The company can now offer performance testing of linear gap seals  In response to customer demand, Exova Warringtonfire, the specialist fire and security testing and certification provider, has expanded the fire testing capabilities at its main Warrington site. By introducing a multi-directional movement rig, the company can now offer performance testing of linear gap seals under movement conditions. The test (European Standard EN1366 Part 4) examines the performance of seals and sealant material used in the joints of any commercial building, determining performance in both normal conditions and during and after a fire event. This new test sits alongside standard static joint testing, giving customers a one-stop-shop for the testing of seals. Exova Warringtonfire is the first European testing house to offer multi-directional movement to the test as standard, delivering a more comprehensive and reliable result. Rob Veitch, Director at Exova Warringtonfire, said: “We’ve introduced the movement test to give our customers a platform to demonstrate how their product would perform in a real-life application; through this test evidence they can build confidence in their products and gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.” The multi-directional test was developed by Exova Warringtonfire for initial trial with FSI Limited, which manufactures and develops built-in fire protection systems. Ben Peach, General Manager of FSi Limited, commented: “First-time efficacy is one of the cornerstones of our business, and in particular of our customer care ethos. So, being able to work with Exova to develop a test that pushes our products to their limits, beyond the basic testing levels for UK, Europe and Global regulation, gives us an essential edge in the market.” Following successful initial tests the service is now available to all of Exova’s customers.

With Drax Technology solution Jesus College, one of the leading colleges in the University of Cambridge, has installed a new fire alarm monitoring system to enhance the level of protection in ‘external staircases’, the houses located in surrounding streets, each of which provides accommodation for 6 to 8 undergraduates. Developed by Drax Technology, one of the UK’s leading providers of fire alarm monitoring solutions, the new AMX system will enable fire alarms installed in diverse locations to be centrally monitored to deliver higher levels of protection and ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements including the ANUK Code of Practice for the Management of Student Accommodation. The installation of the Drax Technology system demonstrates that Jesus College is taking positive steps to proactively protect the safety of students by ensuring that all installed fire alarm systems are regularly tested. It enables the Porters’ Lodge to deliver a rapid and appropriate response for all alarm activations instead of having to rely on graduates to raise the alarm. The AMX platform will also help ensure that maintenance staff complete all testing to the required standards and allow electronic logbooks to be maintained for each connected system for audit purposes. The installation started in December 2013 with a pilot linking a single external staircase to an AMX system installed on a PC in the Porter’s Lodge. Located in First Court, the offices are staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by a team of twelve Gate Porters. A SMaRT Watch module was installed using the existing broadband connections to transmit any activation and fault data from the Gent Xenex conventional fire panel to the central AMX system. The equipment was supplied by Drax Services and deployed by Jesus College’s preferred specialist electrical installer. After the success of the pilot scheme, Jesus College has ordered a further forty six SMarT Watch modules to extend the service to additional external staircases. The system may also be further expanded in the future to monitor the refectory and various teaching spaces. Centralising the monitoring and management of connected fire alarm systems installed in external staircases located outside the college will deliver significant productivity improvements to the Porter’s Lodge. Having an instant view of the status of all connected fire alarms will improve the response delivered in the event of activations and eliminate the need for porters to physically check the alarm panels at diverse locations. The AMX system will also speed up the production of monthly reports by providing factual data showing that all testing and maintenance has been completed in accordance with BS5839 regulatory standards.  “The AMX system is a unique solution that meets the needs of universities managing multiple buildings in diverse locations by providing a common bridge to link diverse alarm systems for event monitoring and regulatory requirements,” added Alex Cother, Sales and Marketing Director of Drax Technology. “It is quick and easy to deploy using existing IT infrastructures and eliminates the need for costly and disruptive cabling installations. What is more, the AMX platform also allows existing fire networks that are installed on main campuses to be integrated using a single connection to deliver a complete view of all connected systems.”

