Wildfires - News

As California continues to recover from the historic 2020 fire season, and faces continued severe fire threat and extreme drought conditions in 2021, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) is deploying new resources to protect California communities and augment the state’s fire and rescue mutual aid system. Currently, Cal OES transferred nine new Type VI engines and one Type III engine to local fire jurisdictions as part of the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid Sy...

MSA Bristol is a foremost supplier of personal protective equipment (PPE) to firefighters across the globe. Its specialist, in-house managed services team are now responsible for the inspection, washing, and repair of all structural, urban search and rescue, and wildland PPE for Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s 6,660 firefighters, including fire coats, trousers, hoods, and gloves. As part of the contract, MSA Bristol regularly collects PPE from key fire service hubs which are spread thr...

KME Fire Apparatus., a subsidiary of REV Group® and a foremost manufacturer of fire apparatus, announces that Campbell Supply Company is expanding its portfolio and will represent KME Fire Apparatus in designated counties within Eastern Pennsylvania. “At Campbell Supply, our business philosophy has been based on two guiding principles, honesty and integrity,” said Scott Campbell, President of Campbell Supply Company. “It has always been very important to establish a good r...

Rosenbauer presents a new fire truck for fighting forest fires. It meets both Category 3 of EN 1846-2 for all-terrain fire engines and specific requirements for protecting the vehicle crew, as defined, for example, in the French standard NFS 61-517 and NFS 61-518. These include a thermal self-protection system and a driver's cab equipped with a roll-over cell. With its compact dimensions, low center of gravity, and single tires, the all-wheel-drive vehicle is ideally suited for use in rough terr...

Just as compact as a conventional fire extinguisher or a bucket syringe, but with a much higher extinguishing performance, the portable CAFS fire extinguisher, RFC POLY Portex from Rosenbauer is also versatile, thanks to its practical accessories. In the event of a fire alarm in a public building, a fire watch at a large event or a smaller fire-fighting operation, with the RFC POLY Portex, fire safety crews are not only quickly on site, but also have the appropriate extinguishing force availabl...

Grass, crop, and woodland fires can have a devastating impact, injuring or killing wildlife, destroying property and livelihoods, and even putting people’s lives at risk. As users enter peak season for these types of incidents, residents, workers, and visitors are being urged to do their bit to reduce the number of accidental grass fires across the county. Most grass fires happen between May and September when grassland can get very dry, and many are caused by out-of-control bonfires...

Northern Minnesota’s International Falls Fire Department (IFFD), together with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, quickly extinguished a dangerous wildfire on the shore of Rainy Lake. On May 18th, amid elevated fire danger conditions and high winds, the fire jumped across open water from Frank Island to Voyageurs National Park on the U.S. mainland, but those responding swiftly extinguished it with help from a new Lake Assault Boats fireboat. Fireboat stationed on rainy lake...

More than 4.5 million U.S. properties are at a high-to-extreme risk of wildfire, with more than two million of those in California alone, according to estimates from Verisk, a foremost global data analytics provider. To help promote the importance of building resilient communities for property insurers and their customers, the National Fire Protection Association is providing Verisk with robust data on communities engaging in wildfire mitigation efforts. Verisk will leverage the data from the N...

Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) and Rodeo-Hercules Fire announced they will conduct wildland fire “burn” training in Rodeo in conjunction with Phillips 66, Cal Fire and other agencies during morning hours beginning May 16th, 2021. Training will continue between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. each day thereafter from May 16 to May 27, 2021. Phillips 66 personnel, along with other fire agencies, will participate in the training which will take place in Rodeo in the large op...

In the dry heat of the high desert, the California and Nevada Air National Guard, the U.S. Forest Service, CAL FIRE, and multiple other fire-fighting agencies across the United States are performing their annual certification training for the aerial fire-fighting mission with MAFFS (Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System), from May 4 – May 7, 2021. The success of this training is built on the trusted partnerships between the fire-fighting agencies, having forged their tactical expertise su...

