What do you do when notified that you are required to give evidence in court,…
Articles

Fighting back on heat stress
Heat stress is especially life-threatening for firefighters and remains the number-one cause of firefighter casualties.…

NFPA façade risk assessment research presented at Fire Australia 2018
Developed by the NFPA’s Fire Protection Research Foundation, the new Exterior Facade Fire Evaluation Comparison…

Why passive fire protection is key to the construction plan
With continued growth of high-rise and commercial construction across the Asia Pacific region, understanding the…

High Reach Extendable Turrets (HRET) – Beyond airports
The high reach extendable turret or HRET as known in the firefighting industry greatly enhances…

Trust in PPE
With a host of firefighting PPE available on the international market, varying in cost and…

Learning lessons from research insights: Black Saturday
The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires made history as one of Australia’s deadliest and costliest peacetime…

Dust explosion mitigation methods
The danger of an explosion is ever-present in industrial processes that handle combustible dust. While…

The Hawaii nuclear alert: how did people respond?
Nuclear tensions between the United States and North Korea have been extensively reported as both…

A history of the Australasian Association of Fire Investigators Conferences
Back in 2007 the New South Wales Association of Fire Investigators held a Conference where…

Evacuation of vulnerable persons by lifts
We have an ageing population, greater levels of obesity and a growing awareness of the challenges of people with disabilities. This has the potential to increase the number of vulnerable people in health and aged care buildings who need to protected, moved or evacuated in the event of a fire or other emergencies.
In the context of this article, a vulnerable person is considered to be someone who is incapable of moving away from a fire or smoke or evacuating without some form of assistance from others. This vulnerability may be due to age (e.g. the very young or very old), a temporary disability (e.g. patients in ICU or in a surgery or recovery ward in a hospital) or due to a permanent disability of either a physical or cognitive nature. Hospitals and aged care facilities are two forms of building that have a significant proportion of such persons, although vulnerable persons may be present in other residential buildings or work places.

New risks for vehicles with alternative fuels
Fires in vehicles that are powered by alternative fuels when they are in underground facilities,…

Predicting fire thunderstorms
Global monitoring of the atmosphere began in 1978. For most of this era, however, bushfires…

Growing pains: Code enforcement challenges with cannabis cultivation
As fire professionals, it is important to understand the hazards associated with new and rapidly…

Closing the gap for warehouse protection in China
China’s economy has enjoyed fast growth over the past decades, which attracts more and more…

LNG and LPG Fires – The importance of selecting the right equipment!
Fighting LNG and LPG fires is not a simple task. Completely extinguishing these fires could…

Development of handbook on crowd management underway
There is a huge number of issues associated with managing crowds, and as with many…

Emergency response to coal and energy production incidents in Victoria
Fire and emergencies in coal mines, handling and power generation facilities as proven with the…

Terrorism: The changing risk environment for firefighters
Emergency Management organisations are faced with a changing risk environment, an environment that will continue…

Choosing the right clean agent for your fire hazard
Sprinkler systems are the most widely used form of fire suppression in the world. Their…

Model behaviour
A simple way of minimising firefighters’ exposure to hazardous chemicals on the job, after the…

Stop cancer at the door!
International studies have shown that firefighters have a significantly higher risk of developing cancer in…