These are all genuine -and bizarre- emergency services-related incidents occurring in the world news. they are reprinted verbatim, and INDUSTRIAL FIRE JOURNAL accepts no responsibility for their content.

The JOIFF Executive is delighted to support JOIFF Secretary Kevin westwood, who, over a 10-day period starthing on 20th October, 2005, will take part in the Firefighter's Trek Challenge 2005, across the contrasting landscapes of the south-east corner of Australia.

IWhat's new at A&A?
Carrington Career and Workwear will be showing Frants, a new FR, anti-static shirting fabric, for the first time at A+A Exhibition in Germany.  With a superb appearance and handle and weighing only 140 gsm, Frants is aimed at workers in the oil and petrochemical industries in hot climates.

UK-based Packsome Clothing, an ISO9001:2000 certified company, has launched a new range of garments under the brand name Flame-Pro.

Finding the best protective clothing solution for workers can be daunting. Get it right, and workers will be comfortable, productive, and most importantly, safe. Getting it wrong could lead – at best – to a demotivated workforce, or at worst, to the law courts – or loss of life.

There are two salutary lessons about extinguishers to be learned from events in 2005, explains Vince Grenadine.

Recovering an aircraft is not an exercise for the weak-hearted. It is a specialised job that requires skill and training. “Every recovery is different and therefore requires a different approach,” explains Jan Pieter Maarschalk. “The type of aircraft and its position all influence the way the recovery should be handled. Weather and ground conditions also have a major impact. These factors influence the grip the tools have and how easy - or not - it is to position them correctly.”

2004 was a crucial year for Vienna-Schwechat Airport fire department; it needed to replace all its turnout gear with the very best quality equipment  offering safety, comfort, effectiveness and durability - and so the service began a programme of testing and evaluation.

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.

Mike Willson explains,  “Natural gas is the cleanest burning of all fossil fuels, and global demand for it as an energy source is growing rapidly. The tests were organised to re-evaluate current fire protection equipment and techniques in realistic fire scenarios”.

It’s fascinating to talk about computers and fire safety engineering - but how do they actually interact? Fire origin, fire development, fire spread and fire decay in enclosed fires depend on several factors such as the room geometry, type and quantity of materials, number and size of openings, type of firefighting operations etc.

Serious petrochemical incidents are a rare occurrence; even those brigades who provide cover for fire and emergencies within the petrochemical industry have a limited opportunity to build up experience of such incidents.

From the fire detection point of view, a high risk environment such as an oil or gas plant provides a number of different challenges.  Such facilities are generally large and spread out, with both internal and external areas requiring fire detection and protection.

Semco Maritime’s Pelle Madspjerg told IFJ: “The risk of fire in wind turbines has always been considered very small but now there have been several cases fire protection has become more relevant through increased demands from authorities, insurance companies and owners, “ he comments.

In July 2002 AQUASYS from Linz, Austria, developed Europe’s first Tunnel Fire Suppression System  based on watermist technology.  A relatively new, efficient firefighting technology involving minimal water use, water mist increases the surface area of water more than 1000 times, giving an enormous cooling effect and producing a highly-efficient oxygen depletion effect.

With the deregulation of the airline industry, outsourcing of aircraft maintenance and an aging aircraft fleet, there are very real concerns about international aviation safety, especially in less developed countries.