Fire safety engineering is a bit of a misfit subject, fitting uneasily within the realms of engineering and technology. It cannot be pigeon holed as a pure engineering discipline as it incorporates a range of subjects including mathematics, physics, chemistry and even psychology. It also utilizes principles from civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, writes the author of the British Standard Specification PAS 911, Paul Bryant.

With all the attention focused on tunnel fire prevention and firefighting, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that if fewer vehicles caught fire, the problem would be greatly diminished. Nick Grant, EMEA Vice President and General Manager of Firetrace International, explains. 

Tyco Fire Suppression & Building Products has unveiled its new Ansul Aquasonic fully self-contained water-atomising fire suppression system aimed at Class B fires that involve flammable liquids such as petrol, diesel, solvents, lubricants and spirits; typical applications include turbine package enclosure protection for offshore production installations.

The Health and Safety Executive has published a report that outlines the causes and consequences of catastrophic tank failure and examines the efficacy of bund overtopping prediction models such as SPLOT (SPreading Liquid Over Terrain), OVERTOP and LSMS.

Jo Bird has long been recognised as a leading manufacturer of GRP storage cabinets for firefighting and lifesaving equipment in some of the most inhospitable climates in the world. The company’s latest order involves 24 insulated and heated cabinets that will house hydrants at the monumental Kashagan oil project in Kazakhstan. IFJ visited Jo Bird to find out more

Who do responders turn to when they need immediate hazmat advice?

Eurotunnel, the operator of the world’s longest undersea tunnel and one of its busiest rail routes, has chosen Sepura’s new STP8000 hand-held TETRA radio for its communications in emergency operations.

EADS Defence & Security in collaboration with Beijing Satellite Science & Technology Co will provide the first TETRA project in China’s oil and gas fields.

John Campbell of Stena Drillmax writes about the unprecedented ongoing assessment of the emergency response capabilities in all semi-submersible drilling units and drill ships of Stena Drilling Ltd.

Thermal imaging cameras are increasingly finding their way into airport firefighting brigades where their applications are numerous, as Biggin Hill found out.

George Privalov and James A Lynch of axonX introduce video image fire and smoke detection (VID) technology as it applies to industrial applications; present three case studies of companies who have successfully implemented the technology; and highlight the advantages and limitations of the system in each installation.

Increasingly CCTV-based video smoke detection (VSD) is being relied upon in today’s power stations, including seven that are operated by the Irish Republic’s main generating company ESB, keeping a watchful eye on turbine halls. Ian Moore, MD of D-Tec, explains more.

The wait for TETRA may seem to many municipal fire brigades interminable, but the benefits will be plenty, writes Jose Sanchez de Muniain.

Modern response agencies are faced with an increasingly difficult choice: maintain tried and trusted systems for situational reporting over radio, through exchange of liaison officers, or through centralised briefings – and risk not knowing enough quickly enough – or adopt incident management technology which risks facing their decision makers with information overload.

Since 9/11, fire departments in major cities around the world have had to decide how to enhance and improve their role to respond effectively against a growing terrorist threat. But what have different brigades done to leverage their existing capabilities and add new ones? In this the first of a series, Fire and Rescue magazine spoke with Gary Dobson, London Fire Brigade’s Director of Operational Policy and Training.

Gerald M Dworkin of Lifesaving Resources explains NFPA 1670 and the importance of PPE in the context of the Fire Department of Keene City, New Hampshire.

Oursourcing emergency response operations can be an easy and cost-effective way of protecting a facility to the highest possible standards. Ann-Marie Knegt talked to two industry experts who live and breathe industrial fire safety and security.

Where water is a limited resource or when lower water volumes are an engineering necessity, specialist extinguishing systems such as the Fire Attack System made by ABC MacIntosh can prove invaluable.

Not having the right foam proportioning equipment could seriously hurt your bottom line.

Tom Cortina of the Fire Fighting Foam Coalition puts forward an alternative view on the Norwegian State Pollution Control Agency’s report on polyfluorinated organic compounds.

Dr Roger Klein explains the potential environmental implications of the Norwegian Pollution Control Agency’s studies on polyfluorinated organic compounds at four fire training facilities in Norway.

Last month the Norwegian StatePollution Control Agency publishedthe results of studies it had carriedout on polyfluorinated organiccompounds at four fire trainingfacilities in Norway. Dr Roger Kleinexplains the potential environmental implications as regards the use of fluorinated foam concentrates.

London Fire Brigade has taken delivery of 660 sets of specialist jackets and trousers for its 330-strong USAR team. Is this the beginning of a wider trend for more specialised rescue wear? F&Rvisits London.

