President Biden’s budget recommendations have included increases to fire service programs like the Assistance to Firefighters Grant and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants.
$370 million each for the AFG and SAFER grant programs
$60.4 million for the U.S. Fire Administration, including more than $2 million for major construction upgrades to the National Fire Academy.
$711.2 million for the Urban Areas Security Initiative.
$616.2 million for the State Homeland Security Grant Program.
$80 million for a cyber grant program to help public and private entities protect themselves from cyberattacks.
$355 million for the Emergency Management Performance Grants.
President Biden’s budget also recommends increases to address the nation’s growing wildland fire problem. The budget includes nearly $4.9 billion for the U.S. Forest Service’s wildland fire management programmes, including more than $2.2 billion for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wildland Fire Operations Reserve Fund and more than $1 billion for USDA wildland fire suppression operations. The budget also proposes small cuts to the State Fire Assistance and Volunteer Fire Assistance programs, which are re-named National Fire Capacity and Rural Fire Capacity, respectively. The FY 2023 budget would expand the federal wildland firefighting workforce; and ensure that federal wages are no less than $15 per hour. The budget also recommends greater technological support for wildland fire detection and response, including FireGuard satellite imagery. Here are the specific proposals:
$2.7 billion for the USDA Wildland Fire Management.
$1.2 billion for the U.S. Department of Interior’s (DOI) Wildland Fire Management.
$19 million for Volunteer Fire Assistance/Rural Fire Capacity.
$73.4 million for State Fire Assistance/National Fire Capacity.
$2.2 billion for the USDA Wildland Fire Operations Reserve Fund.
$340 million for the DOI Wildland Fire Operations Reserve Fund.
The budget also would include increases to the Pipeline Safety ($187.8 million) and Hazardous Materials Safety ($74.2 million) programs at the U.S. Department of Transportation. The President’s FY 2023 budget also recommends $9.9 billion to build capacity and public health infrastructure at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local public health departments. It also recommends $40 billion for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response for advanced development and manufacturing of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics for high priority threats.
Congress must now begin deliberations on a budget resolution for FY 2023 and start work on the individual appropriations bills. The IAFC will be working to ensure adequate funding for these fire service programs.
Launched in 2016, The Fire Safety Event is one of the UK’s important industry events which has been on the radar of several professionals and manufacturers over the last six years. During its time, it has become the UK’s largest fire and safety show, with more than 100 leading manufacturers and service providers showcasing the most cutting-edge fire safety products and solutions in active and passive fire protection.
The Fire Safety Event – hosted at the NEC Birmingham from April 5 to April 7, 202 – is ideally located to create a truly national event for professional fire safety installers, maintainers, consultants, specifiers, and end users of both active and passive fire protection solutions from all corners of the UK.
The Fire Safety Event is run alongside The Security Event, The Workplace Event, and The Health & Safety Event. Collectively known as ‘The Safety & Security Series’ that is set to welcome more than 700 exhibiting businesses and visitor numbers surpassing 28,000 attendees.
The Fire Safety Events also enjoys the support of key industry associations that include Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP), National Association of Healthcare Fire Officers, Fire Protection Association, Smoke Control Association, Institute of Fire Safety Managers, Institution of Fire Engineers, BAFE, NSI and ECA/FSA among others. These bodies will be on hand offering expert advice and guidance to visitors.
The show’s partnership with the ASFP will see a newly created area featuring a collection of ASFP members and specialist suppliers. In the wake of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, passive fire protection has never been more prevalent.
In terms of knowledge sharing and learning, The Fire Safety Event is set to offer a plethora of industry-relevant content that is a must attend. There are three industry-led theatres offering more than 45 hours of free-to-attend CPD content. Meanwhile, the dedicated The Fire Safety Theatre will cover the challenging and critical topics surrounding fire safety management. These sessions are expected to discuss updates from the fire safety bill and the formation of the National Construction Products Regulator, protecting large premises from large fire, the diversity of ASD functionality and applications and the hugely popular mock trial recreating a real-life trial under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and much more.
Installation of Hochiki life safety devices aims to reduce false alarms and help make the 75km long Dubai Metro transport network safe for passengers.
Dubai is home to more than 3.3 million people, and the world’s longest driverless single metro line – the Dubai metro. It’s designed to take up to 13,380 passengers an hour on its green line, and 11,675 passengers an hour on its red line at peak time, the Dubai Metro is almost 75 km long and operated by RTA and Serco.
