for Asia-Pacific Business Operation The Solberg Company, the world’s foremost innovator of firefighting foam concentrates and systems hardware announced today the appointment of John Boyer as General Manager, Asia-Pacific Region. Mr. Boyer entered the fire protection business in 2004 serving in various sales, business development and management capacities. John joins Solberg from Tyco Fire Protection Products were he most recently held the position of Regional Sales Manager, Southeast Asia and Mongolia. Mr. Boyer brings a total of twenty-three years’ experience in international sales and business development of industrial products through distribution channels to Solberg. He is a customer-oriented executive manager with the proven ability to organize and motivate multicultural sales teams for accelerated growth, channeling partners to deliver results for both organizations. John holds a BCom – in Marketing and Commercial Law from the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), South Africa. Solberg also announced the appointment of Lloyd Keen as the company’s logistics and operations officer to replace Peter Coulton who retired after a forty-six year career in the fire protection industry. Peter started his career with 3M in 1969 and later in 2007 with Solberg. Solberg’s Asia-Pacific Business Operation is based in Sydney, Australia where the company has a manufacturing operation for firefighting foam concentrates (including RE-HEALING™ Foam) and serves the entire Asia-Pacific region. A technological breakthrough, RE-HEALING foam is an innovative high-performing, environmentally sustainable firefighting foam used to suppress Class B fuels, prevent re-ignition of liquid spills and control hazardous vapors. www.solbergfoam.com

Tankers of crude oil fell into James river after coming off rails and catching fire in Lynchburg A train carrying crude oil partly derailed and caught fire on Wednesday along the James river in Lynchburg, Virginia. Three leaking tankers ending up in the water. This is the latest in a series of fiery accidents involving oil transported on North America’s rail network. Nearby buildings were temporarily evacuated but there were no injuries according to officials. The city of Lynchburg said fire-fighters on the scene made the decision to let the fire burn out. Three or four of the tankers were breached on the 15-car train that train company CSX said had been on its way from Chicago to unspecified destination. There have been eight significant oil train accidents in the US and Canada in the past year involving trains hauling crude oil, including several that resulted in large fires, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. "This is another national wake-up call," said Jim Hall, a former NTSB chairman said of the Lynchburg crash. "We have these oil trains moving all across the United States through communities and the growth and distribution of this has all occurred, unfortunately, while the federal regulators have been asleep. "This is just an area in which the federal rulemaking process is too slow to protect the American people." CSX said it was "responding fully, with emergency response personnel, safety and environmental experts, community support teams and other resources". The NTSB said it was sending investigators to the scene, as was the Federal Railroad Administration. Grady Cothen, a former Federal Railroad Administration official, said recent wet weather and the nearby river might have softened the ground and weakened the track.

With a donation of £500 Apollo Fire Detectors, the world-leading independent fire detector manufacturer based in Havant, will today finalise the sponsorship agreement to provide Natasha Lambert’s Sea to Summit Challenge* with the fuel to power support vehicles during this remarkable venture. Apollo Fire Detectors has agreed to support Natasha’s efforts with a donation of £500, to ensure that the two support vehicles have enough fuel throughout the challenge. Apollo became involved when Natasha, who has a form of Cerebral Palsy, approached the company for support. Inspired by her commitment, bravery and enthusiasm for this project, it was agreed that Apollo would see how they could help. The Sea to Summit Challenge will involve Natasha sailing from Cowes Isle Of Wight along the South Coast of England and across to Wales. Natasha uses a boat which has been adapted to a sip/puff straw system that allows her to control the rudder with her breathing and a tongue switch in her helmet controls the sail trim. On arrival in Wales Natasha will leave her boat and climb Pen y Fan, the highest mountain in South Wales using a specialised walking frame. Money raised will be donated to the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, The RNLI and the RYA foundation. Tim Preston, Financial Director for Apollo Fire Detectors, said: “Everyone at Apollo was amazed with Natasha’s determination to complete this challenge and to raise money for charity as well. She is an inspirational young woman and we are proud to be working with her on the Sea to Summit Challenge.” Speaking at the handing over of the cheque on 29th April 2014, Natasha commented: “I would like to thank Apollo for their support. I am very excited about this challenge and hope that I will be able to inspire people, young and old, to look beyond physical abilities and challenge themselves to do the very best they can.”

