FireWatch

In general, fire prevention is not a coveted assignment. Although some departments do a better job integrating prevention and community education than others, there is still an overall perception that prevention lies outside the "core" duties of a firefighter. The...

A pregnant woman and her husband are alive today "simply because they had the right kind of smoke detector in their home," Fire Chief Frank Zugan said. Zugan said the home was fully engulfed when the fire department arrived, three minutes after a call. The family...

A battle over whether Ontario's firefighters should be able to administer six "symptom relief" medications - including aspirin - is heating up across the province. Earlier this year, the Ontario Fire Fighters Association sent a discussion paper to the province urging...

To reduce the wildfire risk to communities, Premier Christy Clark announced a top-up of $10 million to the Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative and tasked the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resouce Operations to look at ways to reduce wildfire risk through...

Ferrara Fire Apparatus has unveiled the Inundator Super Pumper, a Guinness World Record titleholder for the highest pumping capacity fire engine. The pump is a whopping four times the size of a regular fire truck pump. It debuted in June at Interschutz 2015, an...

Airbnb, a peer-to-peer site which matches those with accommodation to let with holiday makers and business travellers, has a network of close to 1 million properties across 190 countries. Whether you are looking for a single room for the night or a six bedroom villa...

Ironically, the most dangerous thing about an occupation that involves running into burning buildings isn't the flames, but the smoke. Cancer is the leading cause of firefighter line-of-duty deaths in the U.S. and, according to the International Association of...

Barry Lavoie, an engineer at BAE Systems, says he can give firefighters in burning buildings the gift of sight. His invention, Thermal on Demand, is a face mask and imaging system that looks like a prop from a cyborg movie. Its three thermal-imaging settings allow...

Most fire service leaders agree that fire prevention is far cheaper in all aspects than fire suppression. A lot of resources are required for local governments to provide fire inspections. A recent study found the majority of public buildings inspected are compliant....

South Africa has 1.9 million people living in informal settlements. In these high population density communities, it is not uncommon for massive shack fires to erupt, spreading quickly and resulting in death and mass displacement. Lumkani, a South African based...

During the next three years, researchers at Case Western Reserve University will team with NASA Glenn Research Center and firefighters nationally, from Cleveland to Oregon, to design and test sensors aimed at protecting firefighters from respiratory damage and...

The owner of an illegal rooming house in Toronto’s west end has been slapped with a $60,000 fine after a fire at the home killed a tenant just under two years ago. The home’s owner will be on probation for 18 months and cannot possess or manage a rental...

FM-approved FireChek thermal shutoffs with resettable memory shape alloy can now be used to automatically shut down a pneumatic control system when a nearby fire occurs, or when the ambient temperature reaches 135, 150, or 165⁰ F. The testability and reset ability of...

Insitu, the Boeing Subsidiary that makes unmanned aircraft systems, is helping emergency responders in Washington State as they work to tame wildfires that have spread across the Pacific Northwest, destroying and threatening thousands of homes. The company recently...

A campaign from New Zealand came up with an interesting idea to remind people to check their smoke alarms are working. It stresses how smoke alarms are our “only voice”, in other words our sole warning, in the event of a danger at night, by giving them...

 Fuel Dispensing Stations – Checklist   Definition: Any premise where flammable or combustible liquids are dispensed from fixed equipment into the fuel tanks of motor vehicles, watercraft or floatplanes.  Above Ground Tanks The BC Fire Code limits the maximum...