Under contract to the Dubai Roads & Transport Authority, the network is run by a team of 2,000 staff with 57 trains running at peak times.
Dafoos Fire and Security were commissioned to run the fire detection installation project on the entirety of the Dubai Metro. Trusted as a market leader in the Fire Protection Industry in the United Arab Emirates, Dafoos specialises in providing end-to-end design, erection and commissioning and maintenance of both active and passive Fire Protection Systems, and partners with some of the best OEMs in the world, including Hochiki.
With tens of thousands of passengers using the network daily and the system itself operating in a hot and sandy environment, any false alarm could potentially cause mass disruption and cost the operator financially, especially during peak service times. The company’s Marketing Director, Vijay Chandran said about the project: “It was especially important as part of the life safety system design process to negate false alarms. Hochiki fire detection devices were chosen as they have a reputation for being the best in the market for their quality and their reliability when it comes to false alarm reduction. Our selection of Hochiki was confidently backed by the operators RTA and Serco”
The Hochiki sensors were to be installed inside the metro and tram coaches. This is considered an extremely sensitive area with thousands of people transiting at a time, thus posing a higher chance of triggering false alarms. Any fire alarm trigger was programmed to send a command to the central station, and this would halt the operations within the entire network until the problem is rectified.
The Hochiki technical team also worked closely with the Dafoos team to negate the challenge of frequent dust build up in the chambers. It was advised that periodic maintenance of the sensors was moved from every 6 months to every two instead, which is customary practice for commercial buildings in the region.
“Hochiki Smoke Sensors have been installed across the entire Dubai Metro and tram coaches; they have been functioning with minimal issues for the last three years. Periodic maintenance has been conducted in conjunction with Hochiki’s technical team recommendation. Our team would not hesitate to recommend Hochikilife safety systems and products to be used in other projects within the transport industry”.
Derrick Hall – Director of Sales – Kentec Electronics, sheds light on the company’s extensive development of its fire extinguishing panels, and the rise of wireless systems.
The Sigma ZXT extinguishant panel was unveiled in 2019 and followed some interesting work behind the scenes thereafter. Shed some light on the launch path of the product. The ZXT was built to be a premium product for a wide range of complex and large-scale applications, with extended features in comparison to our market-leading and internationally renowned Sigma XT. With the ZXT we have an audit trail of all the events on the panel that can be downloaded, and maintained, by the end user. We collected extensive customer feedback which signaled that the market needed a panel that could automatically switch from primary extinguishing cylinders to a secondary supply.
In addition, end users also wanted clearer visibility of the events, which is why we introduced a dynamic event LCD display. The display is colour coded to the different operations taking place at that moment in time.
Beta testing of the ZXT was conducted with a handful of trusted installers across the world, who also put the product into their own training facilities. We wanted to make sure we got it right, as with an advanced extinguishing system such as this you are likely to be protecting high-value, even critical assets. Also important is that the extinguishing agent can be costly, meaning facilities managers and landlords require a system that minimises unnecessary activations.
The beta testing process meant that when the ZXT was fully launched to the market, all our customers were assured the panel was robust and worked to protect people and critical assets.
Derrick Hall.
You sell a widely popular XT model, what happens to that fire extinguishing panel with the ZXT’s launch?
The ZXT is a premium product, that has not replaced the XT fire extinguishing panel – they are very much complementary products. The XT has been in the market for approximately 15 years, with several thousand sales annually. The ZXT is built using the ultra-reliable and highly robust technology of the XT, useful as it well known by installers and end-users globally, but with extended features for added scale and capabilities.
Tell us about Kentec’s research and development department.
Kentec has more than 40 in-house engineers working in research and development (R&D) of new materials and life safety products and systems. Our team is based in Kent, in the southeast of the UK. The team benefits from being closely connected to Kentec’s manufacturing factory, also based in Kent. For nearly four decades, we have specialised in life safety systems, with a long-standing team dedicated to creating systems that deliver the utmost in safety, based on technological expertise, customer feedback and inputs we collect globally.
We spend 10-15% of our revenues annually on R&D, which is a high percentage of spend and relatively unusual for manufacturers. Our products and systems focus on the two main markets for certification and compliance for standards: the EN standard for Europe; and UL standards for the American and Middle Eastern markets. Our business is divided 50-50 across both sets of products.