Stocks of firefighting foam few and far between Few Chicago-area fire departments have enough firefighting foam and equipment to respond effectively to the roaring infernos seen near Rockford and elsewhere in recent years when multiple railroad tank cars carrying flammable liquids derail and explode, the Tribune has found. So-called unit trains, rolling pipelines with more than a hundred tank cars hauling millions of gallons of crude oil, have become game changers for emergency responders, posing new threats and requiring updated safety strategies, experts say. Such trains have become a common sight in the Chicago area, the nation’s busiest rail hub. Each day, one-fourth of U.S. freight traffic — nearly 500 freight trains and 37,500 rail cars — passes through the city and suburbs, experts say, although it’s unknown exactly how much of this traffic is crude oil. Yet, the majority of communities lack the thousands of gallons of foam and equipment — like airport "crash trucks" — to respond immediately and effectively to smother flames fueled by one or more railroad tank cars, officials say. Most fire departments stock only enough 5-gallon containers of foam to extinguish fires involving vehicles and tanker trucks. Larger incidents, involving train loads of flammable liquids, would overwhelm individual departments, officials say. "We couldn’t carry enough 5-gallon drums and couldn’t switch them out fast enough to get that kind of foam on a tank car or any fire like that," said Jim Arie, Barrington’s fire chief. "That requires very specialized equipment and personnel. "It’s truly the worst-case scenario for a fire department, and it’s not the kind of thing you can staff for or have enough equipment for." These days, tank-car trains run frequently through scores of suburbs on the tracks that Canadian National Railway Co. acquired in 2009 from the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, Arie said. "We may be two years, five years or 12 years before we have an incident. We can’t staff up for that every day, day in, day out, knowing that it may be way down the road before something happens," Arie said. In Aurora, which has nine fire engines and 195 firefighters, including a 27-member hazardous-materials team, a fiery derailment would result in a "major disaster," said Chief Jim Lehman. Both the Canadian National and the BNSF Railway Co. run tank-car trains through Aurora. "We could do all the training in the world and have all the equipment in the world, but if one of those (trains) comes off the rails and creates an issue in a very densely populated area, our exposure would be very significant," Lehman said. "Our ability to deal with an incident of that magnitude would be very taxing." Nationwide, crude shipments have grown from 9,500 carloads in 2008 to more than 400,000 in 2013, according to the Association of American Railroads. The industry stands by its performance, saying more than 99.9 percent of its shipments arrive safely, according to the railroad association. To deal with any large-scale emergency, nearly all of the state’s 1,200 fire departments depend on each other for help as part of the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, or MABAS. Besides responding to major events like fires and natural disasters, MABAS also has 42 specialized operations teams for hazardous materials. MABAS mobilized crews and equipment from several departments June 19, 2009, when a Canadian National freight train hauling 75 tank cars with ethanol derailed and erupted into a massive fireball in Cherry Valley, near Rockford. Although firefighters had about 400 gallons of foam on hand and more on the way, they concluded it wasn’t enough to put out the roaring fire, which eventually spread to 13 tank cars, said Steve Pearson, who was then chief of the North Park Fire Protection District in Machesney Park. Unable to get close enough to attack the intense flames, which rose hundreds of feet high, firefighters could do little but let the blaze burn itself out and go into a "defensive position" a half-mile away, Pearson told the National Transportation Safety Board forum on railroad safety last month. "Even if we had an endless amount of foam, it could not have been safely applied to this incident," he said. But firefighters stress the importance of responding to such incidents as swiftly as possible with ample foam before they get out of control. Although some people were rescued, a 44-year-old woman in a car stopped at the train crossing was fatally burned and several others were injured. Her pregnant 19-year-old daughter lost her baby. It wasn’t until 5 p.m. the next day, nearly nine hours after the derailment, that all fires were extinguished and residents could return to about 600 homes that were evacuated, Pearson said. Increased risks The roster of fiery derailments has steadily grown along with the flow of volatile crude oil from the booming Bakken fields of North Dakota, Montana and Canada. Nine oil train derailments have occurred in the U.S. and Canada since March 2013, several resulting in intense fires and evacuations, according to the NTSB. By far the worst occurred when a runaway oil train derailed and exploded July 3, 2013, in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Sixty-three tank cars spilled more than 1.3 million gallons of oil. Forty-seven people were killed and 30 buildings destroyed, officials said. Earlier this month, Canadian officials charged the railroad — which was then owned by Rosemont-based Rail World Inc. — and three of its employees with criminal negligence in connection with the incident. Reacting to the spate of incidents, the NTSB convened a two-day forum last month in Washington to address the safety of shipping crude oil and ethanol by rail. More than 20 fire officials, federal administrators, railroad and tank car industry representatives, and other experts testified. One focus was the crash-worthiness of the tank cars. The NTSB has warned for decades that older-model cars like those involved in the Cherry Valley incident, known as DOT-111s, are prone to rupture in a derailment. The Canadian government has ordered a phaseout of the DOT-111s over

