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Honoring Volunteer Firefighters

Check out this segment aired on CBS Sunday Morning, honoring firefighters:



Red November

All of the below historically significant fires occurred in the month of November:

  • Dance hall fire kills 145, Grenoble, France, 1970
  • Explosion kills 1,000 to 3,000, Salang Tunnel, Afghanistan, 1982
  • Metal mine fire kills 51, Ishpeming (MI), 1926
  • Forest fire damages 37 homes, Topanga (CA), 1948
  • Sunday Creek #6 coal mine explosion kills 82, Millfield (OH), 1930
  • National Fire Protection Association is founded, Boston (MA), 1896
  • Halifax Poor House fire kills 31, Halifax (NS), 1882
  • First recorded use is made of a mechanical water tower, New York (NY), 1879
  • Great Boston Fire, loss worth $1,146 million (2003 dollars), Boston (MA), 1872
  • USS Mount Hood munitions explosion kills 373, Admiralty Islands, 1944
  • Coats boarding house fire kills 14, Pioneer (OH), 1979
  • Tinker AFB repair plant fire, loss worth $244 million (2003 dollars), Norman (OK), 1984
  • National Firemen’s Journal publishes first issue, 1877
  • St. Paul coal mine explosion kills 259, Cherry (IL), 1909
  • Hoechst Celanese Chemical fire, loss worth $348 million (2003 dollars), Pampa (TX), 1987
  • Stratford Apartments home hotel fire kills 25, Los Angeles (CA), 1973
  • Northwestern Mine explosion kills 31, Ravensdale (WA), 1915
  • Learn Not to Burn® Foundation is incorporated, Quincy (MA), 1986
  • Ballantyne Department Store fire kills 41, Christ Church, New Zealand, 1947
  • Gas storage area explosion kills 334, Mexico City, Mexico, 1984
  • Club Cinq Sept fire kills 143, St. Laurent du Pont, France, 1971
  • MGM Grand Hotel fire kills 85, Las Vegas (NV), 1980
  • Phillips Dance Hall & Martin’s Grocery, fire kills 25, Ville Platte (LA), 1919
  • Golden Age nursing home fire kills 63, Fitchville (OH), 1963
  • Home gas explosions kill 105, Danaciobasi, Turkey, 1980
  • Taeyokale Hotel fire kills 163, Seoul, Korea, 1971
  • Pakistani International B-707 in-flight fire kills 156, Saudi Arabia, 1979
  • Capitol International DC-8 post-crash fire kills 47, Anchorage (AK), 1970
  • Cocoanut Grove night club fire kills 492, Boston (MA), 1942
  • Hotel Concorde wedding reception fire kills 11, Margarita Isl., Venezuela, 1987
  • Boomer #2 coal mine explosion kills 23, Boomer (WV), 1915

 

Fire Robots

Robotic fire protection, automatically senses and extinguishes fire, can also possibly serve as a weapon against ship piracy:




Engineering Centre of Fire Robots Technology

Assisted Living Facilties Mandated Sprinkler Coverage

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mandates Fire Sprinkler Coverage

All Long-Term Care Facilities Serving CMS Beneficiaries Must Have Fire Sprinkler Systems in Place by 2013

The following is from the Blazemaster website:

Today, only about one in five nursing homes have full fire sprinkler

coverage, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

Services (CMS). To address this gap in fire safety, CMS created a

regulation that mandates comprehensive fire sprinkler coverage for

all long term care facilities serving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries
by 2013. It is estimated that the new regulation affects 3,500 existing
facilities.


BlazeMaster fire sprinkler systems are

ideal for this type of retrofit construction.

The CPVC system is cost-effective and

features a fast, easy, clean installation

– minimizing disruption to occupants. In

fact, retrofitting with BlazeMaster pipe

and fittings can help building owners

save up to 40 percent in total installed

costs when compared to metallic systems.


According to the CMS website (www.cms.hhs.gov), approximately

three million elderly and disabled Americans reside in the nation’s

16,000 nursing homes. Although fatal fires in nursing homes are

rare, in a July 2004 report, the Government Accountability Office

estimated that automatic sprinkler systems can decrease the

chance of fire-related deaths by 82 percent.


Previous CMS regulations required sprinkler systems in all newly

constructed and rehabilitated facilities. However, the federal

government did not require existing nursing homes to have such

systems and some older facilities were exempt

from this requirement. This new CMS mandate

holds all 16,000 nursing homes in the country to

the same standard.


All new fire sprinkler systems retrofitted as

a result of this rule will be required to meet

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

fire safety guidelines. The NFPA specifies that

all resident rooms; kitchen, dining and activity

areas; corridors; attics; canopies; overhangs;

offices; waiting areas; closets; storage areas for trash and linen;

and maintenance areas have full fire sprinkler coverage.

For more information, please visit www.blazemaster.com/nursinghome.

Lightweight Truss Rule



Florida State Statute 633.027  Buildings with light-frame truss-type construction; notice requirements; enforcement.–

(1)  The owner of any commercial or industrial structure, or any multiunit residential structure of three units or more, that uses light-frame truss-type construction shall mark the structure with a sign or symbol approved by the State Fire Marshal in a manner sufficient to warn persons conducting fire control and other emergency operations of the existence of light-frame truss-type construction in the structure.

69A-60.0081 Notice Required for Structures With Light-frame Truss-type Construction.


(1) Purpose: The purpose of this rule is to require the placement of an identifying symbol on structures constructed with a light-frame truss component in a manner sufficient to warn persons conducting fire control and other emergency operations of the existence of light-frame truss-type construction in the structure.

Light-frame truss-type construction: a type of construction whose primary structural elements are formed by a system of repetitive wood or light gauge steel framing members. (69A-3.012)


Approved symbol: a Maltese Cross measuring 8 inches horizontally and 8 inches vertically, of a bright red reflective color (69A-3.012)


Symbol Mounting Instructions


1.) Symbol to be mounted on the face of the structure within 24 in., left of main entry door.


2.) Symbol shall be mounted no lower than 4’ and no higher than 6’.


3.) In multi tenant structures, symbol shall be place at one end, and at 100’ intervals (or at both ends of structure if less than 100’).

Available from:

Local vendor (Southeast Florida):

Signs In A Flash  [772-692-2323]

Online:

AllFloridaTrussSigns.com [800-874-7002]

Freefiresigns.com [321-206-9209]