The first of what UC Santa Barbara officials hope will be a network of five mass notification warning system speakers has been installed on the roof of Kerr Hall in the heart of the UCSB campus.
For the first time in three years, the number of on-the-job firefighter deaths in the United States has dropped below 100. The National Fire Protection Association's annual "Firefighter Fatality Report," released Monday at the NFPA Conference and Expo, showed a sharp drop in the number of fatalities in 2009.
First responders need and deserve the best tools and practices available to help save lives and protect property. The responsibility of identifying the gaps in existing technology -- and working to fill those gaps -- belongs to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T). DHS S&T knows that first responders need to be part of the process.
Part of a school’s appeal is based on its reputation for providing a safe, secure and convenient environment for its staff and students. However, bringing the reality of fire and life safety in K-12 facilities in line with expectations is a challenging task.
- By David George
- Jun 01, 2010
Preliminary 2009 statistics indicate that violent crime in the nation decreased 5.5 percent and property crime declined 4.9 percent when compared with data from 2008, according to the FBI’s Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report, which was released recently. Data in the report came from 13,237 law enforcement agencies that submitted six to 12 months of data in both 2008 and 2009.
An electrical fire at the historic Texas Capitol in Austin was averted the evening of April 30 due to the building's security professionals, who immediately reacted to a signal set off by a smoke detector in the reference library.
Diebold Inc., a security integrator, can now help its customers mitigate the risk fires pose to their people, facilities and physical assets. The company has launched Diebold Fire Detection Solutions and Services, a service delivering fire detection hardware, software, monitoring and services to facilities nationwide.
A landmark study coordinated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is the first to put numbers to the effect of changing the size of fire-fighting crews responding to residential fires. Performed by a broad coalition in the scientific, firefighting and public-safety communities, the study quantifies the effects of crew sizes and arrival times on the fire service’s lifesaving and firefighting operations for residential fires. Until now, little scientific data have been available.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released a new report recently, Total Cost of Fire in the United States, which finds that in 2007, after adjusting for inflation, the core total cost of fire has increased by 86 percent since 1980.
The Electronic Security Association’s National Training School is pleased to announce that it will launch two new courses, Residential Fire Alarm and International Building Code, and one updated course, Life Safety Code, in 2010. These courses will be available in the third quarter of the year.
No one is immune to the dangers of carbon monoxide gas. It can be present in any structure in which mechanical equipment produces exhaust while burning fuel.
- By Jackie Lorenty
- May 01, 2010
Gamewell-FCI by Honeywell will host a series of free educational seminars throughout the U.S., covering the design, operation and integration of effective emergency communications/mass notification systems for any public, private or military facility. Essential system elements and new technologies related to the latest requirements established by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Department of Defense will be discussed. Attendees will also receive CPD (Continuing Professional Development) credits.
The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards are complex and fairly disruptive. Few would argue that. The risk-based performance standards guidance alone is nearly 200 pages long, and many companies have had to re-allocate or hire staff, facilitate training and certification, and contemplate ways to re-imagine corporate processes in order to control access to chemicals of interest.
- By Marleah Blades
- Apr 13, 2010
Do you carry a cell phone? Today, chances are it's called a "smartphone" and it came with a three-to-five megapixel lens built-in -- not to mention an MP3 player, GPS or even a bar code scanner. This 'Swiss-Army-knife' trend represents the natural progression of technology -- as chips become smaller/more advanced, cell phones absorb new functions. What if, in the future, new functions on our cell phones could also protect us from toxic chemicals?
First responders can network and collaborate on department policies or homeland security projects easily when they all work in the same office and shift. But, when they all work in different shifts, disciplines, offices, cities or states, suddenly the task grows enormously complex.
Iris on the Move from Sarnoff won the Best New Product Award at the Security Industry Association New Product Showcase on Wednesday.
The Blue Earth Nicollet County Humane Society in Mankato, Minn., a nonprofit, no-kill shelter, has been caring for hundreds of homeless, injured, abandoned and abused animals since 1977.
- By Sherleen Mahoney
- Mar 02, 2010
Fire-Lite Alarms by Honeywell has released its 2010 training schedule comprised of 100 accredited educational sessions taking place throughout the United States.
A scene encountered all too often on streets all over the country: fire engines and trucks arrive at a single-family home. The picture window has a telltale orange glow; other windows have an ominous black sooty appearance.
The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has issued a special report, part of its Topical Fire Report Series, examining the causes and characteristics of fires in hotels and motels.