Smart Home - News

Having the ability to effectively inspect, diagnose, and document trouble spots are crucial for property managers, facilities maintenance staff, building inspectors, contractors, electricians, service technicians, plumbers, and even homeowners. It requires the aid of effective tools, including thermal imaging, to quickly recognize and resolve those trouble spots. That’s why FLIR has introduced its latest entry-level Cx-Series camera, the FLIR C3-X™, a compact thermal camera packed w...

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is researching the impact of COVID-19 on first responder organizations and asking for your help. The START project hopes to measure the impact of COVID-19, identify and share best practices, and identify ways to strengthen first responder organizations for future pandemics. Research This research is part of a larger study funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorat...

Victaulic, the globally renowned manufacturer of mechanical pipe joining systems, has announced various launches and upgrades for its suite of Autodesk MEP software offerings. These include: Now Available – Victaulic Tools for AutoCAD (VTFA): VTFA is an all-new, free tool that provides AutoCAD users the same classic routing features and drawing productivity gains that were previously only available in the Victaulic Tools for Revit platform. This add-on provides toolsets engineered for...

Code 3 is dedicated to protecting the public and those who serve our communities with industry-leading emergency warning and lighting devices. Through a partnership with Vyv (formerly Vital Vio), Code 3 introduced the Antimicrobial Light for emergency service vehicles, which provides useful white lighting while reducing harmful bacteria and microbes on high-touch surfaces. Recently, other innovative public service organizations began installing Antimicrobial Lights throughout their fleets. As a...

The launch of Smarter Homes, Safer Communities powered by Aico. This virtual conference marks the beginning of Aico’s advance into facilitating and holding events within the housing sector. Smarter Homes, Safer Communities powered by Aico is a two-part virtual conference covering the current challenges the housing sector is facing, the advancements in technology, and the future of the Internet of Things (IoT) in housing. Spanning over two days, part one will take place on Thursday, Novem...

Carbon monoxide (CO), also known as the ‘silent killer’, is especially dangerous because it is not visible and cannot be smelt or tasted. The only way to protect against this potentially deadly threat is with a CO alarm. In honor of CO Awareness Month in November, First Alert and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) have partnered to create an online CO awareness and CO alarm training course for volunteer fire departments nationwide, supplemented by an alarm donation program f...

A residential structure fire was reported on Maple Lane between Eucalyptus Lane and Manzanita Lane in Sugarloaf at approximately 6:43 pm, on Monday, November 9, 2020. Upon arrival, fire crews observed a residential structure with heavy smoke and flames showing. Crews immediately went into defensive attack mode to the fully involved structure to provide protection to the adjacent structures. No occupants were in the home at the time of the incident. Big Bear Fire Crew carry out fire suppression...

Vestas rewards Hempel with the Sustainability Award 2020 for supporting them on their journey to become CO2 neutral by 2030. innovative solutions After a long‑term collaboration, Vestas and Hempel have recently extended their relationship to a strategic partnership focusing on developing innovative solutions for the surface protection of wind turbines.  As a part of the partnership, Hempel has identified multiple initiatives that can reduce both CO2 and waste at the Vestas site in Pueblo...

Chris Watts of Eaton Lighting offers guidance for BAFE on behalf of the BAFE SP203 Monitoring Group. BAFE SP203-4 is for the design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of emergency lighting systems. Any period of shutdown generates potential problems and opportunities for testing and servicing of emergency lighting systems. The current lockdowns have an added dimension as it applies to sites that are not normally unoccupied and people responsible for the operation of the system should...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) has become the first UK fire service to receive professional recognition for its extensive incident debrief process. As part of its commitment to continuously learn and improve, the service has made significant and pioneering changes to its formal debrief process, making it more thorough and inclusive of all departments involved in an incident from the first 999 calls both operational and non-operational personnel. CPD recognition In light of the improvemen...

The fire safety market in the UK is a peculiar one. While the trade at large is among the most advanced in the world in terms of the firefighting solutions on offer, the biggest challenge for the customers is that this trade is a scattered one. There is no brand in the genre that offers a holistic fire safety product line, ranging from extinguishers to suppression systems and everything in between, and a customer is left to deal with multiple suppliers for their fire safety requirements. revol...

An update from Director of Schemes, Chris Auger, outlining issues raised by the new lockdown measures to be introduced on November 05, 2020. Due to the recent second wave of the COVID-19 coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown announced by the Prime Minister on Saturday 31st October 2020, BAFE has had to review the situation regarding refresher certificates and technician assessments. different levels of restriction Although the announcement only applied to England, there are also different...

The American Fire Sprinkler Association is pleased to announce that Jamil Shamoon, owner of Symons Fire Protection in San Diego, California, been elected by his peers as recipient of AFSA's 2020 Young Professional of the Year award for his efforts and dedication to education and expanding the fire sprinkler industry and the association. The award highlights the efforts of a young and talented fire protection professional, who is under 40 and demonstrates exemplary technical, professional and in...

TVF (UK) Limited explains the importance to know the difference between the varied types and classes of fire extinguishers. There are two main reasons why fire extinguishers are so important: They Save Lives - The first is to help save lives in an emergency, since having the appropriate fire extinguisher on-hand could mean stopping a fire before it has a chance to spread, and the Legal Obligations - The second reason is that it’s a legal obligation for commercial premises to have properly...

In response to a specific customer requirement, Kentec Electronics, manufacturer of life-critical control systems, has developed through their Special Applications Department an Evacuation and Alert Control Indicating System (EACIE) to provide fire and rescue teams with an intelligent communication structure to support staged evacuation. Functions And Benefits Of EACIE Panel Kentec’s made-to-order Evac-Point system uses user-defined zone reference labeling to enable fire services to soun...

