Watch the video of Rosenbauer's new Advanced Technology vehicle.

A firelighter’s profession is to protect lives, property and the environment of our community, but who protects our firefighters? Kellie Murphy from Auto Extract Systems reports on how vehicle emissions extraction systems can help save lives.

Many countries have specialized operational units for responding to major structural collapse incidents, universally known as Urban Search and Rescue teams. Fully operational and equipped USAR units exist in 20 European countries, two in the Middle East, two in the Pacific region and four in Asia, and in the USA there are 28 Task Forces located around the country. writes George Potter.

In this first installment of a two-part series on cooperation between flight crew and fire crew, Zoltán Szilvási addresses non-technical-skills, including communication, decision making, leadership, and the associated regulatory training issues.

There is much information on clothing for firefighters but sadly much of it is neither accurate nor even useful, says Ian Moses: the bottom line is that it’s all about protection.

Former Chief fire officer Jacques Baudewijn was one of the first in Belgium to pioneer the use of high volume pumps.

Compartment fires present a range of risks to the firefighter. The dangers of the combustion gases, radiant heat and explosions are but some of the deadly hazards faced by responders. Nowhere is this more apparent than onboard a ship, and in particular on a Corvette, as built for the Swedish Navy for surface to surface warfare, mine countermeasures (MCM) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). Ann-Marie Knegt reports on a versatile extinguishing system that is enhancing safety and fire response for Sweden’s Navy.

The city of Ekurhuleni in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, is preparing to reposition itself as an aerotropolis city – Chief Fire Officer Joe Makhubalo explains what this means for his fire service.

The second Australian Aerial Firefighting conference was held in Melbourne Victoria on 25 August 2011 with a focus on best practice approaches to aerial firefighting, writes David Cant, Manager Aviation Services, South Australian Country Fire Service.

A large fire at a chemical plant south of Dallas sent an enormous plume of smoke into the air and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents in the city of Waxahachie.

Proposals set out to cut the number of MCA staff and further plans suggest any key incident involving any North Sea oil platforms would be managed by senior MCA officers in the Maritime Operations Centre (MOC) that will be based nearly 400 miles away the Southampton/Portsmouth area.

Italian manufacturer of aerial truck mounted platforms, CTE Lift SpA is delivering its new B-FIRE 450 system mounted on a Tital firefighting vehicle. The telescopic boom is 45 metres high and can carry 450kg of payload in its basket, meaning it can carry four people carrying full PPE and additional equipment.

In this series concentrating on rescue techniques involving large goods vehicles/public service vehicles, Gareth Lloyd from UKRO (United Kingdom Rescue Organisation) looks at cab stabilisation and driver's seats.

A unique new course to equip passenger transport and emergency professionals with the skills to deal with major incidents is being launched by the University of Wolverhampton in the UK.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researchers capture the world's first real-time data of a major flood event in an urban area.

Rosenbauer launches a new air transportable response vehicle with off road capability for crisis response operations.

With a background in local government management, Rita Dexter is now the most senior women in the world’s largest fire and rescue service. Michael Burton talks to her about a career that began in Birmingham at the age of 16.

The use of ethanol is increasing rapidly worldwide and consequently the importance of appropriate ethanol production, handling, and storage operations is increasing as well. The ETANKFIRE project will provide a platform of knowledge ensuring proper investment in the fire protection of ethanol storage facilities. A full report on the recent ETANKFiRE Conference will be available in the next issue of Fire and Rescue magazine.

Pierce Manufacturing, an Oshkosh Corporation company, has announced that it has received an order for three Quantum pumper vehicles and one Quantum aerial platform from the Mesa Fire Department in Mesa, Ariz. The Mesa Fire Department’s front line apparatus fleet will grow to include 33 Quantum pumpers and five Quantum aerials. The vehicles will be delivered beginning in January 2012.

The weekend of May 22nd, 2011 proved to be an unusually busy and challenging for the rescue response resources in the State of Missouri, writes Tim Dorsey, Deputy Chief of Special Operations and Training West County EMS and Fire Protection District. 

@fire International, a disaster response agency based in Osnabruck in Germany, has signed an agreement to help protect the town of Villa Real in Northern Portugal against the constant threat of wildfires in the area.

A leading manufacturer of fire and safety training tools has delivered next-generation redesigned smoke generators to competition winners.

Many areas in the world are currently being devastated by record breaking wildland fires this season. To enable firefighters to respond to these fire, the University of Nevada, Reno Fire Science Academy (FSA) hosted the BLM Rookie School and Wildland Fire Academy from June 5t-10, 2011.

Firefighters from Northumberland have demonstrated the benefits of a new training facility at Newcastle Airport.

TEEX Public Safety & Security (PS&S) has signed a $10.8 million contract with Power Training of the United Arab Emirates to provide a Security Training Program (STP) to members of the Critical National Infrastructure Authority (CNIA) in Abu Dhabi.

The PATH train station located below One World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial were the focus of a simulated crisis last week at TEEX’s Emergency Operations Training Center (EOTC). 

