Equipment to protect community from future structural damage Peachland Fire and Rescue Service, located in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, acquired a new state of the art piece of equipment that could help protect the community from structural damage in the event of a future wildfire. The equipment, known as a Wildfire Automated Suppression and Protection (WASP) system was delivered to an enthusiastic Peachland Fire Department on August 28th of this year. "This system is really state of the art fire-fighting for structural protection and we’re happy Peachland chose Wasp to provide them with this addition to their wildland fire-fighting equipment," WASP Technical Director, Darrel Pyke, said. The system includes a trailer containing over 1500" of hose and sprinklers paired with cell phone and satellite technology that allows the equipment to be operated remotely and offsite. If there is a fire, the unit can be deployed to the location and then left behind without fire personnel to attend to it. From a cell phone or laptop anywhere in the world the fire department can operate the system, programming it to turn on or off as needed. The WASP is powered by a powerful battery, so it can be deployed in the field for up to 10 days without the battery requiring charging. "The offsite operations make WASP units very safe for fire-fighters, keeping them out of harm’s way while protecting very large areas from wildfire" says Randy Cowling, President of Wasp Manufacturing Ltd., the suppliers of the Wasp line of sprinkler protection products. The system has timing programs that allow the sprinklers to be turned on and off as needed to preserve water. The WASP system can be hooked up to a standard water supply, such as a fire hydrant, but if there isn’t one available it can also be used with a water pump that drafts water out of another source such as a swimming pool, creek or pond. "The main advantage is we don’t have to tie up our fire-fighters to sit there and maintain the sprinkler system," says Peachland Fire Chief, Dennis Craig. "We can go in, set it up and walk away. We can turn it on remotely so we don’t have to turn it on hours before the fire shows up. We can wait until the fire is just about there and then turn it on at our leisure and not have to send somebody to go back in and turn it on and waste water." "It’s bigger than being just a sprinkler protection unit. We have future plans to make it a true structural protection trailer where we’re going to add a portable pump inside and a 1,500 gallon bladder for water so when we go to fight a wild land fire we can take this trailer and not tie up one of our pieces of apparatus. It will have extra forestry hose, extra nozzles, all of our forestry equipment in there, so we can take the trailer and dump it off in an area and not tie up a truck," Craig said. Pyke got the idea for the unit during his 17-year career working as a fire-fighter and logger. The company introduced a full sized Wasp in Alberta four years ago, and since then, it has been used with success fighting fires in that province. A full sized WASP unit performs a similar function to the smaller one purchased by the Peachland Fire Department, but has a water storage tank along with a diesel generator and electric pumps, while the smaller WASP operates directly from a fire hydrant and runs from an onboard battery power supply. www.waspwildfire.com

The Gallet F1 XF is based on a brand new, modernised design In 1985, Gallet launched the original F1 Helmet System, being the first manufacturer to introduce a Jet style, full coverage structural fire helmet and revolutionising fire-fighter head protection. Since then, this iconic product has been selected and used by more than 1.7 million fire-fighters in more than 80 countries. For the past 28 years, Gallet, which was acquired by MSA in 2002, has refined the F1 Helmet design through innovation and expertise, offering several successful generations of market-leading Helmets to fire-fighters around the world. Today more than ever, MSA strengthens this commitment to the fire service by releasing the Gallet F1 XF, a new fire helmet developed for fire-fighters with fire-fighters. Benefiting from MSA’s unique expertise, the Gallet F1 XF is based on a brand new, modernised design and is approved according to EN443:2008 for fire-fighting in buildings and other structures. In addition, its face shield and ocular visor meet the EN14458 approvals. The Gallet F1 XF fire helmet is readily available in all continents to meet the toughest requirements of fire-fighters from around the globe. New and enhanced features include : Stylish, high temperature resistant shell, available in 2 sizes for a perfect fit for all user’s profiles High temperature resistant face shield (clear or metal coated) with an extended coverage and field of vision Robust and user friendly head size adjustment system Padded, adjustable chinstrap with quick release buckle Adjustable mask connection system for use with a helmet-mounted breathing apparatus face piece Modular construction enabling quick, easy care and maintenance Extended impact liner providing side impact protection, with an Aramide reinforcement for higher resistance to penetration in hot environments Truly integrated, ATEX approved lighting module for proximity lighting Eye protection visor with ergonomic, dual adjustment system Flame resistant, ergonomic padded headband available in two materials (Leather or Nomex) Selection of helmet-mounted headsets for enhanced communication capabilities through long range PMR radios Interchangeable front plate, enabling helmet customisation through badges or direct logo printing by tampography. www.MSAsafety.com  