Johnson Controls, the globally renowned company for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings and architect of OpenBlue connected solutions, has unveiled its new ANSUL LVS Non-Fluorinated Liquid Suppression Agent. The new agent is manufactured without the use of per-fluorinated chemicals and is performance tested to ensure maximum effectiveness. It is now available worldwide. LVS Non-Fluorinated Agent LVS Non-Fluorinated Agent works by rapidly knocking down flames, then blanketing the fuel and...

The Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) program is redesigning the forecasting of fire danger in Australia. It aims to improve public safety and reduce the impacts of bushfires by improving the way that fire danger is calculated and communicated. As one enters the second quarter of 2021, the AFDRS Program is approaching major design milestones that will allow states and territories to trial the new system in parallel with current fire danger ratings. The trial of the AFDRS is a key ste...

The fire and rescue service is thanking partners as the incident on Marsden Moor is brought to a close. Teams from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS), Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS), other emergency partners, the National Trust, Kirklees Council, landowners and gamekeepers, Mountain Rescue, Plymouth Brethren Response team, and other groups joined together to tackle the blaze following a call to WYFRS at around 7 pm on Sunday, 25 April 2021.  Day and ni...

The CZU Lightning Complex Fire began late at night on Aug 16 near Boulder Creek, a quiet little town deep in the redwood forest about 20 miles northeast of Santa Cruz, California, USA. By the time it was contained on Sept. 22, it had burned 85,509 acres across two counties, destroyed 1,500 structures, and damaged 140 more. Tragically, one person was killed. fire and emergency apparatus The fire also knocked out the water system that serves more than 10,000 people who live in the San Lorenzo...

The South Carolina Forestry Commission has issued a red flag alert for Wednesday, April 21, and Thursday, April 22 due to the elevated risk for wildfires. As a result, the Richland County Fire Marshal’s Office has prohibited all “General Debris” burning in unincorporated areas of the County until the Red Flag has been lifted and fire conditions improve. This includes any open burning not associated with agricultural, cooking, or recreational purposes.

GreenScreen is the first ecolabel for PFAS-free firefighting foams which preserve the environment and health. This certification attests the foam is totally free of fluorinated derivatives (PFAS including PFOS, PFOA, and PFCs). Some of them are recognized as Persistent in the environment, Bioaccumulable, and Toxic to living organisms. GreenScreen certification is supported by Clean Production Action, an independent organization promoting the use of inherently safer chemicals in products and PF...

The summer is finally here (apparently) and after a long 18 months dealing with a global pandemic, the reins have been loosened and social gatherings are on the cards. Barbecues, garden parties, camping, and more, there are plenty of ways to get out and enjoy any good weather they may get this summer. They hate to be a party pooper, but all of these can pose risk of fire so they’re going to help the users with some top tips to reduce that risk as stay safe over the summer months. Prevent...

Johnson Controls, the globally renowned company for smart, healthy and sustainable building solutions and architect of OpenBlue connected solutions, has announced the launch of Chemguard NFF 3x3 UL201 Foam Concentrate. NFF technology This new, patent-pending Non-Fluorinated Foam (NFF) technology provides fast and effective fire suppression on most Class B hydrocarbon and polar solvent fuel fires. With a longer drain time than most AR-AFFFs, this foam blanket also delivers excellent post-exting...

South Yorkshire’s firefighters have a new weapon to help them tackle moorland wildfires- off road vehicles. South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has added two Polaris vehicles to its fleet, helping crews to respond more effectively to wildfires and other incidents, which might be hard to reach using a traditional fire engine. Polaris vehicles fitted with water pumps Fire crews will spend the next few months being trained in their use The vehicles are to be fitted with water pumps, which c...

With warmer and dryer weather setting in, the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service wishes to remind the public that lighting grass fires is not only illegal, but also a danger to its firefighters, following an incident that resulted in a firefighter sustaining a musculoskeletal injury. At 08:08 pm, on Tuesday, 30th March 2021, Joint Fire Control received the first call of a grass fire on Mynydd Cadle Common, in Penlan, Swansea, Wales and crews from Morriston and Swansea Central were deplo...