Over 69,000 people were killed during the earthquake  that occurred on May 12, 2008, in Sichuan province,  and which measured around 8.0 on the Richter Scale.  It led to possibly the greatest rescue effort in modern  history as regards structural collapse incidents.  F&R interviewed the China Earthquake Administration,  one of the many agencies involved in the response.

Over 69,000 people were killed during the earthquake that occurred on May 12, 2008, in Sichuan province,
and which measured around 8.0 on the Richter Scale. It led to possibly the greatest rescue effort in modern
history as regards structural collapse incidents. F&R interviewed the China Earthquake Administration, one of the many agencies involved in the response.

If the definition of a highrise is 12 floors or more, then statistics show that there are currently over 120,000 highrise buildings around the world today. Firefighters and fire safety engineers alike are crying out for a risk-free way to handle evacuations from these types of buildings. Help is on the way, because Paul Monks of Dutch-based RVES is developing LifeSlide, a revolutionary new product that will put evacuees safely back on the ground in a matter of minutes.

Major industrial accidents have a huge impact on legislation. Ann-Marie Knegt met Thierry Tixier and Xavier Quayzin of APSYS, a risk assesment company that specialises in the high-risk industry.

There is very little information on heat and flame protective PPE available to users other than from manufacturers and suppliers who naturally promote their products for sale. As a result, such information is restricted to the direction of the products that are being promoted, and the knowledge (or lack of it) of the sales person trying to promote it. Alec Feldman of Fulcrum Consultants, the executive arm of JOIFF, writes about some JOIFF initiatives taken recently to counter this potentially dangerous status quo.

After it became known that Halon was to be decommissioned in Europe on 31/12/2003, a large refinery (let’s call it “Refinery1”) in the south of the Netherlands was required to find a replacement fire protection and detection system for its 30 floating roof tanks.

Recognising the need to have validated data on the risks associated with fires in large, open top floating roof storage tanks, 16 oil companies joined together to form a project group to thoroughly investigate these facilities. The project was known as LASTFIRE.

For the fire protection and fire prevention industries, the last decade has certainly witnessed some major events and change that will impact on these business sectors for the next decade to come. Here are just a few of the events that have introduced change in ABC MacIntosh since 1999 and all of the following have caused our business to pause and assess the implications for future development.

Fire fighting operations almost always represent a balance between extinguishing fire, saving of human life or property, or otherwise resolving the incident – for example dealing with a hazardous materials spill – and the impact of these operations on the environment.

Mobile public address systems allow emergency response personnel to give occupants of a building/train or industrial complex, additional live information about the nature of an evacuation. The system must be loud enough and powerful enough to reach all those people who need information – and who might not be linked to an existing warning system, text, email – or where an existing system is inoperable.

Jeff Berman, 55, came up with the idea for an Audible Guidance Beacon after gaining a Master of Science degree in Electronic Product Design. His Master’s practical project involved building a system that enabled blind people to practise the sport of archery – the “VectorSight” enables blind archers to aim at a target with the help of eight specific sound signals.

The chemists at Hamburg-based company Dr Sthamer have been developing speciality foams for specific risks for a long time, explains Jan Knappert (International Sales Director), which is why the organisation has developed a clear idea of the type of information required to develop a specification that fully meets the requirements specified.

In ships and marine technology fire extinguishing systems for protection of galley deep-fat cooking equipment are becoming particularly popular. Over the past 10 years the use of more efficient cooking appliances and the increased use of vegetable cooking oils has increased the level of risk. Heating cooking oil to its auto-ignition temperature (around 365 °C) can lead to a very intense fire  that is very difficult to extinguish and which can involve the inside of the hood and exhaust duct – usually covered with grease and dust – resulting in an uncontrolled fire in the galley area.

Water mist is an old technology, and physics shows the obvious characteristic where small droplets evaporate faster than large droplets. However, the attempts to use water mist for fire fighting purposes in the 1930s and the 1950s were not as successful as one might think.

Could your BA equipment interfere with your portable digital radio? According to the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), it could do – and in the US work is continuing to isolate the problem and find technical ways to resolve it. Fire services take note.

The impact of a car crash goes much further than the initial collision, and the fight to save lives continues after the event, writes Carol Debell.  The WRO is  dedicated to increasing the standards in RTC training, incident management and medical care internationally.

Jan-Pieter Maarschalk, General Manager of a rescue tool manufacturer, outlines some of the latest tools for HGV RTCs.