Globally, we have worked hard to achieve a vast suite of global standards, especially in the countries where they use a combination of EN and UL standards. For us it is important that our customers have the flexibility to change between those standards without having to learn a completely new technology, which is why our products are based on the same technology, essentially using one set of technology for both EN and UL. This means the installation engineers can work between the two seamlessly – that is different to our competitors.
What new markets have your products been used in?
The world has become much more IT connected, meaning the global importance on data storage has never been greater and will only increase as more and more systems become cloud-based. The way we use and store energy is also changing. And it is in these applications, as well where public safety is paramount such as in hospitals and transport hubs, that the ZXT is coming into its own. For instance, energy storage solutions that are linked to clean energy generators, facilities such as these have no room for fire safety error.
As such, there is a boom towards, not just protecting data centres, but also critical energy storage facilities. These energy storage units can range from the size of a shipping container to a large building, and it fills us with great pride that our panels are protecting such key infrastructure.
What has Kentec’s financial year performance been like for 2021?
Kentec had a record-breaking financial year in 2021. Which was mainly due to the expansion into new global territories and the launch of new products and systems. A big driver for that growth came in the form of a new wireless fire detection system called K-Mesh, which was launched in April 2021.
The installation of wired fire alarm systems can be a lengthy process. It inherently requires installing cables, which is sometimes problematic depending on the age and fabric of a building, and can involve complex planning, commissioning, and installation. With a wireless detection system, however, cabling challenges are of course removed. Using wireless technology, we are now able to reduce installation and set-up time to a matter of hours, which previously took several weeks – and often much longer when considering planning and commissioning.
The brilliance of the K-Mesh system is its ability to communicate with several translators and expanders, and its self-healing and configuring Mesh technology also means it is quicker in its response time when compared to many other wireless systems. It delivers optimum levels of reliability and performance, and importantly is easy to use, install and commission – and ultimately provides robust assurance that fire incidents are detected and communicated immediately.
Historically, installers have been concerned about reliability and redundancy of wireless systems, but this has changed dramatically over the last decade and will soon be a concern of the past.
The K-Mesh system allows you to have up to nine redundant paths going back to a panel, which overcomes any signal path failure issues. In terms of application, wireless was a natural solution for Chester Cathedral, where K-Mesh was recently installed by the Charles Thomas Heritage Fire Protection. It’s a building that dates back more than 1000 years and where thick walls and lead-lined roofs posed unique installation and connectivity challenges. It is the inherent robustness of K-Mesh’s technology that made it the best system choice for the project.
What trends are you witnessing in the domestic and residential housing sectors?
There have been major changes regarding the installation of fire systems in residential buildings following the Grenfell tragedy. Previously, not all residential developments required a fire alarm or evacuation alert system.
However, the BS 8629 standard introduced in 2020, which is a code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of evacuation alert systems for use by the fire and rescue services when attending incidents in buildings containing flats. It means buildings need to have an evacuation system installed, and the much discussed ‘waking watch’ round-the-clock patrols are not required if a fire detection system is also installed.
An important factor to consider during evacuation is people living with disabilities. It’s one thing to evacuate able-bodied residents from a building, who find it easy to respond to an alarm, and evacuate the building accordingly. However, it is vital that solutions are provided to residents who are blind or partially sighted, hard of hearing or suffer neurological impairments.
The K-Mesh system has also been able to bring innovation in this area. In addition to sounding an alarm, K-Mesh is also programmable to give a clear spoken message and to integrate with emergency lighting systems to provide visual prompts for evacuation. Industry research has found that, in fact, all people are more likely to respond quickly to the spoken message, so this functionality is proving impactful across a number of K-Mesh installations. Ultimately, we believe the K-Mesh system has been designed with the utmost in safety at its core and aligned to Kentec’s guiding philosophy of making the lives of its installers and end users easier and ultimately – safer.
The Department of Emergency Services in the Westchester County has released a fire safety video following multiple major fires in the county.
In the wake of major fires that caused loss of life or significant property damage, Westchester County Executive George Latimer and the Department of Emergency Services are providing residents with practical tips on how to prevent fires and increase the odds of survival if one occurs.
