Firefighters Use Rare Cyanide Antidote Medicine to Save Lives in House Fire
It may have been an unusual tactic used by Tulsa firefighters that saved lives during a recent house fire. Three of five people pulled from the fire were given a rarely-administered medicine called a cyanide antidote. Tulsa Fire Department said this likely helped...
Update on Derailment and Fire of Canadian National Crude Oil Train
On 14 February 2015, a Canadian National crude oil unit train hauling 100 tank cars, 68 loaded with Petroleum Crude Oil and 32 loaded with Petroleum Distillates derailed and the crew observed a fire about 10 cars behind the locomotives. The temperature at...
Data and a Good Algorithm Can Help Predict Where Fires Will Start
The New York Fire Department is using a tool called FireCast to predict which buildings are most likely to have fires. The software applies an algorithm from five city agencies, taking into account as many as 60 different risk factors—not only obvious ones, such...
How To Build a Robot That Can Fight Fires
The Terrestrial Robotics Engineer and Control team at Virginia Tech is working on a firefighting robot named SAFFiR (pronounced "safer"). Specifically designed to fight fires on naval vessels, the bot has been equipped to navigate narrow passageways, climb ladders,...
British Columbia recovers $4 million from human caused wild fires
Expect a big bill if you cause a wildfire in BC. The province has recovered about $4 million from those responsible over the past five years. This money is separate from a fine or penalty. It’s a much larger sum. BC recovers $4 million from human caused...
Firefighters shouldn’t fear apparatus data recorders
On-Board Data Recorders on fire apparatus shouldn’t be feared by firefighters. “They’re not just used during investigations of accidents,” said Matt Pitzer who works for FRC which makes components that interfaces with the data recorders. ...
Fear of fire hazard causes removal of thousands of smart meters in Ontario
Ontario's Electrical Safety Authority is directing local utilities to replace a certain model of smart meter "as a preventative step" after reviewing reports of problematic metres in Saskatchewan. Last summer, the Saskatchewan government ordered SaskPower to...
FEMA Study Reports Stovetop Heating Element Able to Prevent Fires
"The technology to help stop stovetop fires exists," said Vision 20/20 Project Manager Jim Crawford. "This testing also provides critical data into a larger effort to produce a standard where manufacturers could develop products that inhibit unintentional kitchen...
Quebec’s volunteer fire services lag behind, investigation finds
One year after a seniors’ home fire claimed the lives of 32 people in the small Quebec community of L’Isle-Verte, questions remain about the training and capabilities of volunteer fire services across the province. Quebec's volunteer services lag behind
Jeep drivers still dying in gas tank fires 18 months into recall
Eighteen months into a recall of Jeeps with exploding gas tanks, drivers of the affected models are still dying and more than 1 million of the vehicles remain unfixed. Jeep drivers still dying in gas tank fires
As people beg, tot leaps from fire
An Alabama man captures chilling video as people beg a child to jump from an apartment fire. The child escaped the fire uninjured when he was caught by a bystander. child-jumps-out-of-burning-apartment-building
Manitoba First Nations can do fire inspections without evictions, inquiry hears
Manitoba's Fire Commissioner David Schafer says some fatal fires in aboriginal communities could be prevented by regular informal inspections that wouldn't risk a large number of homes being condemned. ...
New Westminster firefighters to look at restructuring
Members of Local 256 of the International Association of Firefighters ratified a collective agreement that includes a 2.5 per cent annual wage increase for each year of the contract, as well as some moves to restructure the department. New Westminster Fire...
The art of burning old growth in Banff
The Sawback area was burned in 1986, 1993 and 1998 — fires that would clean up woody debris and help to knock down any small pines before they started to develop cones and regenerate. In 2014 two more fires were set in the area. There’s a lot of complications but it...
Better ways to fight fires
Central Ohio has benefited greatly from a long-standing arrangement among 34 independent fire departments resulting in a metropolitan-like fire department. But it is beset with inefficiencies: It lacks economies of scale and mass purchasing power and it skips...
Ontario fire department wins prestigious marketing association award
The Canadian Marketing Association has honoured the London Fire Department and its analytics partner Environics Analytics with a prestigious national award. Using customer segmentation and data analytics expertise provided by Environics Analytics, the fire...
Botched probe of California forest fire should worry the public
The 2007 Moonlight Fire in California claimed 65,000 acres. The idea was that government officials — state and federal investigators and prosecutors, could be counted on to conduct an honest investigation and ethical prosecution of those responsible for starting a...
Non-electric elevator has potential to save lives in building fires
A group of researchers in Beijing are testing a new kind of equipment that, if successful, could significantly add to the chances of survival in a high-rise fire. The equipment, now installed in a 15-story, 40-meter-high, university dormitory, can carry four to five...
Recent Articles
Yellowknife to Fort McMurray: lessons from the frontlines of Canada’s worst wildfires.
Volunteer firefighters see doubling in tax credit.
Oro-Medonte fire chief smokes out several ways to boost revenue.
Ahead of likely ‘ferocious’ wildfire season, fire chiefs lament drop in volunteers.
Vancouver firefighters get $2.8M from city to procure gear free of cancer-causing chemicals.
