Gov. Jack Markell toured Sunoco's Marcus Hook refinery on May 28 and stressed the importance of keeping the plant shut down until the cause of the May 17 explosion and fire is known.
In addition, the standard's Fire Protection in Shipyard Employment subpart includes sections on implementing a fire safety plan, fire watches, and fire response. Hexavalent chromium has been added to the list of air contaminants whose concentrations should not exceed stated exposure levels.
The program will award a combined total of $100,000 in scholarships to junior firefighters to fund their pursuits in higher education in 2009.
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 medical facilities.
A highlight of the 2009 PARADE (Prevention Advocacy Resources and Data Exchange) Conference held May 14-16 was the presentation of the R. Wayne Powell Excellence in Fire Prevention Award at the conference banquet. Powell is a former U.S. fire administrator and a 30-year federal employee who led the creation of PARADE. This year's award recipient is James Burns, former Administrator of the New York Office of Fire Prevention and Control.
The facility failed to report many hazardous chemicals stored at the site including sulfuric acid, lead, zinc, and hydrochloric acid, EPA said.
The second annual workshop is geared to owners, operators, and crewmen of small passenger vessels, which are classified as commercial vessels that carry six or more paying passengers.
The trend is worrisome because the growth of these fires is outpacing the rise in total home fires, and the number of vacant U.S. housing units hit consecutive 40-year peaks in 2006, 2007, and 2008, the association reported.
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in cooperation with the Fire Protection Research Foundation, the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, the Fire Department of New York City, and the Chicago Fire Department, have completed work on evaluating several firefighting tactics under wind driven conditions.
The International Society of Fire Service Instructors and Fire Engineering awarded the George D. Post Instructor of the Year for 2009 to Daniel Madrzykowski, shown here, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The U.S. Fire Administration is reminding the public that time is running out to submit an application for the 2009 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG). Completed applications must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 20, 2009.
The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has issued a special report examining the causes and characteristics of residential multiple-fatality fires. The report, titled "Multiple-Fatality Fires in Residential Buildings," was developed by the National Fire Data Center, part of FEMA's U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). The report is based on 2004 to 2006 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).
The U.S. Fire Administration has completed its review of a recently released study conducted by the TriData Division of the System Planning Corporation, analyzing firefighter presumptive cancer legislation and attempting to prove or disprove a correlation between firefighting activities and the occurrence of cancer. According to USFA, while this study is considered thoughtful and well-presented, its results are scientifically inconclusive and indicate that more expansive study is in order.
Researchers have detected common plant toxins that affect human health and ecosystems in smoke from forest fires. The results from the new study also suggest that smoldering fires may produce more toxins than wildfires--a reason to keep human exposures to a minimum during controlled burns.
The annual seven-day event will be observed in multiple countries and will include the awarding of the annual "safety-on-the-job" children's poster contest winners, one of whom is Abigail Helser, 8, of Portage, Wis., whose work is shown here.
The International Association of Fire Chiefs' Safety, Health and Survival Section convened an expert panel that questions the methodology behind a report examining laws in 24 states that have a cancer presumption benefit for firefighters.
Intended for a range of stakeholders, from architects to owners, Guideline 29-2009 offers a flexible approach to risk assessment for a wide range of safety and health hazards, according to ASHRAE.
Inspectors identified other hazards including locked exits, obstructed exit access, and an unmarked exit; lack of welding screens and personal protective equipment for welders; untrained forklift operators; excess carbon monoxide levels from forklifts; and numerous electrical safety deficiencies including exposed live electrical parts.