Colin Davies, Training Instructor – Specialist Operations Group, Fire Service College (UK), talks about some of the challenges facing RTC responders.

As the pressure on Europe’s infrastructure increases so do the number of RTCs that involve HGVs. Three experts provide some recommendations – including equipment tips – for these supersize incidents.

A set of annual statistics published by the United States Fire Administration has shown that out of 118 firefighter fatalities in 2007 at least 52 were as a result of heart attacks.

Kevin Sykes of the University of Chester is Professor of Occupational Health & Fitness and Director of the international postgraduate Centre for Exercise and Nutrition Science. Firefighter fitness is getting better, he says, but the conundrum of who should take responsibility (employer or individual) still remains.

Three months ago saw the final phase of the Integrated Clothing Project (ICP), at last bringing a national procurement strategy to the fire services. One contracted supplier, Bristol Uniforms, is now on hand to supply and maintain a comprehensive clothing range to all the UK’s firefighters, via the central procurement body Firebuy. F&R puts some questions to Roger Startin, MD of Bristol Uniforms, and Steve Taylor, Work Stream Director at Firebuy.

The EU FloodCommand project, a joint venture between three European Union countries – the UK (Maritime and Coastguard Agency), Ireland (Irish Coast Guard) and Sweden (Swedish Rescue Services Agency) – was initiated in early 2007 with the aim of improving pan-European response to massive coastal inundation from tidal floods, storm surges and tsunamis. The project was co-funded by the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Commission and Vector Command Ltd (a developer of command and control, training and exercising systems for emergency services and agencies), and launched at an inaugural conference in May 2007.

As environmental concerns gain momentum in the industry, their domino effect is witnessed across industry sectors and markets. The fire suppression industry is not immune from these concerns, writes Konkana Khaund, Research Analyst, Environment and Building Technologies Practice, for Frost and Sullivan North America.

Much has been written and reported about the effects of fire water run-off from large scale fire incidents. The problem isn’t new and there have been several landmark fires over the years to remind us that without careful planning disaster can strike – Allied Colloids, Bradford 1992, Sandoz, Basel 1986 and Buncefield, 2005 are seen as the worst case benchmarks for such incidents. Of course, Buncefield didn’t just force a reappraisal of groundwater contamination, it also highlighted the need to reappraise the risk assessments underpinning the approach to firefighting in storage depots. This article will focus on how foam proportioning itself can become part of the review process so that foam discharge is kept to the minimum whilst maximising firefighting capability and cost effectiveness.

Dallas Forth Worth is one of the largest airports in the US. It therefore requires a first line of attack that is able to respond within three minutes. Ann-Marie Knegt interviewed Jessie Gentry, Division Commander Fire Operations, about the new firefighting giants that were recently acquired by the airport.

Dr. Howard Levitin, MD, FACEP is the president and founder of US company DQE, a hazmat decon supplier that began eighteen years ago as a research project into emergency preparedness. Levitin became interested in the role of hospitals in a hazardous materials incident after being confronted with two contaminated patients while working the night shift in the emergency department. While researching the methodology for handling contaminated patients in the ED he met a firefighter who was working to improve the design, quality, and dependability of portable decontamination equipment. They joined forces and the result is DQE.

When Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service’s fuel monitoring system was deemed to be no longer fit for purpose, the brigade decided to try a next generation system.

The history of Ulm and Iveco Magirus has been interwoven since Conrad Dietrich Magirus, Fire Commander of the City – and one of the founding fathers of the German fire service – invented the turntable ladder in 1872. 
Ann Marie visited Iveco to find out the latest developments.

Barry Browning, ex Fire Chief at Fawley Refinery,  reports on a training exercise that used critical equipment he helped to source and install.

Low or fluorine-free content foam can still achieve good results. Chemguard sent us some data from tests carried out on its low fluorine, Ultraguard foam solution.

The new EN 443:2007 firefighter’s helmet standard is expected to be fully approved by all member states at any moment. Fire & Rescue talks to Hans Detzlhofer of Rosenbauer about the new standard.

UK Fire and Rescue Authorities can typically spend up to £500,000 a year on insurance – a significant drain on any authority’s limited budget. In an attempt to save as much as possible on insurance premiums as well as finding a fairer, more tailored deal for the sector, a groundbreaking mutual was born.

Where Hannibal crossed the Alps, the Swiss went right through them. On the 9th of December 2007, a new milestone in Europe’s high-speed rail network, the Lotzberg Base Tunnel, was opened for traffic.

