Public education

Chubb is launching an innovative new virtual reality (VR) fire safety training tool to re-create fire-related situations without leaving the classroom. This new ‘YouRescue’ training program, developed in conjunction with Wanadev, is the latest addition to Chubb’s existing training offering. Chubb is a part of Carrier, a global provider of innovative heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies. Today, businesses, through their HR or security managers, want to expose their employees to the reality of fire-related incidents to underscore the importance of fire safety training and ensure a practical understanding of how to respond in such situations. The new VR training tool addresses this challenge. The YouRescue program is made up of a 30-minute theoretical group course followed by an individual, practical VR course Easy to use and employing the latest innovative technologies, the YouRescue program is made up of a 30-minute theoretical group course followed by an individual, practical VR course. For the latter, the trainees are led by an expert instructor who stands by their side during the immersive and realistic experience. In one day, two groups of 15 people can be trained, totalling 30 people. Both sessions can be completed in just 40 minutes. The Advantages Of VR Training Using a headset connected to a powerful laptop, the trainee is immersed into a realistic, three-dimensional (3D) situation. In the YouRescue ‘Fire at the office’ training program, the trainee is in an open space and has to extinguish a fire coming from a dustbin, a printer or an electrical cabinet. YouRescue is also a simple-to-deliver training experience for the coach because setting up the material takes less than five minutes and can be performed in a reduced space of minimum two metres by two metres. The second part of the training, individual practice, can also be performed in the same place as the first theoretical part in a simple meeting room. It is not necessary to ask the group to move outside their offices. Taking Initial Action Before Help Arrives The YouRescue virtual reality scripts empower participants to take initial actions before professional help arrivesThe VR training allows each participant to put their theoretical course learnings into practice, which enables trainees to better retain the message. The YouRescue virtual reality scripts empower participants to take initial actions before professional help arrives. The experience also provides the participant with a score that allows them to measure their performance. This can be shared with other colleagues or simply analyzed with the trainer to ensure corrective action. This YouRescue training program has already been used successfully by many customers such as HOP! (Groupe Air France). One maintenance worker who followed this training course in virtual reality said: “If I have to face this type of situation in the future, I’m sure I will react without apprehension, because I will feel like I’ve already lived it!” The Project Perspectives Thanks to its national network of 45 agencies, Chubb France can provide this new training tool across France. YouRescue was created by the technological company Wanadev, located in Lyon. This business offers innovative educational content to talented trainers in the field of enterprise safety. The development of YouRescue relies on a growing network of ambassadors such as training companies or independent trainers willing to operate their digital transformation. The scenario YouRescue ‘Fire at the office’ was developed in partnership with Chubb. Other innovations and scripts are underway.

Globe, DuPont Protection Solutions (DuPont), and the National Volunteer Fire Council teamed up once again in 2018 to distribute 52 sets of turnout gear to 13 volunteer or mostly-volunteer fire departments. This annual program began in 2012 to provide departments in need with new turnouts to better protect their personnel. Shinbone Valley Fire and Rescue (Delta, AL) and the Barnsdall (OK) Rural Fire Department are the final 2018 gear recipients. Shinbone Valley Fire and Rescue has 16 volunteer firefighters. All are operating with turnout gear that is over 10 years old, which is not recommended according to national safety standards. The department responds to multiple calls a year, including mutual and automatic aid. Training exercises Calls coupled with monthly training exercises and a yearly visit to the Alabama Fire College has left their expired gear very worn, which puts their members at risk. Volunteers do their best to use their oldest and most worn gear for training exercises to preserve the newer sets for structure fires and vehicle incidents. The department actively fundraises to keep up with operation costs but has found it difficult to purchase new gear to ensure the safety of their responders.  This new gear will help our dedicated team to have the protection they need when they are in the trenches" “Receiving this gear gives peace of mind to our firefighters and the people we serve,” said Assistant Chief Travis Strickland. “Thank you to Globe and the NVFC for this donation. Your help goes a long way with our community and our department.” Purchase new gear Barnsdall Rural Fire Department serves over 1,100 residences across 122 square miles. Barnsdall is a rural location with an abundance of ranchland and homes, which make wildfires very prevalent. The department responds to an average of 80 calls each year and provides additional assistance to the city and surrounding fire departments. Only 10 of Barnsdall’s 24 volunteers have turnout gear, and all sets are over 10 years old and not compliant with recommended safety standards. Most of the department’s financial resources are utilized for equipment, leaving them unable to purchase new gear for their responders. “We want to ensure that our team has the best chance to do a good job and stay safe at the same time,” said administrative assistant Brittanie White. “This new gear will help our dedicated team to have the protection they need when they are in the trenches and extend our limited resources beyond what we are currently able to provide.”

