Major upgrade to Tresco Heliport Fire & Rescue Service
Tresco is a small, family-run island measuring approximately 3.5 kilometres by 1.75 kilometres wide! It’s one of the five inhabited islands, which together with 200 or so islands, islets and rocks, form…
Community Fire Safety
This article discusses common mistakes made by our communities and what can be done to ensure fire safety is kept on the forefront of everyone’s minds. Health and safety training in the workplace is not just encouraged, but essential, with…
Carbon Monoxide detection in parking garages
Nowadays parking garages have become widespread with increase of the population and vehicle usage. Parking garages are common in shopping malls and residances where population density is high. Carbon monoxide in the exhaust gases of the vehicles in parking garages…
Surviving the unknown – safety through disaster
Disaster. Crisis. Disease. Horror. While the multitude of humans avoid these like a plague, pun intended, they are the basis of why fire and emergency services exist. Our current world environment subjects us to an abundance of hazards, risks, and…
In safe hands
Regulations and standards keep firefighters safe and provide reassurance that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is of good quality, fit for purpose and adequately protective. Richard Ballheimer, Compliance Manager at Bristol Uniforms looks at new European PPE regulation, what it means…
Researchers received a $1.5 million grant from FEMA to study firefighter occupational exposures to “PFAS chemicals”
Researchers are investigating current exposures to PFAS chemicals, including from aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) and turnout gear, and their health effects. A growing concern exists in the fire service about exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of…
Using geographic information systems (GIS) and analytics in the fire service
Some of the most important tools for fighting fires include advanced protective gear and state-of-the-art suppression equipment. But in an age of growing communities, density issues and complex urban and rural landscapes, one of the most valuable tools in firefighting…
Operational concerns involving Electric and Hybrid Vehicles at vehicle related incidents – Part 1
One of the largest concerns today dealing with vehicle related incidents revolves around the electrification of vehicles today. We deal with technology concerns in every single vehicle today that we encounter. Passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles. SRS safety systems are…
Use of foam for firefighting in tank farms of the oil and petrochemical industry – Part 1
Tank farm fires in the oil and petrochemical industry do not occur often. When they do occur, it is with devastating consequences and negative publicity. This article will describe the typical incident scenarios and present foam as the most suitable…
The Fire Safety Bill 2020: Will it deliver safer blocks of flats?
The Fire Safety Bill 2020 is the result of the Government’s promise of “implementing and legislating for all the recommendations of the Dame Judith Hackitt Review and the first phase of the independent inquiry.”1 This article examines the key proposals…
The response community is feeling the effects of COVID-19 now and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future
At the very end of December 2019, the World Health Organization office in China received a report about an unknown case of pneumonia. Who would have ever imagined that the report would be the beginning of a global pandemic –…
Risk-based dimensioning of industrial fire services in the Netherlands
Flammable liquids held in a depot, warehouse, production plant or within the supply chain
When a team from the Fire and Rescue Service are called to an incident at an Industrial Premises (such as a warehouse, a production plant, or on a highway or railway), one must consider the presence of materials that could…
Back to basics – The importance of the point man during ground emergencies
Say what you want about ARFF operations but for the majority of my career I have worked at some of the busiest and/or some of the most diverse airfields the military and Department of Defence (DoD) had to offer. Throughout…
More safety against fire – EmiControls presents an innovative way of fire protection with water mist turbine
The Italian company EmiControls has been working on innovative fire protection solutions worldwide since 2011. With the FT10e water mist turbine, EmiControls has launched a product that gives companies more safety in the fight against fires. This is a brief…
Space weather: The modern natural hazard
Since the dawn of the ‘Space Age’ in the late 1950s, we have become increasingly susceptible to space weather as we have grown more reliant on electrical grids, satellite navigation, space infrastructure, and radio and wireless communications. But while there…
Workplace safety, performance and back health
In the emergency services, safety and performance must be top-level. Many factors play a role in physical performance, but focusing on back health is the key to a long and active career. The true professionals pay attention not only to…
Who does the fire and rescue service call when they need help?
Your Service has come under the spotlight because of a major incident. The government is insisting on savings or cultural change. Disputes with unions. Perhaps you simply want an independent perspective on the status of your organisation. Sound familiar? Almost…
Focus on Bahrain Civil Defence
Des Tidbury QFSM, Advisor to Civil Defence, Bahrain Ministry of the Interior. illed with excitement and of course a little trepidation, my wife and I boarded the plane at Heathrow Airport on 31 May 2019 for our new life in…
Thermal imaging – understanding high and low sensitivity
This short article is an attempt to clarify a few misconceptions in regard to fire-service thermal-imaging cameras (TIC). All fire-service thermal-imaging cameras automatically switch gains or sensitivity modes based on the following: the overall heat detected within the field of…
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