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.

The sword of Damocles of exploding cylinders hovers permanently over the heads of owners of  filling stations.

The moving components within this series of compressors have been electronically balanced to run smoothly, and are amongst the most silent in the market. MSA says this protects operators from noise and vibration while keeping in line with noise control laws within Health and Safety at Work Act.

The latest in electronic monitoring for SCBA has been unveiled by Draeger – the Bodyguard 7000.

Who said firefighting training is tough? Shropshire firefighters are doing their BA and guideline exercises at a Qasar centre.

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.

BA equipment is not cheap but it could save your life, so getting the right kit is vital. Regina Jenatschke, Product Manager Safety Products, MSA, gives her view on factors to consider when choosing your SCBA.

Groupe Leader has unveiled a new concept of PPV fans based on its Easy Pow'Air Technology, which provides a powerful and concentrated airflow.

The SweFan 21” was launched in 2005 as a result of demand for a high quality fan with a high capacity but in a smaller size than the larger fan SweFan 24”.
Developed in close co-operation with the Swedish Fire and Rescue Service, the objective was to design and develop a highly efficient and low weight tool that could be relied upon.

Two experts, one from the UK and one from the US, answer this tricky question. Gary West (WMA BAHons) is with Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (UK), and Chief Jim Powell is based at The University of Nevada, Reno Fire Science Academy (USA).

Winch specialist Rotzler has launched a new website to make choosing the right solution for hoisting and pulling heavy loads easier than ever.

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.

Nine people are killed and nearly ten times as many are seriously injured every day on UK roads. Fire services can further help to save lives and support people affected by road crashes by taking part in National Road Safety Week (10-16 November 2008), coordinated by road charity Brake.

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.

Heather Wright, co-founding director of Leading Light, believes that to be a fit and able firefighter requires looking after the mental as well as the physical aspects of the body. Ensuring you have the right mindset is another key way to ensuring you are operating at the best of your abilities.

Captain Larry Collins has been working for the LA County Fire Department for 28 years, the last 16 years assigned to the department’s central Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) unit. In this time he has come to understand that his staff have to be fit enough to cope with the use of heavy machinery and dealing with potentially traumatic roadside incidents. As such the importance of finding time for exercise is something that the company takes very seriously, “On the urban search and rescue company, our schedule is packed full of training, emergency responses to technical rescues and multi-alarm fires, meetings, public displays of rescue apparatus, and emergency simulation exercises.  So our normal routine for exercising is often interrupted. 

A Scottish firefighter that had been fired for being overweight was reinstated after meetings between unions and management.

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.

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service has been winning awards for its approach to fitness for a number of years, and today it is one of the leading brigades with regards to health and fitness in the UK.

It does exactly what its name says – the Multicar is a  multipurpose vehicle that can go virtually anywhere.

Bremach’s Job Xtreme rapid response off road vehicles are well known in southern Europe, and their reputation is beginning to spread elsewhere too.

Rather than taking second hand vehicles to a traditional auction house, brigades can now manage the appliance-selling process themselves. According to Richard Berry, marketing manager for munie.co.uk, the UK's first online municipal vehicle selling website, there are several benefits to be gained by selling fire apparatus online.

Spare parts for a MAN vehicle can be had in less than 48 hours for most parts of Europe. And with Euro4 emissions compliance, MAN has its environmental credentials in order too, reports Ann-Marie Knegt.

Mercedes-Benz has developed a double-seal system that increases the all-wheel drive Unimog's ability to tackle deep floods and fords.

GSF Slides, a UK-based drawer slide company, has announced that its 20.0007 slide (yes, this is its name) is four times stronger than the standard type of heavy duty 500 lb (227Kg) class slide, typically specified for many US fire truck drawer trays.
The company conducted several tests to simulate standard operating conditions of slides mounted on fire apparatus.

The days when a brigade only needed a fire appliance are long gone – the modern fire service is expected to attend any time anywhere, so having the right set of wheels is vital. Ann-Marie Knegt brings you some of the best utility vehicles on the market.

I am a West Coaster, South Island, New Zealand. Educated at Barrytown young gents academy (Barrytown school) and later at Waimea college, Nelson. After finishing school I started a plumbers apprenticeship, which took six years to complete. Of course by that time I was a fireman, and the apprenticeship was finished on my days off. During one of the early apprenticeship block courses, I wandered down to a local fire station in Wellington and I was asked would I like to join. That is where my fire service career started, 44 years ago.