When a fire broke out in a 1920s apartment building on the southern outskirts of Bergen, Norway, in 2006 it could have spelled the end for the inhabitants. A fire was initiated by a burning cigarette dropping from an ashtray which ignited a sofa.

At 12.06 hours on the 28th of May, 2007, the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) Command and Control Center dispatched a ‘Traffic Collision/Major 2’ response after receiving a report of an occupied passenger vehicle crushed beneath a tanker truck/trailer combination which was also leaking an unknown product. This was located on the Pomona Freeway twelve miles east of downtown Los Angeles, CA.

Fire and emergency services who refuse to recognise the real possibility of a major air crash incident happening within their local airport or within their jurisdiction are leaving themselves wide open to numerous problems.

JOIFF would not wish to see this matter develop into one of needless tit-for-tat letter writing but we feel that due to the significant contribution from industry at the Buncefield incident, particularly from JOIFF Members, we would be failing in our duty to our members in not adding the necessary clarity to this matter which appears to be required.

Over the past decade, there has been a growing concern about the impact of foams on environment, due to scientific evidence of the detrimental effect of fluorinated compounds and their behaviour in the environment.

Articles published in recent issues of this journal suggest that there is an environmental ‘tragedy’ or serious public safety issue associated with the use of fluorotelomer-based AFFF agents.

The petroleum and petrochemical industries have many hazards that can be briefly categorised.

Jean-Marc Vandekerchove tells IFJ: “Our range of products is designed to provide the professional firefighter with the best, most effective extinguishing agent for all known fire hazards with a minimum impact on the environment and human exposure.”

One argument, posed by the question ‘what should be used in today’s foams? – is that there is currently no viable alternative to using fluorosurfactants in foam.
Environmental sensitivity to the operational use of large quantities of firefighting foam has increased dramatically post-Buncefield.

Opened by Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta in late 2006, the $US17 million, state-of-the-art centre currently serves as the central command and information hub for all the FDNY.

One company and one company only was announced as the winner of the ICP, the Integrated Clothing Project, “the most rigorous and extensive research and evaluation process ever undertaken for a contract of this kind in the history of the fire and rescue service,” according to Firebuy, the procurement arm of the UK Fire & Rescue Service.

Valuable  as a forum in industry, it was not until JOIFF started to develop its Training Policy in 1999 and introduced Certificates of Competence to successful trainees that JOIFF grew into the major international organisation it is today. 

Since 2000 and 3M’s announcement to phase out its PFOS-based fluorochemicals business, every year has brought its load of bad news over the fate of this peculiar class of compounds. But let’s get back to the past six years.

The chance to extinguish conflagrations on a refinery replica with live fires are few and far between for many firefighters. However, the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), a member of The Texas A&M University System, recently turned one of its fire training props into the most in-depth chemical complex emergency replication scenes available today.

NEW SOUTH WALES FIRE BRIGADE: The NSW Fire Brigade has three specialist Hazardous Materials Response Units operating from Sydney (Greenacre), Newcastle and Shellharbour. They have advanced capabilities in detection of toxic industrial chemicals, volatile substances and chemical warfare agents.

How visible are your vehicles?

A definition of a competent person is someone who “having regard to the task that he or she is required to perform, and taking account of the size and/or hazards of the undertaking or establishment in which he or she undertakes work, he or she possesses sufficient training, experience and knowledge appropriate to the nature of the work to be undertaken.”

Class B foams are used to fight fires involving liquid hydrocarbon fuels and may also need to be alcohol-resistant (AR) for polar solvents, such as methanol or MEK. Aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) containing fluorosurfactants revolutionised this area of fire service operations when they were first introduced in the 1960s.

Thomas Peter, Deputy Chief, Field Co-ordination Support Section of the Emergency Services Branch for OCHA (Office of the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs) of the United Nations in Geneva, feels that very many countries that are affected by a disaster do not know what rescue teams can deliver, a problem made worse by language issues. It is his task on a daily basis to combat this problem and find solutions acceptable to every party involved.

If there’s one major truth which is going to emerge from the following case histories, it’s that the majority of injuries are sustained while people are descending mountains. Typically, these involve fractures and dislocations of the extremities says Greg Emere, climbing and SAR consultant.

A magnet for climber and trippers alike, the Mount Shasta wilderness area in Northern California, USA, serves a perfect example of a location where people often get into trouble. Greg Emere talks to F&R about some classic incidents which have occurred there.

Firefighter John Wallace and his partner Anthony Vanderholst from Kingston, Ontario, hit the local news when they rescued Eddie the Walker Hound off the ice in the Cataraqui river, Canada, near the end of February 2005. Here, Ann-Marie Knegt presents their exclusive story.