Frequentis has developed an application which allows location data and video from drones to feed directly into workstations in the control center, through its LifeX and ASGARD solutions. The integrated solution will be presented at the global trade fair for professional mobile communications and control centers, PMRExpo, in Cologne from November 27, 2018. UAVs/Drones Application In Emergency Situations Video and sensor data provided by drones could vastly support rescue forces in their mission Firefighters, police, emergency medical services, search and rescue crews, and lifeguards, responding to a wide range of emergencies every day, are all too often hindered by a lack of critical information. Video and sensor data provided by drones could vastly support these emergency and life safety forces in their missions. At PMRExpo, Frequentis will highlight how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones can be efficiently utilized in emergency situations by directly integrating their critical surveillance information into the control center’s communication systems. Beyond Visual Line Of Sight Operations The system design is fully scalable and will support autonomous Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations in the future, if permitted by local legal legislation. This will allow emergency services to use drones to quickly gain a real-time aerial view of a situation as it unfolds. The application forwards the live video data to the control center. The data feed can be processed and displayed by both the Frequentis multimedia collaboration platform LifeX, as used in large national public safety organizations, or its communication system ASGARD, which is already used in 35 security centers for industry and fire departments in Germany. Resolution and quality can be configured by a mobile app to use the maximum available bandwidth of encrypted LTE connectivity.  High Efficiency Control Center “With the help of this technology the Control Center can quickly and directly gain an information advantage, improving situational awareness, allowing simplification and acceleration of emergency services work processes.” Says Jan Ziegler – Head of New Business Development UAVs.

Prominent Edge LLC is proud to announce its graduation from the NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program - the first such company to do so. Through a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Prominent Edge developed StatEngine, a real-time open source data analytics and visualization platform for public safety organizations.  StatEngine currently powers NFORS, the National Fire Operations Reporting System. NFORS is a fire service analytical system, the most comprehensive way to get accurate and real-time information to help fire service leaders assure adequate fire resources, optimize fire operations, reduce firefighter injury and death, minimize civilian injury and death, and minimize property loss. Effectively exploiting data analytics We created StatEngine because exploiting data analytics is too complex, inefficient, and expensive for wide scale public safety organization adoption"In the public safety sector, effective data analysis often requires proprietary software licenses, specialized knowledge of tools, and in-house technical expertise. Unfortunately, these tools are cost prohibitive for the majority of public safety organizations across the country. "We created StatEngine because effectively exploiting data analytics is too complex, inefficient, and expensive for wide scale public safety organization adoption," said Syrus Mesdaghi, Prominent Edge CEO. StatEngine, and specifically its application through NFORS, solves this problem. Proprietary solutions have enabled some adoption by public safety organizations in the data analysis and visualization market, but these platforms vendor lock the organization, require expensive maintenance fees, and lack the ability for the organization to customize the software to fit their needs. Reduces cost and technical complexity StatEngine significantly lowers the total cost, technical complexity, and time required for collecting and analysing public safety dataWhen asked to comment on the impact to public safety organizations of all sizes, Tyler Garner, Prominent Edge COO, also a Volunteer Firefighter, said that, "Even well-funded public safety organizations do not have powerful analytics in real-time. In fact, they have to spend a considerable amount on man-hours and licensing fees to generate a fraction of what is possible with the right tools."  StatEngine significantly lowers the total cost, technical complexity, and time required for collecting and analysing public safety data. The StatEngine service aligns with the NIST Public Safety Analytics R&D Roadmap, and as more Fire Departments and public safety organizations sign on to StatEngine, they all seek to benefit from future enhancements. Currently, public safety data repositories cannot share historical data which prevents public safety organizations from discovering potential trends and making improved predictions.  Of the company's move to make StatEngine open-source, Tyler Garner added, "We wanted to open source StatEngine from the beginning because every one of the approximately 27,000 Fire Departments in the United States should benefit from this technology." Prominent Edge seeks to improve public safety across the country by providing this service to any public safety organization.

Tavcom Training, part of Linx International Group, has partnered with Banham Academy to provide a professional training pathway for apprentices on the new trailblazer scheme. The trailblazer apprenticeship standard for the fire, security and emergency systems industry is approved by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Now, Banham Academy and Tavcom Training are going further with the inclusion of professional qualifications. Practical industry experience The BTEC Level 3 courses developed by Tavcom Training deliver comprehensive security training during the three-year apprenticeship through a combination of online and classroom teaching, practical exercises, assessments and exams. The security industry benefits from a steady stream of fully trained and qualified engineers at the end of the process" Paul Tennent CTSP, Executive Director at Tavcom Training, states: “Working in partnership with Banham Academy we are ensuring apprentices gain an essential understanding of theory combined with practical industry experience to kick-start their careers. Meanwhile, the security industry benefits from a steady stream of fully trained and qualified engineers at the end of the process.”    Ensure quality materials The first cohort of Banham Academy trailblazer apprentices has already embarked on the BTEC Level 3 training pathway. Kevin Faulkner, Banham Academy Operations Director, explains: "We are delighted to be working alongside Tavcom Training to ensure quality materials and practices are available to support the delivery of our apprenticeships. Achieving the Tavcom qualifications is a great way to measure the progress of our learners and the accreditation provided motivates them on the pathway to completing their apprenticeship." Paul Tennent concludes: “We are proud to be supporting young engineers and helping to bring new, fully-qualified talent to the sector. We also believe it’s vital that ultimately all trailblazer participants have a level playing field to compete on. Our aim is to raise standards in general across the scheme.”