This month’s Top Fire Instructor of the World is Gary Luff, of Woolston Training Centre in New Zealand Fire Service. Gary was nominated by a colleague who wishes to be anonymous. In her words, “He is a modest man with great humour. He cares about what the Fire Service is meant to stand for. Integrity, discipline, credibility and honesty are values that are all part of his course delivery.  He cares about the people and has huge operational  experience. He has to be the very best instructor, and Transalpine are very lucky to have him.”

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.

When MFC Survival was asked to design a craft to be towed behind a Jet ski to recover survivors from a plane forced to land at sea within 1,000 metres from the end of the runway, using a rescue crew of only four persons, the team came up with a solution, the RS15 Rescue Sled, which can be towed singly or in tandem behind a jet ski.

A report by Sir Michael Pitt has recommended that fire and rescue services should have a statutory duty for dealing with flood events.

After responding to a number of flood events up and down the UK in the last two years – including 2007’s near-disastrous summer floods – Paul Gibson is adamant about one thing.

The most commonly seen risk-taking activity is untrained responders moving around in what they perceive to be low-risk water. This is often because they are simply not aware of the hazards lurking beneath the surface and in the water itself.

Recent developments in post incident data capture as part of the CLG IRS  project (Department of Communities and Local Government Incident Recording System) have resulted in significant additional data capture facilities for most FRSs. However, is the information being captured meeting the needs of each and every FRS?

During his career in emergency response
Michael D Brown – former FEMA director and former Under Secretary of Homeland Security – faced over 160 disasters in the US including high impact events such as Hurricane Katrina and 9/11. For some people Brown’s name might remain controversial but the lessons he can teach us cannot be ignored.

Brown talks exclusively to Ann-Marie Knegt.

During his career in emergency response
Michael D Brown – former FEMA director and former Under Secretary of Homeland Security – faced over 160 disasters in the US including high impact events such as Hurricane Katrina and 9/11. For some people Brown’s name might remain controversial but the lessons he can teach us cannot be ignored.
Brown talks exclusively to Ann-Marie Knegt.

Fire brigades are increasingly installing reliable tertiary systems to issue turn out messages and other vital communications.

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.

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.

 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)

In some parts of the world fires are the least of a firefighter’s worries! A firefighter in South Africa writes:

The next generation of flash protective hazmat suits has been unveiled by Trelleborg Engineered Systems.

One of the largest municipal fire service SCBA orders ever placed in the US has been won by Sperian Respiratory Protection and its distributor LN Curtis & Sons.

Stuttgart Airport Fire Department have just ordered two Mega-Voice public address systems with UHF wireless technology.

The new battery powered ACC Power Ascender could be set to revolutionise rope rescue operations.

Four new fire pumps have been introduced by Armstrong.

On average there are 40 people applying for every firefighter position at any given UK Fire brigades The UK’s national firefighter selection process has been written with those aspiring firefighters in mind who want to step ahead of the game and prepare themselves better for the new UK firefighter selection process.

PageOne, the UK’s leading messaging technology company, has launched a free-of-charge, dedicated priority paging channel for blue-light emergency applications.

Fire safety products and services company Fireco is reducing the price on all its fire safety products by 3.5 per cent throughout the month of August.

A UK fire service is targeting its fastest growing migrant population to ensure it has the same level of fire safety knowledge and access to prevention advice.

Firefighters called to a barn fire in Pine Plains, New York, found themselves having to dodge bullets as a result of stored ammunition. For 20 minutes the firefighters had to sit tight and watch helplessly as the barn burned.

Unmanned drone
An unmanned drone is the latest tool in California’s arsenal against wild land fires.
The drone developed by NASA scientists has already proved useful. After spotting a flare-up near the town of Paradise, evacuation orders were issued for 10,000 people. Other aircraft were prevented from patrolling the area by the smoke and heat.

Chief Fire Officer of Kent Fire and Rescue Charlie Hendry has been appointed President of the Chief Fire Officers’ Association.

Hampshire’s vehicle extrication and trauma care team – which scooped the World Championships at the World Rescue Challenge held in Barcelona last October – has once again proven itself by clinching the most prestigious title at the 2008 World Extrication Challenge (World Rescue Wales) – World Champions.

Welcome to the new look Fire & Rescue magazine! Here you will find a sharper, updated layout and a cornucopia of new features and regular articles that we hope you’ll enjoy. New regulars include practical “how to” sections (here on how to move safely in shallow flood water); “questions and answers” (eg would you use PPV in a backdraught situation?); and “photo corner”, where you can see your great photos in print.