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, and overcome obstacles. It must be able to see through flames, be smart enough to identify the source of a shipboard fire, and have hands sensitive enough to retrieve and operate a fire hose.
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.
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.
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 remove more than 100,000 newer model meters that had already been installed after reports of nine fires related to the equipment. OESA has ordered the removal of 5,400 meters in Ontario, which is a tenth of a per cent of the 4.8 million meters in the province.
“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 stovetop fires. Work on this problem continues in a partnership between the National Institute of Standards & Technology and the Fire Protection Research Foundation.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
manitoba-first-nations-can-do-fire-inspections-without-evictions
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 Department Collective Agreement