Solberg will warrant purchasers of re-healing foam concentrates The Solberg Company, the world’s foremost innovator of fire-fighting foam concentrates and systems hardware, has introduced an environmental warranty for re-healing foam concentrates, the company’s innovative high performance fluorine-free firefighting foam. Solberg will warrant to purchasers of re-healing foam concentrate, that for twenty (20) years after the purchase, whether as part of a foam/water fire protection system or as foam concentrate only, the use of re-healing foam will not be restricted in any way due to the presence of any organohalogens, whether in surfactants, polymers, or any other form. The environmental warranty also includes the provision that Solberg re-healing foam concentrate will not be banned by any governmental entity or regulatory body for any of the following environmental issues: ·         No Governmental restrictions related to the presence of fluorine ·         No persistence in the environment ·         No bioaccumulation ·         No PFOS or PFOA ·         No biodegradation into PFOS or PFOA Should environmental regulations enacted after the purchase of Solberg re-healing foam require removal of the re-healing foam concentrate from the market for one of these environmental issues, Solberg will replace the re-healing foam concentrate with a new foam concentrate that meets such newly enacted environmental regulations. Re-healing foam concentrates are intended for use on Class B hydrocarbon and polar solvent fuel fires. Concentrates available include RF1 (1%), RF3 (3%), RF6 (6%) and RF3x6% ATC formulations. RE-HEALING foam concentrates can be used to prevent re-ignition of a liquid spill and control hazardous vapours. On Class A fuels, re-healing foam will improvement extinguishment in deep-seated fires. About Solberg: Solberg is an Amerex Corporation company with a European heritage. The company is a global one-stop resource for firefighting foam concentrates and custom-designed foam suppression systems hardware and accessories. Solberg offers environmentally sustainable fluorosurfactant and fluoropolymer-free foam concentrate products, an innovation in Class B fire-fighting foam and traditional firefighting foam concentrates. Solberg’s people and processes are committed to quality, service and safety along with environmental responsibility. This philosophy enables the company to flourish while delivering innovations and value. www.solbergfoam.com  

Months after a factory collapse exposed industry conditions Seven people have been killed at a Bangladesh factory. Workers were making clothes for big labels including Next, Gap and H&M. Police have said that the fire was so severe that most of the bodies recovered were too badly burned to be identified. Fire-fighters fought through the night to douse the flames at the Aswad Knit Composite factory  on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka. The fire was eventually put out by early Wednesday but parts of the two-storey building were still smouldering. The factory fire comes around six months after a factory building collapse killed 1,100 people and exposed the harsh and often unsafe conditions in the industry. Workers said the fire, which broke out on Tuesday October 7th evening, appeared to have been started by a malfunctioning knitting machine which had caught fire on a number of previous occasions. Earlier police and fire officials said the blaze started in a boiler. Mohammad Abu Saan, a factory worker, said: "There have been quite a few small fires in the machine recently, but we managed to douse them. This time it was big."   Police Chief, Amir Hossain, said seven bodies had been recovered after a thorough search of the building. He said: "Two bodies have been identified and handed over to their relatives. Five other bodies were charred beyond recognition." Fire service Director, Mahbubur Rahman, said the blaze spread because emergency services took more than an hour to reach the site. He said: "There is no fire station within an 18 mile (30km) radius of the factory." Safety standards at Bangladesh’s garment factories have shocked the world in the past year. Fires such as this one are a reality for many factory workers. 

Report provides a comprehensive market and forecast analysis  The report "Fire protection systems market: Fire alarm, sensor, RFID, control panel, interface, modelling and simulation software, public alerts & warning, emergency lighting, secure communication, managed service – worldwide forecasts & analysis (2013 – 2018)", provides a comprehensive market and forecast analysis of the overall market, segmented by components, services, regions and verticals. The report covers all the major sub-segments of the fire protection systems market and provides the quantitative (market size and market growth) and qualitative (trends, analysis and insights) analysis for those segments. This comprehensive coverage of the fire protection systems market provides important inputs, such as drivers, restraints and opportunities in this market, profiles the major players in this market, maps the competitive landscape and provides the overall perspective on the fire protection systems market in the various verticals and regions. Early buyers will receive 10% customisation on this report. Fire protection systems market has gained traction in the recent years owing to the recent rise in accidents and the loss of assets, due to fire hazards. Alongside, demand for a comprehensive solution in fire protection is rising, leading to an increase in the global spending for fire protection systems. Technologies, such as human machine interface solutions, smart building, and wireless sensory networks, are making their launch in the fire protection systems market. New advanced sensors have been developed to give accurate data to the control units. Intelligent sensors have networking capabilities, wherein a group of sensors and detectors can communicate easily through control units, leading to more efficiency in the systems. Distant users can access these intelligent sensors by connecting through LAN/WAN networks. MarketsandMarkets has segmented the fire protection systems market by type of fire detection components: sensors and detectors, and radio frequency identification (RFID); by type of fire management components: Control panels, and interfaces; by type of fire analysis components: Fire mapping and analysis software, and fire modelling and simulation software; by type of fire response components: Emergency lighting, voice evacuation and public alerts, secure communication, and fire alarm devices; by type of services: Engineering services, installation and design, service and maintenance, and managed services; by verticals: Academia and institutional, BFSI, consumer goods and retail, energy and power, Government, healthcare, manufacturing, oil, gas and mining, and transportation and logistics; by regions: North America (NA), Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America (LA). MarketsandMarkets forecasts the fire protection systems market to grow from £21 billion in 2013 to £41 billion in 2018. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.9% during the forecast period. About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is a global market research and consulting company based in the U.S. It publishes strategically analysed market research reports and serves as a business intelligence partner to Fortune 500 companies across the world. www.marketsandmarkets.com

