The Slave Lake wildfire, which destroyed roughly one-third of the Town of Slave Lake, Alberta, burned through the town from May 14 to May 16, 2011. The town hall, library and radio station were completely gutted and 732 residents were left homeless. Insurable damage was estimated at $750 million, making it the second costliest insured disaster in the country at the time.
The Tokyo Fire Department recently unveiled its new testing room where extreme climate conditions can be artificially created. The testing room will be used to conduct research on countering heatstroke in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and to develop firefighting equipment.
A proposed fire prevention bylaw in Winnipeg would include mandatory fire safety inspection standards for food-trucks and illegal rooming houses, prohibit the use of sky lanterns and allow fees to be charged for new fire safety inspections. It would also allow fire safety inspectors to install smoke alarms in facilities where none exist and replace faulty alarms where landlords cannot be reached or will not install the units themselves.
A University of Alberta study that surveyed 355 firefighters involved in battling the Fort McMurray fire found one in five suffering respiratory problems and one in six experiencing mental health issues. Researchers hope to find out which factors caused long term health problems and how those factors can be mitigated in future fires.
Staff at Oakland’s Fire Prevention Bureau, whose job it is to annually inspect all commercial buildings and some residential properties in the city, are using an older database that is not user-friendly. Problems with the system may have contributed to lapses in inspections of dangerous buildings.
A bill, the Rea and Walter Act, which would make it mandatory for all lightweight constructed buildings to be identified as such has passed second reading in the Ontario Legislature. The bill is named after two firefighters who lost their lives while fighting a fire in a building with a roof made with lightweight construction material.
The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction has released its final report on the Fort McMurray wildfire. The report, written by Alan Westhaver, concludes the Canadian approach to wildland/urban interface fires “requires a radical sweeping strategic shift that brings primary focus onto the root of the problem.”
Ford is recalling more than 570,000 vehicles with 1.6 litre four-cylinder turbocharged engines because problems with coolant circulation could lead to engine fires. So far 29 fires have been reported in the U.S. and Canada. A separate problem can cause door locks to malfunction.
The Langford BC Fire Department is looking for connections to help Chief Ghulam Hazrat, who was seriously wounded in a 2011 suicide bombing in Kandahar and requires further treatment to save his life. Hazrat took part in training in Langford in 2008.
The Fire Chiefs’ Association of BC is applauding the provincial government’s decision to require fire sprinklers to be installed on balconies of all new four-storey woodframe residential buildings. The new regulation takes effect July 20, 2017.