Multi-purpose apparatus serves community’s fire and police departments Pierce Manufacturing, an Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) company, placed a Pierce® mobile command vehicle into service with the city of Fremont, California. Built on a Pierce Velocity™ custom chassis, the apparatus addresses a wide range of emergency response needs of both the Fremont Fire and Police Departments. It was acquired through funding from an Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant. “We began working with Pierce and our city’s IT department, as well as members of the Fremont Police Department, to design a rig that could serve the needs of both organizations,” said Gary Ashley, captain and paramedic of the Fremont Fire Department and a tactical paramedic and response officer of the Fremont Police SWAT-TEMS unit. “We started brainstorming together and, because our team saw its potential for other uses, the rig quickly morphed from the original design.” “This Pierce custom mobile command vehicle is an excellent case study of our working together with a top-notch local dealer and their customer to create an apparatus with innovative and comprehensive capabilities,” said Jim Johnson, Oshkosh Corporation executive vice president and president, Fire & Emergency. “Fremont is a dynamic community in the heart of Silicon Valley, and this apparatus’ presence there is already generating a great deal of interest throughout the West Coast and across the country.” The Pierce Velocity custom chassis features a DD13 450 hp engine, a 274-inch wheelbase, a Command Zone™ advanced electronics system, and an automatic leveling and stabilizing system. The two-door cab sports a 34.5-foot mobile command body with an 85.75-inch interior walkway height and three slide-out modules to increase workspace. Interior highlights include six workstations, a comprehensive satellite data network, dual wireless modems, a radio dispatch system, and an IP-based telephone network. An extensive audio video system is linked to 27 monitors located throughout the vehicle. The unit’s A/V system is managed by a matrix switcher, with five remote keypads that allow individual monitor display control from each keypad. To extend on-scene capabilities, the apparatus is equipped with complete galley and lavatory accommodations. “The vehicle can operate as a mobile dispatch center – with satellite communications capabilities – something our community has not had before this truck arrived,” said Ashley. “According to AT&T, when it’s fully deployed, this will be the first vehicle on the West Coast with the ability to answer cellular network 9-1-1 mobile calls. That’s a tremendous benefit to our community.” With the fire department’s ability to house, operate and maintain the command vehicle, the apparatus has found its home at a fire station. A two-person SWAT team, trained to set up the vehicle’s systems once on site of a police emergency, will eventually be cross-trained to drive the apparatus. “It’s a very modular vehicle; the equipment and seating arrangements can be quickly reconfigured based on the response,” said Ashley. “Its mission could involve police deployment, SWAT team support, fire, HAZMAT, rescue, and any major disaster or significant public event. In the short time it’s been in service, it has found itself to be a very busy truck!” Golden State Fire Apparatus of Modesto, California is Pierce’s local dealer. “Our experience with Golden State and Pierce has been nothing but positive,” added Ashley. “We have a lot of unique equipment needs, and much of this specialized equipment is Pierce. Pierce and Golden State have never let us down.”

