Tangent Link has chalked up another first in its long running series of International Aerial Firefighting Conferences with the presentations complemented by a combined fly in of firefighting aircraft and aerial demonstrations covered by CNN, writes Terry Loughran -Tangent Link's Strategic Military Advisor.

New social media forum is a totally new, day-long ‘unconference’ style event that offers a free, open and fluidic day of sharing experiences, thoughts and best practice across all Blue Light Services.

As part of its ongoing focus on sharing best practice and expertise, the Siemens Building Technologies division is holding a seminar on 24 November focussing on automated fixed fire extinguishing systems.

The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) will release its final investigation into the January 7, 2010, Texas Tech laboratory accident that severely injured a graduate student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

A life-saving training event for firefighters will concentrate on the dangers of HCN and CO exposure – Greater Manchester FRS, 26 October.

The planned workshop will take place 1^st November in Kansas City.

The METRO project aims to conduct comprehensive research to improve the safety of travel, work and rescue in underground railways. It is a wholly Swedish project being run over a period of three years, ending in 2012.

One of the energy industry’s best known and most respected professional organisations has announced it is to re-launch the Offshore Achievement Awards, with the support of main sponsor Taqa Bratani.

The two-day Dust Explosion Hazards Symposium will be  held September 20 – 21, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan.

The 15th International Security, Fire, Emergency, Search-Rescue and RFID Exhibition ISAF will be held on 22-25 September 2011 at the Istanbul Expo Center. The exhibition will showcase the latest developments and technology Turkish and international companies.

Hughes Safety Showers, together with its German subsidiary Hughes Notduschen, will be showing a wide range of Emergency Showers and Eyebath/facewash units at A+A 2011, held in Düsseldorf Germany from 18 to 21 October 2011 - Hall 6 Stand D15.

Aveva, a leader in engineering design and information management solutions for the plant, power and marine industries, announced today that registration for the AVEVA World Summits 2011 is open. The Summits will be held in Copenhagen 17-19 October, Rio de Janeiro 25-27 October and Singapore 8–10 November.

International Firex 2011 takes place at the NEC Birmingham from 16-19 May.

The 25th and 26th of May will see a dedicated Aerial Firefighting event being held in the nationals capital - Washington D.C.Over the last month Texas has experienced the worst wildfires in the state's history. However the US Forest Service currently have the smallest number of Large Air Tankers under contract in decades, thus leaving the U.S. more vulnerable than ever to destructive megafires. With the contract fleet of Large Air Tankers reduced from 44 to 18 there is now a growing need for an immediate and thorough review of U.S. Aerial Firefighting capability.

Part of the (UK) University of Leed’s Fire & Explosion Engineering MSc programme, this standalone week course runs Monday 4th until Friday 8th April 2011.

This biennial event will be a chance for fire safety specialists, including installers, specifiers, consultants and those responsible for fire safety in their work premises, to discover the very latest innovative fire safety solutions.

London Fire Brigade is to host the UK Rescue Challenge, the most prestigious rescue competition in the firefighter calendar. Held at the award winning ExCel Centre in London’s Docklands in September, the two day event promises to be the biggest and best yet since it was first held in 2002. 

With nine separate conferences/seminars to chose from and, delegates rates starting from only £30.00, Life Connections 2011 has a great deal to offer bearing in mind the majority of conferences/seminars will provide CPD accreditation. 

The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has announced that it will hold a public meeting on January 20, 2011, in Institute, West Virginia, to present the final report and recommendations from its investigation of the August 28, 2008, chemical processing tank explosion at the Bayer CropScience facility in Institute that fatally injured two workers. 

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today announced the panel participants for its daylong public hearing entitled “Regulatory Approaches to Offshore Oil and Gas Safety” which will be held on December 15, 2010 in Washington, DC. The hearing is part of the CSB’s ongoing investigation into the April 20, 2010, fire and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon that killed 11 workers.

On September 30, 2010, E-Semble organized the 'International User Conference 2010'. In an old high-tech equipped factory in Delft, they received over 80 customers and partners from Holland and abroad for a spectacular and festive program.

Interschutz 2015, 2020 and 2025 will be held in Hannover, following a decision by the German Fire Service Association during this year's Interschutz.

Three firefighters – Johannes Wildner, Michael Wildner, MD, and Franz J. Wiedermann, MD – report on the first Austrian Technical Rescue Competition organised by the Technical Rescue Team of the Volunteer Fire Brigade of Zirl (“Freiwillige Feuerwehr” - FF Zirl), which took place in Zirl in Tyrol, on 26th June, 2010.

Another all action ‘Master Class’ event is being held in Charlotte, NC, USA on October 2^nd to 9^th this year, where we always receive the warmest of welcomes from Charlotte FD’s Chief Jon Hannan, and Kurt Walton, Charlotte City Manager – writes David Lane. 


This event brings international civil and military humanitarian and disaster response organisations together for cooperation, in order to understand and to highlight the latest technologies available to successfully conduct disaster response operations in Africa.

The seminar will take place on Wednesday August 25 (0900-1300) at Copenhagen Airport’s administration building’s auditorium.

Abstracts are now being accepted for poster and oral presentations at the Hazards XXII symposium. 'Hazards XXII: process safety and environmental protection' takes place on 11-14 April 2011 in Manchester, UK.

The meeting will cover "Ignition" and will be a half day event held on Wednesday the 28th of April 2010 in Aberdeen and on Thursday the 29th in London and via live webcast (registering for the webcast also enables subsequent access to a video recording of the event for two weeks).

