more than 3 out of 4 plan to travel by car. At the same time, 53 percent are concerned about the safety of transportation and roadways, when traveling outside their community. 3M...

The new UKAS publication GEN 6 - Reference to accreditation and multilateral recognition signatory status by UKAS accredited bodies, was issued on 1st November 2021. This applies to all types of Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) and sets out UKAS policy on references to accreditation and MLA signatory status, in line with European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) mandatory document EA-3/01 M. UKAS publication LAB 1 Reference to Accreditation for Laboratories has been withdrawn as requirem...

Most of the weekend’s fireworks festivities went off without incident, with the public attending many of the organized displays across West Yorkshire. Bonfire week Bonfire week is always one of the busiest of the year for fire crews and this year was no exception, with the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service control room receiving 1672 calls from 17.00 Thursday 4th November to 00.00 Sunday 7th November. The crews attended 374 incidents across the region. emergency response People f...

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service encourages everyone to put safety at the top of the priority list this winter. The winter safety campaign aims to raise awareness of the risks at home and on the road during the winter months and to provide practical advice on keeping warm safely this winter. Across the UK, around 5,000 fires a year are caused by faulty electric blankets, whilst another 12,000 fires happen within chimneys. With the darker nights and deteriorating weather over the winte...

Decontamination used to be a word used after a hazmat incident when everyone was moving slowly around in brightly-colored encapsulated suits. Suits that, if broken down into their chemical parts, would likely be as dangerous as the chemicals they were protecting the wearer from. House Insulation Then came the inexpensive furniture made of chipboard glued together with one chemical compound and laminated in a second.  Then houses were insulated in chemical compounds and dry walled in oth...

Safety for industrial workers is one thing that cannot be ignored or taken lightly. It is not just about the right workforce policy that every industry should adopt, but also about the rights of every worker. Hand injuries at the workplace can be due to many reasons, including working with chemicals, sharp objects, flammable articles, etc. Therefore, it is important to choose the right gloves for complete hand protection.  The first and foremost point to...