Apollo and SCAME have formed a partnership Apollo Fire Detectors has announced a new international panel partnership with Italian-based company, SCAME, who specialise in developing and manufacturing control panels for Fire and Gas (F&G) detection. The new partnership will provide customers of both companies with access to a wide range of Safety Integrity Level (SIL) approved fire detection products and a pioneering SIL-approved integrated F&G control panel. The partnership will deliver a complete fire system solution designed for use in highly hazardous areas. The products offered are compliant with leading international fire standards, ensuring that customers benefit not only from the reliability of the partnership’s products, but also from the added reassurance that the risk of downtime or loss of production time will be significantly reduced. Simon Flavell, Global Business Development Manager for marine, offshore and industrial at Apollo Fire Detectors, comments: “Having just one central SIL approved control panel is easier to integrate into the top level system, the combined solution offers flexibility in project design and reduced service and maintenance integration requirements. Historically, panels for fire and gas detection have been kept separate, so we look forward to customers embracing the benefits that this new integrated technology brings.” These benefits include reduced running costs, being easier to retrofit into integrated building management systems and being simple to use whilst incorporating leading technology. Simon adds, “The return on investment for the combined Fire & Gas panel is tremendous and needs to be borne in mind when specifying. Although it may cost more initially, the ability to incorporate not only fire and gas detection but also extinguishing, security and CCTV systems into one panel significantly reduces installation and ongoing maintenance costs.” Giacomo Coppo, Technical Director from SCAME, adds: “Many of our competitors offer separate fire and gas detection systems, but our integrated solution delivers the capabilities of both in one single product. Our F&G control panel is innovative and flexible – working with both conventional and addressable devices. It was also one of the first control panels to receive SIL approval back in 2007.” Giacomo concludes: “For the past 18 months, we’ve been focusing on product development and approvals. Now, together with Apollo, we’re undertaking a new phase of product development and will be actively promoting our product in key growth regions of the global industrial, marine and offshore industries with a particular focus on the Middle East and the Far East, as well as within Europe. Demand for SIL-approved products is continuing to rise and, through this new partnership, we will be to meet the demands and needs from our customers.”

Industry veteran Mitch Hubert joins organisation The Solberg Company, the world’s foremost innovator of firefighting foam concentrates and systems hardware announced today the appointment of Mitch Hubert as Vice President, Global Product Development. Mr. Hubert entered the fire protection business in 1978 serving in various Research & Development and Product Development capacities. Mitch joins Solberg from Dynax Corporation where he most recently held the position of Vice President, Marketing. Dynax supplies specialty chemicals to the fire protection industry for use in firefighting foam. Mr. Hubert brings more than thirty-five years’ experience to Solberg having started his career at Ansul Fire Protection as a Product Development Chemist and was responsible for development of new fire suppression and extinguishing media including foam, dry chemical and wet chemical agents. During his tenure at Ansul, he held various positions within their R&D, Manufacturing and Marketing departments. Mitch has served on a number of domestic and international Industry Technical Committees. He has worked on product development and applications engineering projects in the aerospace, aviation, mining, forestry, marine, warehousing and petrochemical industry segments and holds patents on both foam concentrate agents and foam hardware. Mitch holds a BS degree, Magna Cum Laude, from Northern Michigan University with majors in Chemistry and Biology and minors in Psychology and Secondary Education.  Based in Green Bay, Wisconsin with operations in Bergen, Norway and Sydney, Australia, Solberg has been involved with the manufacture of firefighting foams since the mid-1970s. Solberg is recognized throughout Europe and the Asia Pacific Region for its environmentally sustainable fluorosurfactant and fluoropolymer-free products that are an innovation in Class B firefighting foam. Additionally, Solberg manufactures a complete range of traditional foam concentrates, Class A and High-Expansion foam concentrates including foam systems hardware. Solberg’s unique technology is preferred by customers in the aviation, chemical, energy, fire services, oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, solvent & coatings markets.

Logo: Street1: B-4 Rama Palace, 2nd Floor Street2: Commercial Complex Street3: Sector – 20 B City: Near Ajronda Modh County /State/ Province: Faridabad Postcode: 121007 Telephone: + 91-129-2288196 Fax: + 91 129-2288700 Contact name: Harshit Parekh Website: firechem.tradeindia.com/