THIRTEEN years ago, Oliver North was saving lives as a member of a Green Goddess fire crew.   At the time, Mr North was serving with the Royal Engineers in Lancaster. Along with his colleagues, he was called on to fight blazes during fire service strikes. In recent years, he has played a major role in developing North Fire, a Yorkshire-based fire fighting vehicle and equipment supplier. Today the company is poised to enjoy rapid growth after completing a deal involving an Austrian-based manufacturer of fire service vehicles. Rosenbauer International has completed the acquisition of a 75 per cent shareholding in North Fire. North Fire, which is based in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire and employs nine staff, will re-brand as Rosenbauer UK in the next few days. Before the deal was completed, Mr North owned two thirds of North Fire, and the rest of the business was owned by Ken Davy, the chairman of rugby league team the Huddersfield Giants. Mr North, who is North Fire’s managing director, retains a 25 per cent shareholding in the new company. According to Mr North, the deal was worth around £1.5m. North Fire, which is expected to see its turnover rise from £3.6m to around £6m this year, was founded in 2008. The business was built around Mr North’s relationship with Rosenbauer. Mr North had worked as a Rosenbauer salesman after leaving the army. Mr North said yesterday: “We’re absolutely delighted to have merged with the biggest and best fire fighting vehicle and equipment manufacturer in the world…we’re very excited at what the future holds, not only for ourselves but for our customers.” The number of staff at the Huddersfield site is expected to triple in the next year. Exports are also expected to increase significantly, and a larger manufacturing division will be required to accommodate the extra fleet and equipment. (www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk)  

Emergency powers should be used to make transportation of crude oil safer The Chairman of the National Transportation Board in the US has argued that Federal regulators should use emergency powers to make the transporation of crude oil and ethanol by rail safer in the future. "They don’t need a higher body count in order for the regulators to move forward," Deborah Hersman said of Transportation Department officials. She made her comments at the conclusion of a two-day forum on safety issues involving rail transportation of crude oil and ethanol. The use of unit trains carrying up to 100 tanker cars of crude oil or ethanol is a relatively new phenomenon that risks catastrophic events such as the July 2013 accident in Quebec that caused 47 deaths and the evacuation of more than 2,000 people. The engineer on that crude oil train failed to properly secure it on an incline when it was parked overnight. The train rolled into the community of in Lac-Megantic, derailing at a speed of 64 mph. The accident was the worst of 16 significant freight rail accidents since 2006. Nine involved crude oil and seven involved ethanol. Hersman urged federal rail regulators to follow the lead of Transport Canada, which announced Wednesday it will phase out older DOT-111 series tanker cars in Canada over the next three years unless they’re retrofitted. In addition, Transport Canada announced that Emergency Response Assistance Plans will be required for trains that have even one tank car loaded with a flammable substance such as crude oil, gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, or ethanol.

Providing Incident Command training to all emergency services and first responders The new ICDC will provide Incident Command training to all emergency services and first responders in the GCC across the three main levels of command, operational, tactical and strategic. According to Mark Pudwell, Business Development and Training Manager at Competence HR Muscat, the training programmes will meet the standards of the UK Fire and Rescue Service and be role specific. "We have partnered with E-Semble – the 3D virtual reality software creator – to enable delegates to learn, develop, be assessed and certified competent in Incident Command management. The software, called XVR (eXtreme Virtual Reality) uses generic and bespoke environments which can be adapted for any type of scenario to give as much diversity as possible to the training provider and enhance the skills of delegates across a whole range of incident types from RTC, aviation, oil and gas, industrial, offshore, tunnels etc."

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released an updated report on the total cost of fire in the U.S. which showed that the total cost of fire in 2011 was estimated at $329 billion, or roughly 2.1 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Adjusted for inflation, the total cost represents a 34 percent increase over 1980, while its proportion of U.S. gross domestic product has declined by about one-third. However, both the total cost of fire and its associated percentage of GDP have been roughly steady for the past decade and a half. The core total cost of fire is defined as the sum of economic loss (e.g. property damage, business interruption) and the cost of provisions to prevent or mitigate the cost of fire (e.g. fire departments, insurance, and the fire protection part of construction). The complete total cost of fires adds costs that cannot be measured every year or do not involve direct payments. This includes costs of compliance with fire safety standards for equipment and other products, the value of the time donated by volunteer firefighters, human loss (e.g. lives lost, medical treatment, pain and suffering), and federal government costs for fighting wildfires. Following are other key findings from the report: Although the core total cost of fire has increased by 40 percent from 1980 to 2011 to a total of $108.4 billion, the economic loss due to fire decreased by 31 percent, totaling $14.9 billion, with all figures adjusted for inflation. Fires in 2011 caused $13.3 billion in direct property damage (reported or unreported), which represented 89 percent of economic loss that year. The other 11 percent was indirect loss, such as temporary housing and business interruption. New building construction for fire protection was estimated to cost $31 billion in 2011. For a fact sheet on the total cost of fire, please visit www.nfpa.org/TotalCost.  