Foam manufacturers have developed fluorosurfactant-free foams (FSFF) that have no long term detrimental environmental impact. There are numerous areas of application for this type of product, in particular with the European fire and rescue services.

Bjorn Geeves is the CEO of Verfification Institute Ltd. previously IMI-International Measuring Institute, a certified statutory service supplier specialised in on-site inspection and measurements of Low Location Lighting (LLL) systems onboard ship. Before the IS0 15370 for LLL systems went into action, ship operators had to comply with the IMO Res. A.752(18), which is part of the SOLAS regulations.

An important element of the Buncefield industrial response was Lindsey Oil Refinery’s EV2 foam tender holding 11,000 litres of foam liquid. It carried two Knowsley dual-geared monitors which provided an output of 3,600 lpm from a foam branchpipe. They played an essential role in actively ‘knocking down’ some of the oil fires and creating strategic gaps for other fire teams to enter the area.

The Europe, Africa and Middle East Manager for Williams Fire & Hazard Control Inc, one of the world’s leading industrial firefighting companies, Kelvin Hardingham told IFJ:

Almost four months ago, the fuels depots at Buncefield near Hemel Hempstead represented the UK’s fifth largest fuel distribution centres, used by BP, BPA and HOSL ( a joint venture between Total and Texaco. On December 11th, 2005, a severe explosion led to the loss of around 7.7 million gallons of oil, motor spirit and aviation fuel.

TETRA, or Terrestrial Trunked Radio, is currently being introduced across the UK and the Channel Islands to replace current analogue radio systems. F&R considers the implications of this development.

The release of people from collapsed structures is heavily dependent on the organisation at the disaster scene. Ann-Marie Knegt discussed the issues USAR teams face with OCHA’s rescue expert Chief Thomas Peter and Dutch USAR team leader Rob Brons in the light of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.

A European perspective on tunnel emergencies:

Cumbrian firefighters avert city tragedy.

Firefighters are expected to be brave and resourceful in the face of adversity. In this most unusual fire, Carlisle’s city firefighters have all won commendations for exceptional work. 10 members of Carlisle Fire Brigade commended for bravery last month.

In a newsletter published in October 2006 from an American special interest group of foam manufacturers, the aquatic toxicity of firefighting foams is discussed.

There should be no doubts that the blasts and fires at the Buncefield oil terminal, just outside Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, on the 11th December 2005 will be discussed and the outcomes debated for many years to come.

With the emergence of a new Class ‘B’ foam technology it is time for the industrial firefighting industry to examine the benefits of this technology,  Solberg Scandinavian AS has been involved with the manufacture of fire-fighting foams since the 1980s.

It was five years ago that 3M announced (May 2000, shortly before InterSchutz 2000) that the company was withdrawing from fluorosurfactant manufacture using perfluorooctanyl sulphonate (PFOS) chemistry.

The recent DDA and EN54 directive has once again placed emphasis on the importance of ensuring safety and warning systems are up to standard.  Not only that, but there is also now a need for companies to install more versatile systems that can cater for both the visually and audibly impaired.

Halon 1301 and Halon 1211 were once regarded as the ‘wonder remedy’ when they were introduced in the 1960s. They were ‘clean agents’ which did not leave any corrosive or abrasive residues after use, unlike water, dry chemicals and foams which were associated with secondary non-fire damage.

The peace of a quiet morning on Sunday, December 11th, 2005, was shattered by a series of explosions at Buncefield, an oil depot  located just north of London - initiating the biggest fire of its type seen in Europe since 1945.

The London Fire Brigade (LFCDA) and the FDNY are - jointly- considered the third largest firefighting organisations in the world. F&R takes a look at some of their current procurement programmes.

Where does a large scale HazMat incident end and a CBRN incident begin? For the fire services these are being seen as one and the same, argues Dr Roger A. Klein.

After the disaster in New Orleans the emergency services -with the co-operation of the military- had to pump 250 billion gallons out of the city. Clearly, a disaster like this only serves to underscore the importance of having the right pump for the right job, argues Pete Perkins.

Hurricane Katrina and its effect on the Gulf Coast is now widely regarded as one of the worst disasters ever to have struck the United States, not least because of the great confusion about what actually was going on. F&R’s Ann-Marie Knegt talked to Brian Inglis, Taskforce leader of the Vancouver US&R Team.

Industry must still brace itself for the two months remaining of the 2005 Hurricane Season - but it has already been one of the most memorable and costliest years in living memory.