Phoenix Fire Apparatus, South Carolina to become the newest Ferrara dealer Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc., America’s premier custom fire apparatus manufacturer, has announced another major addition to its dealer network. Phoenix Fire Apparatus, LLC of Sumter, South Carolina has agreed to become the newest Ferrara dealer in the USA, covering all of South Carolina and north Georgia. Phoenix Fire Apparatus is led by company president and longtime Ferrara veteran, Kent Cummings. Ferrara Fire Apparatus Inc. President/CEO, Chris Ferrara, commented on Phoenix and Mr. Cummings: “We are extremely pleased to have Kent and his new company select Ferrara Fire Apparatus as the manufacturer they will represent in South Carolina and North Georgia. Kent has years and years of experience selling our product and we believe he will make an immediate impact for us.” Phoenix Fire Apparatus is completing a new service centre in Sumter, scheduled to open November 1st 2013. The 7500 square foot facility can accommodate up to eight fire trucks and also has 2000 square feet of office space. Phoenix has two EVT certified service technicians on staff to perform repairs and service in-house, as well as a complete inventory of parts and equipment. The company also provides road service with EVT certified technicians at fire departments’ locations. “I’m very excited to be part of the Ferrara team,” said Phoenix President, Kent Cummings. “We have in-house and mobile service capabilities in place so we can provide the excellent level of customer service expected of a top flight dealership. Also, we have the product offering and experience to make an immediate impact on our South Carolina and northern Georgia sales territories.” Ferrara Fire Apparatus manufactures a full line of fire, emergency and rescue vehicles. The company offers the Ultra, Inferno, Igniter, Ember and Intruder custom fire chassis. These, along with a wide selection of commercial chassis, are converted into pumpers, tankers, rear and mid-mount aerial ladders and platforms, rescues and incident command vehicles and high-flow industrial apparatus. A leading innovator in the industry, Ferrara takes pride in offering such firefighter safety items as the MVP Multi-Vocational Pumper, On-Site Tilt Table Testing, Cab and Body NFPA Compliant Crash Testing, Independent Front Suspension, Complete Airbag Protection, and SmartWheel steering systems. www.ferrarafire.com

The Cal Fire plane was damaged after battling a brush fire After a weekend of extreme fire danger, Californian state fire officials are assessing the hard landing of a fire-fighting airtanker. The airtanker was damaged attempting to land at the Hemet Ryan Air Attack Base after a brush fire in Riverside County, last Friday. The Grumman S-2T airtanker (one of 23 in the Cal Fire air fleet) was returning from a small wildfire in the community of Good Hope. There were no injuries but the runway at Hemet Ryan Airport was closed temporarily while the National Transportation Safety Board investigated the incident. "This serves as a stark reminder of the danger of our profession," said Chief Ken Pimlott, the Cal Fire Director, in a statement. "We must continue to keep public and firefighter safety a priority, especially during these Red Flag conditions." Fire-fighters were braced for extreme fire danger through the weekend as wind gusts peaked at 70 mph in Castaic, about 40 miles north of downtown LA. The National Weather Service extended “Red Flag Warnings” for LA and Orange counties into Sunday.  

Vehicles will have GPS-enabled wireless system installed The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has announced plans to install wireless communication sets – enabled with GPS (global positioning system) – on its fire-fighting vehicles. At present, the KMC’s fire brigade department has six fire-fighting vehicles in various parts of the city and fire officials must communicate with each other through a hotline telephone. It is difficult to guide the vehicles to the site of the incident, since there is no proper communication between the control centre and fire personnel. The new systems will completely modernise communication methods. "There are six fire-fighting vehicles on which the GPS-enabled wireless communication sets will be installed. In case of an accident or a blaze, wherein people need to be attended immediately, the wireless communication sets on the vehicles will help find the location so that the nearest fire stations could be informed," said Prasad Sankpal, Disaster Management Officer in the KMC. The wireless sets will be connected to certified HAM radio operators. "At present, there are three HAM radio operators in the city. We take their help frequently in case of disasters. The wireless sets will be connected to HAM radios so as to reduce delays in action," he added. "In case of congested areas, it is difficult to find the exact location of the incident. In such cases, the GPS technology will help in guiding the firemen and reach the spots quickly," Sankpal said. In old city areas, entry for heavy vehicles can be challenging due to narrow lanes and damage can be severe due to congestion. The wireless sets will be procured through funds approved by the State Government. Funding forms part of its disaster management programme; earlier this year, the Government approved £50,000 to modernise the fire brigade department and set up a disaster management department.

Teaser: Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Website: http://www.firedisasterasia.com.sg/

Teaser: Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre Website: http://www.fpaa.com.au/events/fire-australia.aspx