A rapid response to any fire is vital, but this is especially so at a motor racing or rally circuit where fuel and speed create a highly dangerous scenario. For this, the rapid deployment of firefighters and equipment is of paramount importance,  writes Olaf Hempel, Sales Director, Advanced Firefighting Technology (AFT).

European Society of Emergency Medicine (EuSEM) endorses algorithms calling for empiric treatment of smoke inhalation victims in the emergency room and at the scene.

Mott MacDonald has been named building services design engineer by China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) Ltd for the development of the new Fire Services Training School (FSTS) in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong.

Equivital, the brand for mobile human monitoring solutions for hazardous worker applications, has been involved in a national research study in Australia, investigating how best to manage heat stress in Australian firefighters. The study was devised to demonstrate how early warning of the onset of heat related injury can be given by wearing the state-of –the-art Equivital EQ02 LifeMonitor during firefighting operations.

The new compilation is now available on CD-ROM.

As a long term contributor and advocate in fire rescue industry, Acting Chief David Michaels of the City of York Fire Rescue Services in York, Pennsylvania has seen an important need to protect firefighters from the dangers of exposure to the cancer causing components of diesel exhaust in a fire station. Due to this hazardous exposure found within the fire station, unfortunately, firefighters are in a high-risk group of getting cancer.

The ARFF Services of Afghanistan's airports and airfields have been controlled by foreign military or civilian personnel since 2001 – but that’s all about to change, writes Miquel Moita.

Bristol has designed ground breaking firefighter PPE for use by members of fire crews using motorcycles to gain rapid access to fires in congested or remote locations where normal fire response vehicles would have difficulty gaining access.

To combat the effect of budget cuts, brigades are increasingly finding innovative ways to ensure their communities continue to receive the best possible service, reports Ann-marie knegt.

At the FDIC in Indianapolis Kenbri Fire Fighting’s range of cribbing systems attracted a lot of interest – Ann Marie Knegt went over to find out why.

Picture this scenario: a car has gone through the wall on the 4th floor of a parking garage and is precariously balanced on the edge, the occupants – a mother and a two-year-old toddler – are still trapped inside, writes Irakli West, Northern Europe Regional Manager for Paratech.

How bad are engine exhaust fumes for your health? Dr. Roger Klein explains the consequences for the industry, based on the recent report published by the WHO.

The team approach to road traffic collisions does not just apply to cars, but also to trucks. Whilst the approach is the same in terms of the pre-determined phases, the process is far more complex, requiring more knowledge and equipment, writes Ian Dunbar, rescue consultant for Holmatro.

Our commercial manager Kelly Francis visited the Only Essex Stunt Show where she saw this US fire truck driving round on two wheels. We sincerely hope that this way of driving will not be adopted as standard practice by the fire and rescue service, because there might be a slight fire hazard involved. Amusing and amazing all the same.

A UK fire brigade is capitalising on its expertise to offer its experience to the industrial sector – and profits are being invested in community safety initiatives, writes Ann-Marie Knegt.

At the end of 2011, Moditech Rescue Solutions, specialised in development and implementation of mobile information systems for emergency responders, introduced the Crash Recovery System (iCRS) for devices running on the iOS operating system. After an intensive period of development, the CRS is now available for devices operating on the Android platform.

Specialised response teams from 27 member states and five participating nations of the EU are preparing to test the capabilities of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, writes Ann-Marie Knegt.

Simon Webb responds to the issues raised in the article “Flickers and Foam” by Mike Willson published in Fire and Rescue, 2ND Quarter 2012.

Exercise Shannon was a major UK multiagency exercise that took place in the south coast home of multiple top tier COMAH sites on 4-5 May. Jose sanchez de Muniain reports.

Atmospheric monitoring study reveals dangerous levels of cyanide in house fire smoke – by Nic Lacey, Crew Commander at the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, UK.

In this video crews initiate PPA by first taking ample exhaust where the fire is already exhausting. Observe the area at the attack entrance above the cone of air from the fan. This area is called the barometer of interior conditions. If this area does not clear of thick smoke or flame the fire and building circumstances does not support safe PPA. If this area clears attack crews have enough exhaust to safely use PPA and make there way to the fire area with little smoke impeding their progress.

The world’s first electric drive tunnel rescue vehicle “Merkur” with two driver cabs has now been officially launched. Firefighter from all over the world experienced the “Merkur” live during a simulated fire rescue in the Croatian Ucka Tunnel on Friday the 29^th of June.

Ziegler Croatia, Daughter Company of German Ziegler has recently delivered a new vehicle specifically built for tunnel evacuation. The new truck was specifically built upon the request of the BINA Istra Fire Department in Croatia, writes Sinisa Jembrih, from Zagreb Fire Department, Croatia

The Unidad Militar de Emergencias (UME – Military Emergency Unit) was created to support civilian emergency services in extreme cases and it has proved itself time and time again against a backdrop of a civilian service paralised by unique working conditions – but could it be under threat? George Potter reports from Spain.