For the 11th consecutive year, Domino's Pizza, the largest pizza company in the world based on global retail sales, and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) are teaming up to deliver fire safety messages to homes across the country. During Fire Prevention Week (Oct. 7-13), participating Domino's stores throughout the U.S. will reinforce this year's campaign theme, ‘Look. Listen. Learn. Be aware. Fire can happen anywhere’, with flyers on top of pizza boxes. The flyers will include important fire safety tips, such as steps that customers can take to reduce the chances of having a fire. Customers who order from participating Domino's stores throughout the U.S. during Fire Prevention Week may also be surprised when their delivery arrives aboard a fire engine. If the smoke alarms in the home are working, the pizza is free. If the smoke alarms are not working, the firefighters will replace the batteries or install fully-functioning alarms. Educating public about fire safety Every year, Domino's stores across the country team up with their local fire departments and the NFPA to spread fire safety messages in a fun and exciting way" "The Fire Prevention Week program is a great way to educate customers about fire safety," said Jenny Fouracre, Domino's spokeswoman. "Every year, Domino's stores across the country look forward to teaming up with their local fire departments and the NFPA to spread fire safety messages in a fun and exciting way." NFPA statistics show that the number of U.S. home fires has been steadily declining over the past few decades. However, the death rate per 1,000 home fires that are reported to fire departments was 10 percent higher in 2016 than in 1980. "These numbers show that while we've made significant progress in teaching people how to prevent fires from happening, there's still much more work to do in terms of educating the public about how to protect themselves in the event of one," said Lorraine Carli, NFPA's vice president of outreach and advocacy. "We hope to help spread these life-saving messages through our continued partnership with Domino's." Fire safety tips from Domino's and NFPA Learn two ways out of every room. Make a home escape plan. Draw a map of your home, showing all doors and windows. Discuss the plan with everyone in your home. Practice a home fire drill twice a year. Teach children how to escape on their own in case you can't help them. Close doors behind you as you leave – this may slow the spread of smoke, heat and fire. Once you get outside, stay outside. Never go back inside a burning building.

Speciality vehicle maker, Triel-HT of Brazil, has adapted over 120 Allison-equipped Scania firefighting trucks for its national airport and fire corps customers. Among the reasons for choosing Allison fully automatic transmissions, Triel-HT cites 35 per cent faster acceleration, better vehicle control and ease of integration. Nine different Scania chassis have already been adapted for airport and industrial firefighting, civil defence and special explosives transport, among them the P250, P310, P360 FF, P440 FF and G580 models. Manoeuvring Agility These trucks are already present in more than 70 airports and air bases throughout Brazil, including remote units in Manicore and Fonte Boa in Amazonas, the Alcântara Air Base in Maranhão, and the recently renovated Viracopos airport in Campinas, in the state of Sao Paulo. Triel-HT develops the vehicles using in-house manufactured or adapted equipment. The vehicles equipped with Allison automatics comply with international standards for extreme performance and work in harmony with the trucks “The automatic transmissions are preferred due to their convenient operation, ride performance, manoeuvring agility and also the ease of gearbox integration with the essential components and electronic controllers of the fire truck,” said Triel-HT executive Claudio Vincentini. The vehicles equipped with Allison automatics comply with international standards for extreme performance and work in harmony with the trucks, according to Vincentini. Significant Investment Programme Allison automatics accelerate up to 35 per cent faster than manual or automated manual transmissions (AMTs). In addition to the 120 vehicles already delivered, another 12 Scania units with Allison automatics are now in the final stage of preparation, as part of a significant investment programme for airport vehicles. Five of them are for Infraero. Another four units have been ordered by the Department of Civil Aviation and will be sent to the airports of Comandatuba (BA), Barreirinhas (MA), Pato Branco (PR) and Patos, in Piauí. Two units are for the Fire Corps of Maringá, State of Paraná in the south of the country, and another unit is for an explosives transportation application in Peru. The trucks are equipped with diverse gear that can include special clothing, reptile pick-up accessories, pumps for water launch with high flow capacity, and liquid foam generator and dispensing equipment (LGE).