with the LHD Group  Cologne, 23rd April 2014. The contract between the Zaanstreek-Waterland Fire Service (Za-Wa) and the LHD Group GmbH, a company of the LHD Group with headquarters in Cologne, was signed in Zaanstad, The Netherlands on 14th April. The contract encompasses the supply of 800 special LION V-Force® fire fighters’ protective suits over a period of four years. The official signing of the contract took place in the course of festive reception at the fire service headquarters. Present at the ceremony were, among others, Frank Kuntz, Deputy Regional Commander of the Zaanstreek-Waterland Fire Service, Markus Berghöfer, Director International Sales LHD Group, Sascha Müller, Project Manager LHD Group und Harald Stempher, Sales Director of the LHD sales partner, Applied Research Laboratory Europe BV (A.R.L.E.). "In the course of the tender we carried out intensive wearing trials with various manufacturers in regard to various criteria. The LION V-Force® protective suit proved very good in all of the tests. However, what finally convinced us was the exceptional wearing comfort of the suit.” said Frank Kuntz in explaining the decision to choose the LHD Group. The Zaanstreek-Waterland Fire Service is composed of the local fire services of the nine communities of the district of the same name. It is divided into four operative units with 27 fire stations located throughout the region and employs some 110 professional firemen and 660 voluntary firemen. As a regional fire service, it has to cope not only with fires but is also employed in the case of different emergencies and as rescue service. In order to be able to cope with the varying demands in services, the LHD Group developed a special suit especially for the Za-Wa Fire Service on the lines of the well proven model of the Amsterdam Fire Service. Exclusive use was made of innovative high-tech materials from Gore and TenCate in order to provide the highest level of protection while simultaneously designing the suit to be as light, breathable and comfortable as possible. Sascha Müller, Project Manager at the LHD Group, together with the Dutch sales partner, Applied Research Laboratory Europe (ARLE) BV, now has his hands full to ensure delivery of the first batch for the Zaanstreek-Waterland Fire Service within a short time. “First of all, the measurement of all of the firemen locally has to be organized. For this purpose, and as part of our service, we will work on site with tailors and measure all firemen individually so that every suit will fit exactly when subsequently delivered. This is the prerequisite for good wearing comfort and the beginning of our promise of service.” states Sascha Müller.

announces new guidance document for NFPA 72  Fire Protection Research Foundation announces new guidance document for NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code April 21, 2014 — The Fire Protection Research Foundation (Foundation) today announced the release of “Guidance Document: Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings”, which was derived from a full project report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The guidance document was developed in response to information and messaging needs identified by the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) NFPA 72®, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code®, Technical Committee for Emergency Communication Systems. “While we know that effective communication strategies are critical in the event of a building emergency, there’s been little guidance on how to best communicate to occupants and ensure an effective, safe emergency response,” says Amanda Kimball, a research project manager for the Foundation. “This guidance document helps system designers, building managers, and/or building emergency personnel create and disseminate effective communications in the face of rapid-onset disasters.” Along with providing guidelines for the planning, design, installation and use of emergency communications systems, “Guidance Document: Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings” addresses ways to test messaging from a comprehension and occupant-response perspective. It also offers sample messaging for five different emergency scenarios, along with identifying questions and issues that need to be addressed in the future. According to Kimball, the guidance report is based on a review of 162 literature sources from a variety of social science and engineering disciplines, with prioritization of the findings in each of the literature sources; the full project report was developed over a three-year period. The project was principally funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, along with additional support from multiple industry sponsors. About the Fire Protection Research Foundation The Fire Protection Research Foundation plans, manages and communicates research on a broad range of fire safety issues in collaboration with scientists and laboratories around the world. The Foundation is an affiliate of NFPA. About the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) NFPA is a worldwide leader in fire, electrical, building, and life safety. The mission of the international nonprofit organization founded in 1896 is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training, and education. NFPA develops more than 300 codes and standards to minimize the possibility and effects of fire and other hazards. All NFPA codes and standards can be viewed at no cost at www.nfpa.org/freeaccess.