Latimer said: “In recent months, our County has experienced several major fires, including several that resulted in loss of life. We extend our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones. The staff at the Department of Emergency Services has prepared an important fire prevention and safety video. It provides practical, valuable information on how you can prevent fires and how to protect yourself and your family should one occur.”
In a newly released safety video, personnel in the DES Fire Services Division focused on three critical safety messages:
Get Out, Stay Out, Call 911 immediately. Do not re-enter a burning home or apartment once you are out safely. Fires can double in size every 30 seconds. Stay outside and let responding firefighters know if any persons or pets are still inside. Report any fire, no matter its size, immediately so help is on the way promptly.
Close the Door. The simple act of closing the door to a room where a fire has broken out can save lives and significantly reduce property damage. A closed door limits the supply of oxygen to a fire and prevents the rapid spread of deadly smoke and flames. If you must flee from a fire, close the door as you leave. In apartment buildings or office settings, this includes closing the door from a hallway to a stairwell.
Handle Lithium-Ion Batteries Properly. Lithium-Ion batteries that power cellphones, laptops and other devices are an increasing source of fire in Westchester and elsewhere. When these batteries are not charged, stored or handled properly, they can overheat and cause a fire. Do not leave lithium ion-powered devices on fabric surfaces such as pillows, beds or couches.
John August Denhardt, vice president of engineering and technical services for the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA), has been announced as the newest trustee of the Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF or Foundation), the research affiliate of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Denhardt’s three-year term will run through 2024.
Denhardt is a Professional Engineer (P.E.) registered in the District of Columbia as well as the states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In his current role at AFSA, he is responsible for strengthening engineering and technical approaches for the benefit of members, the industry, and operational priorities.
Denhardt is a NICET Level III in Water-Based Systems Layout and in Inspection and Testing of Water-Based Systems; an NFPA Certified Water-Based Systems Professional (CWBSP); and a member of the NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems Sprinkler Discharge Committee. He is also a fellow in the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE); sits on the University of Maryland Department of Fire Protection Engineering Board of Visitors; and is a member of the SFPE Board of Directors. A native of Maryland, Denhardt holds a Bachelor of Science degree in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland in College Park.
The FPRF is a separate, independent, nongovernmental organization with its own officers and nine trustees. The Foundation’s team of five effectively plans and manages more than four dozen projects at any given time and communicates findings in support of the NFPA mission. Over the last 40 years, FPRF research reports have been downloaded by safety-focused practitioners in more than 160 countries. Projects cover everything from fire suppression systems, emergency response, public policy, public education, detection and signaling, industrial hazards, wildfire, electrical, and building safety.
The firm discusses its integrated management solution for building safety
For several years Inim Electronics has been a leading company in the production of fire detection and alarm systems, with the PREVIDIA system it is focusing market attention on an integrated system with a 360 degree approach to the management of building safety.
A security management system can only truly be effective when it is capable of integrating all the technologies that orbit around a building and only then when it is capable of offering the adequate means for management, operation and maintenance such to confer due credibility to the system.
In the light of the above, the PREVIDIA system is now enhanced with a new model: PREVIDIA ULTRAVOX. This new model adds to the already consolidated technologies such as fire detection and alarm signalling, gas detection, management of emergency lighting, management of gas extinguishing systems, video verification and video detection via IP cameras, visualization of events on graphic maps, as well as management of voice evacuation (EVAC) and Public Addressing systems.
Thanks to its modular structure, this new control panel is capable of housing new function modules such as audio matrices for audio processing, 250W amplifiers for managing speaker lines, allowing you to integrate a sophisticated audio entertainment system (equipped with an APP for the management of playlists, volume, voice announcements, etc.) which in the event of an emergency takes on the functions of an EVAC system that, as the result of the deep integration with other emergency-management technologies, guarantees orderly, controlled and safe building evacuation.
Each model of the PREVIDIA range can be connected to the Inim Fire Cloud, a free service thanks to which it is possible to remotely supervise (also by virtue of interactive graphic maps and real-time images) the system, stretching from a synoptic view of the entire park of installed control panels to the real-time value read by each single detector. The Cloud also automatically manages the installation register by archiving (with the possibility of adding notes) every single event, all maintenance operations and all activities related to safety management.
In conclusion, the InimFire application takes full advantage of the cloud to any Android or iOS smartphone, constituting a revolutionary means for instant supervision, guided maintenance, real-time system diagnostics and management of the installation register as well as professional maintenance, in such a way as to make the system efficient, effective and credible.