On the 16th of October, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, answered the following question from Andrew Dismore (Labor): What dangers do you believe that buildings under 18 m with dangerous cladding pose to residents? The Mayor of London answered: “Several recent damaging fires in buildings below 18 meters have demonstrated the danger that unsafe cladding presents to residents. I have always been clear that fire risk does not adhere to strict height thresholds." Fire safety requirements in...

Honeywell, a global provider of fire and life safety, launched the first tools from its new suite of Connected Life Safety Services (CLSS), its first all-in-one cloud platform for fire safety systems. Honeywell’s CLSS suite of tools, built on the Honeywell Forge platform, enable fire technicians to minimize disruption, prove compliance and reduce time needed for design, installation, commissioning, inspection, maintenance and reporting of life safety systems. “Today’s global e...

Big Bear Fire Department has some 'Hot Tips for Cold Weather' to ensure safe winter heating. With the change in seasons in Big Bear Valley comes the need to warm homes and businesses. Stay warm and safe during the winter months by following some simple tips. Conventional Heating Have a professional check and service the heating system each year. Always keep combustibles away from heat sources. Check the manufacturer’s specifications for clearance distances. Portable Heaters Always use...

Rave Mobile Safety (Rave), the critical communication and collaboration platform that customers count on when it matters the most, has announced new and expanded strategic partnerships to increase data sharing, critical communications, and situational awareness for emergency and critical incidents. Strategic Partnerships  RapidDeploy, ESO, and Tenefit add to Rave Mobile Safety’s growing suite of integrated and interoperable solutions, along with an expanded relationship with Alcatel...

A draft of PAS 8672 is now available for public comment and contains competence requirements for the Principal Contractor, a role set out in the Building Safety Bill. The Principal Contractor is one of three roles with oversight of building safety at each stage of the building’s lifecycle. The Principal Contractor will be responsible for planning, managing, and monitoring the building work, and coordinating matters relating to the building work to ensure compliance with all relevant requi...

BAFE is pleased to announce the SP207 Evacuation Alert Systems Scheme Document.  BAFE SP207 Scheme Supporting British Standard 8629 (Evacuation Alert Systems for use by fire and rescue services in buildings containing flats), the BAFE SP207 Scheme document covers demonstrating quality evidence of competency for the design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of evacuation alert systems. The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government published the outcome of the cons...

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service is joining forces with local authority partners and emergency services, in order to help keep people safe in the upcoming bonfire and fireworks season. With many organized events canceled across the county, emergency services are preparing for a busier night than usual. There is an emerging concern that more people will plan displays and bonfires to celebrate in their own gardens, which could pose significant risk for the people. Safety measures for Bonfi...

Renowned UK manufacturer of fire safety solutions, Application Solutions (Safety and Security) Ltd (ASL), located in Lewes, East Sussex has been recruiting apprentices since early 2012, via the UK Apprenticeship Service. Working with local training provider Sigta Training (SIGTA Limited), ASL currently employs three apprentices, across engineering and business administration, at ASL’s head office in Lewes. An apprenticeship is a genuine job combining practical training, while working with...

Former Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) Director of Operations - Sean Bone-Knell and current Head of Procurement at KFRS, Tina Butler, have been recognized in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Sean Bone-Knell, who retired from KFRS in March 2020, after 33 years of service, has been awarded the Queen’s Fire Service Medal – a prestigious medal given to members of the fire services in the UK and Commonwealth for distinguished services or gallantry. Steering national pol...

A blueprint to improve competence for those working on higher-risk buildings and drive culture change has been set out by a cross-industry group representing more than 150 organizations in the fire and built environment industries. Setting the Bar is the second and final report of the Competence Steering Group (CSG) and is an update of its Interim Report, Raising the Bar, published in August 2019. The work was initiated by the recommendations in Dame Judith Hackitt’s review Building a Saf...

The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office (HCFMO) is teaming up with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) - the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week for more than 90 years, to promote this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, ‘Serve Up Fire Safety in the Kitchen!” Cooking, Key cause of home fires The campaign works to educate everyone about simple but important actions they can take to keep themselves and those around them safe.   According to the NFPA, co...

For obvious health safety reasons owing to the global COVID-19 pandemic spread, the organizers and partners of the world’s renowned trade fair for fire and rescue services, civil protection, safety and security, Interschutz have decided to postpone the appointment made in June 2020 for the event to be held to June 2021. Interschutz Indeed, the health crisis, which directly affects both exhibitors and visitors, forces them to make themselves available at other sites and does not allow gat...

Global fire systems and equipment manufacturer, Advanced, has won an award at the ESX Innovation Awards 2019 for its ground-breaking smoke control solution, DynamixSmoke. The product, launched in 2018, radically simplifies fire alarm and smoke control integration and won its award in the Fire and Life Safety category of the ESX Innovation Awards 2019, which took place on June 6 at the Indianapolis Convention Center, Indianapolis. DynamixSmoke smoke control solution DynamixSmoke is a high-perf...

Denver-based crisis response software company, Incident Response Technologies, Inc. (IRT), also the developer of the Rhodium Incident Management platform, has received a personal investment from Chris Maloney, Founder of emergency services software giant, TriTech Software Systems (TriTech). The exact amount of the investment is not being disclosed, however, it brings Incident Response Technologies, IRT’s total capital amount raised till date to more than US $2.6 million. Maloney will also...

Bacharach, a globally renowned provider of HVAC-R gas instrumentation, has announced the appointment of Matthew Toone as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Matthew Toone joins Bacharach from Emerson, where he served as Vice President of Sales, Service and Solutions for Emerson’s Cold Chain Platform. New CEO appointed The company said Matthew Toone will be responsible for the further integration of the Parasense and Neutronics brands, and setting the company’s s...