A next gen virtual training tool for emergency responders To further enhance its training courses and allow in-depth training for any thinkable incident, the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department has purchased and implemented the RescueSim virtual incident command training platform. The agreement follows an extended testing period of the simulator throughout Q1 2014. The Toledo Fire and Rescue Department (TFRD) is currently integrating RescueSim into their Training Curriculum. Lieutenant Victor Ellis and Captain Gregory Tillman from the TFRD have already been successfully trained as simulator instructors by RescueSim developer VSTEP, making them capable to lead all virtual training scenarios and exercise real-time simulator control during virtual incident training. Serving a population of 284.000, the TFRD has 18 fire stations located strategically throughout the city of Toledo (OH, USA) and is staffed by over 475 professional firefighters. In addition to responding to fires, all Toledo firefighters are trained as Emergency Medical Technicians with 160 also being certified as paramedics. Each year the TFRD responds to over 50,000 calls for emergency service including fire, hazardous materials incidents, water rescue, confined space rescue, and homeland security. RescueSim is a next gen virtual training tool for emergency responders and Fire and Rescue services that allows emergency crews to virtually train and experience a diverse range of incidents as they would in real-life. They assess the situation and determine the best response strategy, implement it and then observe the consequences of their decisions and consider effectiveness during post incident debriefing. Useful for training any thinkable incident, RescueSim also has specialized modules for incidents in ports, airports as well as industrial incidents and motorway/traffic incidents. Thomas Jaksetic, Deputy Chief of the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department: “RescueSim allows Toledo Fire and Rescue Department members to train in a safe and controlled environment (virtual world) whenever and wherever convenient. Training scenarios are limited only by instructors’ imagination. RescueSim is cost effective. For example, TFRD staff spent $55,600 in grant funds to deliver a Mass Causality full scale exercise in September 2013. This exercise was a one day event. RescueSim allows us to create that same exercise and deliver critical training lessons to an unlimited number of personnel an unlimited number of times. I am very excited about introducing RescueSim training technology to TFRD and believe it will become a training standard for Mass Causality, Incident Command, Officer Development, Hazardous Material Response, and Strategic and Tactics training. In addition, RescueSim will enhance table top and functional exercises for all involved. It was a pleasure working with international sales representative Jeroen Boon. His knowledge of the product and teaching ability is outstanding. I look forward to working with VSTEP sales and support staff to help train our personnel in safe environments.” For more information about The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department, visit www.toledofirerescue.com

About 600 people were evacuated About 600 people were evacuated after a fire broke out at a market in Camden, north London. Firefighters were called to the Stables Market after the blaze broke out at about 20:00 BST. It was brought under control about two hours later. London Fire Brigade (LFB) sent 10 fire engines and more than 70 firefighters to tackle the blaze. The Stables Market is the largest of a number of markets in Camden, selling books, clothing, and jewellery. A nearby supermarket was also evacuated. Shortly after the fire broke out, LFB tweeted: "The fire at Stables Market on Chalk Farm Road can be seen from miles around." It later tweeted: "Fire is in the roof voids of the shops at Stables Market in #Camden. We’ve stopped the fire from affecting the overhead passenger train line." David Byard, who works in the Barfly pub opposite the market, said: "We noticed thick black smoke billowing from the market. The fire brigade were at the scene with a hydraulic platform." He said that the fire appeared to have been put out by about 21:00 BST. Ash Jones, who was in a pub close to the market, said: "An alarm went off and we were evacuated. Buses were abandoned as the roads were closed and 200 or 300 people were left standing in the street." The Metropolitan Police confirmed Chalk Farm Road had been cordoned off at Camden High Street. The market is located in the historic former Pickfords stables and Grade II-listed horse hospital which served the horses pulling Pickfords’ distribution vans and barges along the canal. Many of its stalls are set in large arches in railway viaducts.

For the New South Wales Rural Fire Service Insitu Pacific has conducted a successful demonstration for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) using the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The demonstration took place in January over the Wollemi National Park, 150 km northwest of Sydney, where fires have burned more than 35,000 hectares of bushland since December 2013. Insitu Pacific successfully demonstrated the operational utility of ScanEagle to monitor and report on the movement of the fire front at night – a task rarely undertaken at low altitude by manned aircraft due to the high risk factors involved. The success of the trial is attributed to a collaborative effort between Insitu Pacific and General Dynamics Mediaware. Insitu Pacific employed General Dynamics Mediaware’s next-generation video exploitation system, D-VEX, to stream full motion video imagery alongside geo-location information in near real time. Fire commanders used the imagery to assess the movement of the fire front and pinpoint the locations of high-risk spot fires well ahead of the front itself. As a result, response assets were mobilized more quickly and safely, because their position relative to the location and movement of the fire could be actively monitored from the emergency services headquarters. "This technology is a game changer for emergency services and first responders," Insitu Pacific managing director Andrew Duggan said. "We have proven systems that offer substantial capability advantages in this domain and will also enhance the safety of the personnel responding to an emergency. This event was a great success and the main objective now is to continue to work with CASA to enable flexible airspace approvals for various emergency response scenarios."