All components and accessories of the PREVIDIA series comply with all applicable standards and have obtained the necessary certifications from the most highly accredited certification bodies in the sector and can boast various quality brands such as LPCB, IMQ, UL-EU, BOSEC and several others.
Today more than ever, thanks to the PREVIDIA system, Inim Electronics can say that the circle closes, security at 360 degrees is covered, building control is complete and safety is guaranteed.
India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has mandated that all passenger and school buses will have to be equipped with a fire alarm system and fire protection system. The ministry has issued a notification that says the fire alarm system and fire protection system have been made mandatory for long-distance passenger transport and school buses through an amendment in the Automotive Industry Standard (AIS), across the entire country.
These buses will be equipped with a water mist-based active fire protection system and a standalone fire alarm system. This will be applied to the buses that have been designed to manage the temperature in the passenger compartment within 50 degrees Celsius. Fire detection, alarm, and suppression systems were so far meant for fires originating from the engine compartment, the Hindustan Times reported.
But the notification said that fire incidents indicate injuries to passengers mainly happen due to heat and smoke in the passenger compartment. The notification also said that these injuries can be prevented if the heat and smoke in the passenger compartment are controlled by providing an additional evacuation time to occupants by thermal management during fire incidents.
The ministry said that this amendment to the automotive industry standard has been undertaken in consultation with stakeholders and experts from the Centre for Fire Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), a DRDO arm, working in fire risk assessment, fire suppression technologies, modelling, and simulation etc.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is opposing plans for firefighters to respond to medical emergencies following their work providing life-saving treatment during the pandemic. Avon Fire Authority (AFA) will be asked to approve a plan including potentially expanding its crews’ medical roles.
The Fire Brigade Union (FBU) said members had not been consulted on the “half-baked scheme”. The three-year service plan was proposed on March 30, IFSEC Global reported.
AFRS plans to grow its current partnership with South Western Ambulance Service (SWAST) where fire crews can reach someone suffering a suspected cardiac arrest before paramedics and administer potentially life-saving treatment.
But FBU Secretary, Amanda Mills, said firefighters would need proper training, provision of equipment, risk assessment procedures and sufficient government funding in place to ensure “costs of the additional work is not a burden on fire and rescue services which will detract from the ability to provide core services”.
She argued the increased responsibility raised the “other important issue of payment”, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
According to Amanda, a major problem identified in previous trials was that some ambulance services “gamed the system” by redirecting paramedics to other calls knowing fire crews were on hand for cardiac arrests and that this was to the detriment of patients and the fire services.
She said: “Half-baked schemes that purposely don’t involve the FBU will inevitably result in worse patient care, not better.”
In response to these concerns, AFRS said staff would receive sufficient training to be able to use specialist equipment such as defibrillators.
“We are committed to implementing new ways of working to assist with medical emergencies to support our ambulance colleagues to keep the public as safe as possible, and to save and preserve endangered life in the widest sense.”
Several public bodies have increased focus and focused on wildfires as Arizona beckons warmer months. Many public agencies, led by the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, are stressing fire prevention in the wildlands with the launch of Southwest Wildfire Awareness Week.
The campaign, which began earlier this week, will witness the forestry department oversees fire management of 22 million acres of state trust land and private property in unincorporated areas. Last year, 71% of the fires in the state were caused by people. More than 1,700 wildfires seared 524,428 acres.
Before wildfire season begins in earnest, wildfire managers recommend residents in wilderness areas clear their property of debris and keep rooftops free of anything that could act as fuel to flames.
“We’re already seeing activity in southern Arizona,” agency spokeswoman Tiffany Davila told KTAR News 92.3 FM, referring to the 4,000-acre Presumido Peak Fire near the border with Mexico.
“We don’t want people to think we’re out of the woods after last years monsoon. Don’t wait to create defensible space now.”
The department also advises signing up for emergency alerts at the Arizona Emergency Information Network and having a go bag stocked with essentials, including prescription medications, snacks, water, money and credit cards.
The forestry agency will meet with Gov. Doug Ducey at the state Capitol on Thursday to present a wildland fire outlook.
The Bureau of Land management, the U.S. Forest Service, Arizona State Parks and Trails and the Arizona Department of Transportation are also part of the team effort.
