BAA, the largest civil aviation firefighting service in the UK, is breaking new ground by becoming an accredited NVQ training provider for its management-level firefighters – and that’s just for starters. Industrial Fire Journal speaks with Chief Gary Moorshead about the challenges facing aviation emergency responders.   

Dennis Lim, Senior Airport Emergency Officer, writes on Changi Airport Group’s ARFF training approach.   

Industrial Fire Journal visits the UK’s Royal Air Force Fire Service at the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre (DFTDC) Manston in Kent, to find out first hand what it takes to be a firefighter in some of the most challenging environments in the world – including battlefields.   

Aircraft rescue and firefighting requires the best foam available: AFFF.  Tom Cortina, Executive Director, Fire Fighting Foam Coalition, explains why. 

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.   

What do the latest images from the Hubble Space Telescope have in common with the sensors inside your gas detectors? Gordon Haddow, Chartered Engineer and Technical Specialist in the Gas Sensors and Thermal Imaging Cameras Engineering Group at e2v, surveys the current scene in industrial gas sensing and then looks at where new technologies are taking us. 

Firefighter fatalities are going down – that is the good news. The bad news is that every year firefighters across the world are still losing their lives in ways that could be avoided. It will come as no surprise within this professional community that very few lives are lost to burns – a testament indeed not just to the high level of training that is given but also to the effectiveness of the PPE that is worn by firefighters. What is perhaps less well understood is that a large proportion of fatalities, nearly 50% in the most recent figures to come out of the US, are caused by heart attacks brought on by over exertion and, significantly, by heat stress. It is a sobering figure that should remind everyone that PPE is not simply about protecting firefighters from the immediate threat of fire. Modern designs of garments and fabrics offer protection for people who have to work in what has to be the most unfriendly environment. Keeping body temperatures at a safe level for as long as possible is the aim and each step forward in improving the performance of PPE helps to ensure that fatalities continue on their downward path. It is also worth pointing out that these positive steps forward are to some extent counterbalanced by the modern trends in building construction. While the goal of reducing global warming is something in which we all share, the increased use of insulating techniques and materials is undoubtedly resulting in more hazardous and dangerous firefighting conditions. Two things are clear. Today’s basic firefighting training has to focus more than ever on a practical, commonsense approach that alerts firefighters to potential problems during an incident. Secondly, the correct level of protection is more important than ever as firefighters face both old and new hazards. Readers that take advantage of the fire protective expertise of the organisations feature in this supplement will go a long way in ensuring their firefighters suffer no needless injuries or worse.   

John Frame has created and delivered LNG Fire Response training courses and also produced the original book LNG Fire Protection & Emergency Response, available from the IChemE. In this article, he focuses on LNG incident hazards and likely scenarios with a view to assisting emergency responders who may be called upon to react to incidents at LNG facilities.  

The good news is that both Industrial Fire Journal and its sister publication Fire & Rescue are going fully digital in the next few weeks (in addition to our print versions, worry not), so look out on our website (www.hemmingfire.com) for our new e-books. “What are you talking about? You’ve been publishing your magazines in pdf format for a long time.” Yes we have, but we felt that having an e-book would heighten the reading experience as well as increase the ease of accessibility to our world-renowned titles. Oh, and have we mentioned that we are also sending out an e-newsletter on a regular basis? If you haven’t already subscribed to this free service, visit www.hemmingfire.com and sign up, it’s quick and easy. The e-newsletter will alert you to when our new titles have been published, so you can enjoy the content even before the magazines hit desks. And of course the e-newsletters contain plenty of additional news and features that will keep you abreast of the latest firerelated developments. Jose Maria Sanchez de Muniain, Editor.