“Unmasking the threat of HCN and CO poisoning – a firefighter’s perspective” is being held by Draeger on 8 June, 2010. Registration details can be found here.

Once every five years firefighters from all over the world gather in Germany to attend Interschutz, the world’s largest fire, rescue and emergency exhibition. This summer from the 7th to the 12th of June, Interschutz is to be held in Leipzig at the Leipzig Exhibition Centre, where over 1,139 exhibitors from 45 different countries will have the latest technology and services on show. Apart from the latest equipment and services, spectacular demonstrations will be held around five fully booked halls.   

Presented by ROC-NFPA, LLC, the 2010 NFPA Conference & Expo begins Monday, June 7 and concludes Thursday, June 10, at Mandalay Bay, 3950 Las Vegas Boulevard South. More than 5,000 fire and life safety professionals are expected to attend.

A February 2010 report by Visiongain valued sales in the global CBRN defence market at a staggering $7.9 billion for 2009 and analysts anticipate that this figure will only grow as the technology available to would-be terrorists expands.

Fire & Rescue, the UK’s official exhibition and conference for the fire and rescue industry, will take place at the Harrogate International Centre from 29 – 30 June 2010. Hosted in partnership with the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA), the Fire Protection Association (FPA) and the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE), Fire & Rescue 2010 will provide industry professionals with a focused opportunity to see and test the latest products and services and learn about recent industry developments free-of-charge.

The presentations from the Firefighting Foam Conference, held  at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton in June are now available.

As Chairman of Tangent Link, Rear Admiral Terry Laughran provides an in-depth report on the last Aerial Firefighting Conference held in Rome last November.

A record 55,800 visitors attended the A+A show in Dusseldorf recently, not bad in these trying times, especially when considering the organisers’ remarks that a growing attendance was from non-European countries. One in four visitors came from outside Germany, visiting some 1,500 exhibitors from 62 countries.

The Reebok Stadium, Bolton, United Kingdom, 
6th & 7th July 2009
Exhibitor and Sponsorship Opportunities

Manufactured by Dutch company Fischcon, the units also required the rolling out of 1,500 metre long eight-inch hoses – all of the eight from a trailer unit. No small task for the men and women of the Unified Industrial/Harbour Fire Department (Gezamelijke Brandweer/ UFD) Rotterdam.

The biannual show now is expected to attract over 25,000 visitors and 800 exhibitors from all risk management sectors you can imagine, meaning that there should be something for everyone.

With a bit of luck President Bush won’t be showing his face in Dubai as part of a well-intentioned Middle East Peace Tour, as happened last year. The last-minute declaration of a national holiday resulted in extensive road closures – and only the most intrepid made it on that day.

Firefighters from across the world have been keen to throw their support behind the Games, and have been busy preparing to excel in their chosen competitions during the 10-day event, which takes place between August 24 and September 2.

According to Rod Stafford, Project Executive for EU FloodCommand, one of the primary drivers at the outset of the EU FloodCommand project was the desire to conceive a turnkey solution (the Command Support System) with a permanent legacy, which would be left in place with the partner organisations.

 SEPTEMBER 2008
15 – 16 September
Fire Crime in Europe
Location: Marriott Gosforth Park Hotel, Newcastle, UK
Organiser: Northumberland Fire, Laboratoire Central de le Prefecture de Police (FR), Northumbria Police (UK)
Contact: Sarah Byrne
Tel: +44 (0)1904 611953
Email: arsonconference
@mosaicevents.co.uk

(continued)

Corporate manslaughter
Tim Hill, regulatory associate from Eversheds Crisis Management Service, talked about the implications of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 which came into force in the UK in April 2008.

A JOIFF-organised conference covered a diverse range of topics, ranging from the safety of biofuel storage to the fitness levels of firefighters. Dan Worth reported from Harlow, Essex.

The IAFC, tells F&R that it has put together an exciting program of international sessions and speakers, in conjunction with the Institution of Fire Engineers.

The IAFC, tells F&R that it has put together an exciting program of international sessions and speakers, in conjunction with the Institution of Fire Engineers.

Dave Robinson joined the fire service 34 years ago when he was just 16, and he is now an Area Manager for Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service. He has been involved with the Games for three years since the time of the initial bid, and has now been working full-time on the project for the last 18 months.

Held in the hub of the oil industry, Houston Texas,  the third annual Industrial Fire Safety and Security Expo (5-8 February) is quickly turning into the main US industrial emergency response event, writes Ann-Marie Knegt.

Sicur ‘08 took place in the impressive Feria de Madrid in Spain,  26-29 February.
IFJ couldn’t resist visiting the Spanish capital to check out the latest developments in a show that is beginning to feel truly international.

The Middle East’s largest security and safety event attracted over 800 exhibitors from 53 countries. Visitors had to battle both torrential rain and city-wide road closures to attend, writes Jose Sanchez.

Sicur ‘08 took place in Madrid, Spain, 26-29 of February. F&R couldn’t resist visiting the Spanish capital to check out the latest developments in a show that is beginning to feel international.

This year’s conference will feature more than 150 education sessions within 11 conference tracks. New for 2007 will be a special focus on fire protection engineering sponsored by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE). There is also a robust element of industrial fire safety and security.

Fire & Rescue 2007 will be co-located with the fire prevention and protection event, International Fire Expo which runs alongside Safety & Health Expo, The Facilities Show and the world’s leading annual security event, IFSEC.

So what if a fire actually breaks out in a bulkhead or compartment and the fire team leaders decides on a ‘burnout’? How do you know that it is safe to enter?

F&R looks at the pick of the products from INTERSEC, a highly successful three-day fire & security show at Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE.