From UFC fighter to US firefighter, who is Stipe Miocic?

by Americas - Breaking NewsBreaking NewsPeople

Former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic has been sworn in as a full-time firefighter. Miocic has devoted the last 12 years to an American fire station where he works as a firefighter.

The 39-year-old has been made fulltime firefighter after being put through several rounds of tests and checks. He now serves at the Westlake Fire Department in Ohio.

City mayor Dennis M. Clough described the occasion as a “a historic day for the city of Westlake.”

He previously worked part-time for Valley View Fire Department where he cleaned the toilets the morning after his fights.

Miocic last fought in March 2021, where he squared off against Francis Ngannou, which ended in a victory for the later. The loss also meant Miocic lost his heavyweight honours.

Firefighters in Scotland to carry life-saving naloxone

by Featured NewsHealthcareIndustry Sectors

Firefighters in Scotland will set up a network of volunteers to administer naloxone. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) will administer the medicine, which is given as a nasal spray in the event of an opioid overdose to help save someone’s life.

SFRS staff will be given training in partnership with the Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF) as part of a £90,000 project funded by the Scottish Government, joining the Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland in recognising the role the medication can play in saving lives.

Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister said: “SFRS staff regularly interact with the public during operational incidents, prevention and protection work and community engagement and it is reassuring to know that if they come across a situation involving an opioid overdose that volunteers will be able to administer naloxone while they wait for an ambulance to arrive.“Naloxone is one of a wide range of measures being used to address the public health emergency of drugs deaths, but it plays an important role and allows those administering the kits to connect people who use drugs and their families with appropriate local services.

“Of course, we want to help people long before they get to the point of a life-threatening overdose and we are working hard to increase the number of people in treatment backed by total funding of £250 million over five years.”

Stuart Stevens, assistant chief officer and SFRS director of service delivery said: “We welcome funding from the Scottish Government to provide life-saving medication for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

“We will fully support volunteers within SFRS to complete training to safely administer naloxone to help prevent avoidable drug deaths from overdoses. This project highlights our commitment to working with partners to improve the safety and wellbeing of the people of Scotland.”

Group Commander Paul Blackwood, pictured giving a demonstration of how the nasal spray works, took part in training from SDF a year ago and is encouraging colleagues to take up this opportunity. He decided to carry naloxone after a personal tragedy.

Paul said: “I grew up in Glasgow and I lost my best friend at the age of 19 from a drugs overdose. This traumatic experience has stayed with me and so it was important for me to volunteer to carry naloxone. I have the kit because I want to be in a position to save someone’s life.”

A naloxone information pack will be available to all SFRS staff. Firefighters who volunteer to undergo training to carry and deploy naloxone will be given guidance on how to identify the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose and how to use the medication to reverse these effects.

New fire standards launched in England

by Breaking NewsSafety

The Fire Standards Board has launched a new professional standard for fire and rescue services in England, it’s ninth such professional standard.

The Safeguarding Fire Standard aims to ensure that fire and rescue services are doing all that they can to support safeguarding. Its desired outcome is that services work proactively to promote the safeguarding of those within their communities as well as employees and volunteers, reducing the risk of abuse, harm, and neglect.  

The Safeguarding Fire Standard outlines what a fire and rescue service must and should do to achieve the standard.

The standard states that a service must have a designated Safeguarding Lead, and that it should work collaboratively with partners to share learning and experiences to contribute to the continual improvement of safeguarding. Full details of what services need to do to achieve this standard are detailed in the How to Achieve section of the standard.  

Lord Greenhalgh, Fire Minister said: “…Fire and rescue service staff play a vital part in protecting communities and it’s crucial that they use the tools at their disposal to do so.” 

Whilst it is not mandatory for services to comply with the Fire Standards, the National Fire Framework makes clear that services are expected to pay due regard to Fire Standards as will the HMICFRS in their inspections.

The Fire Standards Board are confident that in many cases services are already achieving the outcomes which are the foundation of each Fire Standard. Where they are not, they accept services will need to implement any changes to enable them to achieve the standards in a way that fits with their strategic planning, improvement work and timetable. 

This is the ninth professional Fire Standard and aims to help drive continuous improvement across England’s fire and rescue services. 

The Fire Standards Board published eight standards in 2021. These are on:

  • Emergency response driving,
  • Operational preparedness,
  • Operational competence,
  • Operational learning, and
  • Code of Ethics
  • Community Risk Management Planning
  • Prevention
  • Protection

FBU general secretary claims firefighters “might not be able to fight all fires” if job cuts continue

by Safety

The general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union has claimed that continued cuts will mean day-to-day work of the fire and rescue service will be weakened. Firefighter numbers have reached a new low since the beginning of austerity in 2010. One in five firefighter roles which existed in 2010 no longer exist, according to figures released, with a fall in numbers of 11,680 since then.

The figures have been released just prior to Priti Patel’s speech to Conservative conference. As Home Secretary, Patel has responsibility for fire and rescue.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “After years of huge government cuts and staffing falls there is a real threat that fire and rescue services may not be able to deal with every incident, and fight all fires: for example, we have heard senior service managers state that the public should lower their expectations that large wildfires can be tackled. The cuts are weakening the day-to-day work of the fire and rescue service in every single area; they are making people less safe. They also pose a threat to the ability to respond to large scale incidents – particularly if more than one were to occur at the same time. 

“Households deserve to feel protected. We all want to be able to walk past fire stations and know that there are enough people in there to protect us. And firefighters will always do whatever they can to save lives. It’s time the government does the same.”

  • Since 2010 more than 8,000 wholetime firefighters have gone, out of the 11,680 total. 
     
  • London alone now has 1,112 less firefighters than 2010, with falls of 615 in West Yorkshire, 631 in Greater Manchester, 551 in Devon and Somerset and 470 in the West Midlands. Other standout figures include a cut of 70 firefighters between 2020 and 2021 alone in Hampshire, and 49 in Devon and Somerset.
     
  • The overall figure compared to last year for the UK is a loss of 185 firefighters, or a 0.4% decrease – a further cut, and meaning numbers remain in the pit they have been cut to by years of brutal austerity.   

The impression that the fire and rescue service has been short-staffed to breaking point is also evidenced by a range of figures, with response times across all types of fires in England increasing since 2010, and fire audit and home fire safety check numbers in England constantly falling across this period.

Additionally, new threats could mean that firefighters will become even more stretched. Climate change is thought to have increased both flood risk and the number of wildfires in the UK.

The figures come from a freedom of information request from the Fire Brigades Union. 

The Fire Brigades Union defines firefighters to include wholetime, retained and control staff.

California firefighters defend homes at Mount Wilson Observatory

by Featured News

On Tuesday 22nd September, US fire crews fought to defend homes and the famed Mount Wilson Observatory from California’s biggest and most dangerous wildfire, standing their ground at a major highway between the flames and populated areas.

The Bobcat Fire, which broke out Sept. 6 in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles, has already blackened an area larger than the city of Atlanta and its rapid spread prompted worried law enforcement officials to call for new evacuations on Monday evening.

Once home to the largest operational telescope in the world, the Mount Wilson Observatory, which sits on a peak of the San Gabriel mountains near vital communications towers, said in an update that almost all the forest around it had burned.

Firefighters overnight kept the Bobcat from breaching containment lines near the observatory and were preventively burning vegetation ahead of the fire along state Highway 2, which runs northeast from Los Angeles.

This summer California already has seen more land charred by wildfires than in any previous full year, with some 3.4 million acres burned since mid-August.

The fires, stoked by extreme weather conditions that some scientists call evidence of climate change, have destroyed some 6,100 homes and other structures and killed 26 people, three of them firefighters.

Another 2 million acres have burned in Oregon and Washington during an outbreak of wildfires, destroying more than 4,400 structures and claiming 10 lives. But rain showers across the western Cascade mountain range helped fire crews in the Pacific Northwest gain control of those conflagrations.

Although California has seen little rain in September, bouts of high temperatures and gale-force winds have given way in recent days to cooler weather, enabling firefighters to gain ground.

But forecasters predict rising temperatures, lower humidity and a return of strong, erratic winds around midweek in Southern California and by the weekend across the state’s northern half, lending urgency to the firefight.

The Bobcat Fire has now scorched more than 109,000 acres to become one of the largest wildfires in recorded Los Angeles County history and was only 17% contained on Tuesday afternoon.

The flames came perilously close to the Mount Wilson Observatory last week before they were driven back by crews using air support.

Several more areas, including Pasadena, a city of 140,000 people, remained under evacuation warnings.

California’s fire season historically has run through October. Five of the state’s 20 largest blazes on record have occurred this year.

Lancashire firefighters battle blaze at former Co-op bank building

by Active

Eight fire engines and police attended a huge fire at the former Co-operative bank building on High Street in Skelmersdale at around 7.30pm yesterday evening (September 15).

Lancashire Police closed a number of roads in the area and people were asked to avoid the scene and keep windows and doors shut.

Pictures from the scene show the building well alight and thick smoke rising into the sky as firefighters battled to bring the fire under control.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire Service said: “We have eight fire engines from Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside at a derelict building fire on High Street, Skelmersdale. We were called around 19:30 and crews are battling to bring the fire under control.

“Lancashire Police have closed a number of roads in the area and the public are advised to stay away from the scene. If you can see or smell the smoke, please keep your windows and doors shut.

The fire service confirmed at 12.20am today (September 16), the blaze was brought under control.

Firefighters have remained at the scene all night and the cause of the fire is currently unknown. A joint police and fire investigation is underway.

The site had been earmarked for a new Aldi after the discount retailer submitted an application in 2019.

That application is still pending and no decision has been made by West Lancashire Borough Council.

LGA calls for tougher sentences after huge rise in attacks on firefighters

by Projects

The Local Government Association (LGA) has called for harsher sentences after a “sickening” rise in attacks on Fire & Rescue crews. Latest government figures show that attacks on firefighters in England have surged by an astonishing 66 per cent in four years.

It comes at a time when attacks aimed at members of the emergency services have increased in general over the last 18-months. In the period 2014/15 there were 578 attacks on Fire & Rescue Service crews alone, but this shot up to 961 in the period covering 2018/19.

The number of firefighters injured after being attacked whilst on duty during the 2018/19 period jumped by 175% from 24 to 66. In one incident, a large tree trunk was thrown through the windscreen of a fire engine, and bricks were thrown at fire crews from Cleveland Fire Brigade as they tackled a large garden blaze that threatened to spread to other properties.

In another shocking incident, a firefighter for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service needed hospital treatment after being hit in the head by a stone thrown at him as he dealt with an emergency call.

Pebbles and planks of wood were also hurled at crews as they tackled a tree fire in Eastbourne. A firefighter from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service was badly injured after fireworks were aimed at him and a colleague by a group of around 15 youths as they tackled a bonfire in Crumpsall Park.

A firework became lodged under the back of his helmet, burning his hair and right ear, meaning that he had to be rushed to A&E to be treated for his injuries.

The outrageous attacks, which have increased during the lockdown in some areas, put firefighters at risk of serious injury, can stop them attending an emergency call where lives may be at risk, and can cause an emergency vehicle to be withdrawn from service.

Attacks on emergency workers became a specific crime in 2018. Yet only 17% of the 9,000 offenders who have since been sentenced for this offence have received an immediate jail term, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council.

The LGA, which represents councils and fire and rescue authorities in England, is calling for harsher sentences for anyone who is convicted of assaulting a firefighter.

It says the current maximum sentence of a year’s imprisonment should be increased to reflect the seriousness of the offence.

Attacks on firefighters include harassment, verbal and physical abuse, and objects – such as bricks, stones and fireworks – thrown at firefighters and fire engines. Eight firefighters required hospital treatment following assaults in 2018/19.

Typical incidents include drunk people assaulting firefighters on Friday and Saturday nights, and ambushes being set up on housing estates, leading to fire crews having missiles thrown at them upon arrival.

More serious incidents involve firefighters being attacked with weapons.

Cllr Ian Stephens, Chair of the LGA’s Fire Services Management Committee, said:

“It’s completely unacceptable for emergency service workers to be subject to attacks, aggression or acts of vandalism while protecting the public. The rising trend in violence towards firefighters is sickening.

“Our firefighters, like all emergency service workers, do a fantastic job in protecting our local communities and saving lives and should deserve our completely respect.

“The senseless violent actions of a minority of people puts firefighters at risk of injury or even worse and can also stop them from attending an emergency where lives may be at risk.

“Firefighters deserve complete protection. Increasing the maximum sentence for assaults on firefighters will show that these attacks will not be tolerated.”

Fire & Rescue Service bosses have called for the introduction of body cameras which can be worn by firefighters.

Bodycams are already used by the police and by some Ambulance Trust’s owing to the sheer number of assaults which are inflicted upon emergency workers.

Fire crews continue to battle California’s Creek Fire

by Americas - Featured News

Firefighters in central California are currently searching for people stranded by a fast-moving fire that has already burned an estimated 45,000 acres. The Creek Fire started Friday evening and, fueled by timber and dry vegetation, quickly jumped the San Joaquin River and blocked evacuation routes.

More than 200 people were rescued overnight as military helicopters plucked the stranded from the Mammoth Pool Reservoir in Sierra National Forest, where they were asked to shelter in place after fire blocked the one road leading out of the area. Most of those rescued had minor or no injuries, but several were transported to local hospitals and at least two were “severely injured,” the Fresno Fire Department said early Sunday.

“We do believe that there are still other people out in the wilderness, and when daylight breaks, we will be continuing those rescue operations to go out and try to find them and get them to safety as well,” Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue told CNN on Sunday.

Most of those rescued were flown to the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, where emergency responders had set up a triage center to prioritize treatment. At least six burn victims were admitted to Fresno’s Community Regional Medical Centre.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire, which is located near the San Joaquin River and the communities of Big Creek and Huntington Lake. Fire crews face steep, rugged terrain and high temperatures, which make extinguishing the fire difficult, Sierra National Forest authorities said.

As of Sunday, the fire was zero percent contained, according to Cal Fire, as giant plumes of smoke up to 50,000 feet tall were visible from the air. Several areas in Madera County were under mandatory evacuation orders.

Social media showed videos of people escaping the flames. Smoke from the fire spread throughout the region, filling nearby Yosemite National Park and coloring the sky an eerie orange.

The Creek Fire is just the latest blaze faced by California in a devastating fire season. More than 7,000 wildfires, many sparked by lightning strikes, had already burned over 1.4 million acres by the end of August, Gov. Gavin Newsom said last month.

New aerial ladders to hit London’s streets

by Products

New aerial ladders that are more responsive to drive, faster to set up and with greater rescue capabilities are soon to hit the streets of London as the London Fire Brigade continue to improve its ability to deal with high rise incidents.

Twelve new 32 metre appliances known as turntable ladders are part of the aerial replacement project and have many improvements on the existing fleet, the biggest being that the ladder articulates, allowing for greater maneuverability. The articulating top section means that down London’s narrow streets the turntable ladder can now set up closer to the building than previous aerial appliances. The reach obtained can also means that the machines can be placed further away and overcome obstacles which would have problematic previously.

The new turntable ladders are swift and responsive to drive and can reach their top working height within a minute from the moment of arrival at an incident. Other features include a detachable thermal imaging camera, improved stretcher capabilities all of which will enhance our operations at height. They will also improve our capabilities for lighting and observation of emergencies from above, giving incident commanders greater knowledge from the sky.

Turntable ladders are used by us for a wide range of tasks such as aerial water towers to put water on buildings from height, rescues, high level lighting and as observation platforms. The new engines will be highly visible on London’s streets with its bright yellow ladder, bumpers and fenders. It also has driver aides like pre-emptive braking and lane change technology.

London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said: “Our new aerial ladders are more responsive, quicker to set up and improve our ability to fight fires and rescue people from height. Our determination to get these working on London’s streets despite the challenges Covid-19 has given us shows our commitment to improve our response, especially at high rise incidents.”

Training has been able to start on the new turntable ladders due to the hard work of our staff and in close liaison with the Fire Brigades Union to make sure it can be done safely during the pandemic. The courses were completely revamped to make sure safe procedures are in place including the wearing of masks during driver training, increased open air training and regular sanitation of delegates hands and the machines. Internal training venues were found quickly to make sure staff didn’t need to travel long distances and the risk to those involved could be reduced.

Firefighters have also been incredibly flexible, attending courses at short notice to make sure the vehicles become operational as soon as possible. The Brigade’s training provider Babcock have made additional machines for training available so that multiple venues can be used, allowing for increased training while maintaining social distancing.

www.london-fire.gov.uk/

The PSS® 4000 from Dräger

by Products

The Dräger PSS® 4000 is one of the lightest professional self-contained breathing apparatus for firefighters. Combining comfort with exceptional pneumatic performance, this SCBA is designed for applications where simplicity and ease of use are crucial. Lightweight yet robust, and easy to don, the PSS® 4000 provides outstanding breathing protection.

Supported by a carrying harness with a quick release fastener and simple pull forward mechanism you can quickly and easily adjust the carrying harness.

The extremely durable carrying system features our ultra-lightweight, high strength composite carrying space frame, which provides outstanding thermal, impact and chemical resistance properties. The professional carrying system of the harness follows the natural contours of the body, improving stability and reducing back strain, stress and fatigue.

The system offers optimal comfort for the wearer’s shoulders and waist with an even load distribution, which is comfortably and securely in line with the body‘s centre of gravity. Aside from maximum comfort, the Dräger PSS 4000 also uses the most rugged and durable materials available in order to minimise the impact of even the most hostile of environments.

www.draeger.com/