Fire danger ratings are a shorthand way of describing the potential level of danger from bushfires. Ratings are used in many parts of the world and are especially important in the Australian context due to the prevalence of flammable vegetation and hot and dry conditions. The Australian landscape has evolved with fire, which is a natural part of many ecosystems. However, under certain conditions these environments are dangerous to communities, infrastructure, property, ecosystems and population...

Erickson Incorporated, a worldwide foremost operator, maintainer, and manufacturer of utility aircraft announce three new USFS Firefighting contracts for the upcoming 2021 wildfire season. The USFS cooperates with CAL FIRE, US Department of Interior agencies Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs, on aerial firefighting contracts. Erickson has been working for the US Forest Service on firefighting contracts since 1995 and is a global front-runner in aeri...

Today’s firefighting and wildfire boots need to do more than just keep your feet dry, they need to keep you protected in many other ways. Firefighting boots have come a long way from those clunky rubber boots of old. Even though leather boots have been around for years, many fire departments opt to purchase rubber boots over leather boots. Many times, the decision frankly comes down to cost. While rubber boots are cheaper, cost should not be the only factor that comes into play. Boot Weig...

The challenging year of 2020 has identified that international cross-border cooperation related to the prevention of and the response to wildfires is more important than ever. With landscape firefighting missions moving through Europe, there’s no surprise that the pan-European rescEU Commission has recently received a significant investment boost to expand its aerial firefighting capability. Tangent Link Ltd, organizers of the internationally acclaimed series of aerial firefighting events...

South Korea’s renowned visual recognition AI firm, Alchera Inc., announced that has been formally selected by California’s Sonoma County to provide early warning alerts of pending wildfire events. Alchera will offer consulting services to develop and deliver products, utilizing state-of-the-art fire detection technologies based on machine learning with Artificial Intelligence (AI). The firm’s visual anomaly detection solution can detect the start of a wildfire from a simple vi...

Studies have shown that local wildfire smoke is associated with increased hospitalizations for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and some cardiovascular health outcomes. However, less is known about how harmful smoke is as it travels and becomes long-range smoke. long-range smoke impact For the study Differential Cardiopulmonary Health Impacts of Local and Long-Range Transport of Wildfire Smoke, researchers separated out the health effects of local wildfire smoke from the hea...

Anheuser-Busch and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) are teaming up for the third year to provide critical hydration to volunteer fire departments responding to wildfires through the Emergency Drinking Water for Wildland Firefighters program. The program is an expansion of Anheuser-Busch’s longstanding tradition of providing emergency drinking water and supplies for disaster relief efforts. Anheuser-Busch is continuing its commitment in 2021 by pledging to donate 1.5 million cans...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture will invest $285 million to help the Forest Service address critical deferred maintenance and improve transportation and recreation infrastructure on national forests and grasslands. This $285 million investment is made possible by the newly created National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, established in 2020 by the Great American Outdoors Act. These funds will allow the Forest Service to implement mor...

The use of suppressants and retardants for bushfire fighting can give firefighters tactical advantages by slowing down the spread of the fire. National Technology and Development Program offers descriptions of the differences between the chemicals used and how they are assessed as fit for purpose. Retardant is usually lain by aerial firefighting assets, whereas water enhancers (gels) and foams can be used by both aerial and ground fighting resources. During the 2019/20 bushfire season pressure...

The ISEE & CEFE Powered by INTERSCHUTZ, co-hosted by Beijing Safever Science & Technology Innovation Center, China National Machinery Industry International Co., Ltd. (SINOMACHINT), and Hannover Milano Fairs Shanghai Ltd. will be held at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center on December 8 – 10, 2021. The exhibition area is expected to be 30,000 square meters, with an estimated 400 exhibitors and 20,000 trade visits. ISEE & CEFE Powered by INTERSCHUTZ This exp...