● TARGETSAFETY and the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS-VOLUNTEER AND COMBINATION OFFICERS SECTION are providing a $1 million online training grant to volunteer and combination departments in the United States. Awardees will receive one year of TargetSafety’s services at no cost, including a customized training Web site, access to specific TargetSafety online training courses (including NFPA firefighter, EMS continuing education, safety, human resources, haz mat, and terrorism); and tools to track and manage training. The application period runs between November 13, 2006, and February 28, 2007. For more information, call (858) 487-1699, visit www.targetsafety.com/fire/grant/, or e-mail firegrant@targetsafety.com.
● LION APPAREL donated $300,000 to FIRE 20/20, a nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to promoting diversity, inclusiveness, safety, and excellence in the fire service. The contribution will help support a research program designed to gather demographic data to be used to develop a nationally targeted recruitment campaign encouraging young women of all cultures and young men of color to pursue a career in firefighting and emergency medical services. The recruitment tools and strategies to be developed will be available to individual departments for local and regional recruiting, and will also assist community colleges, fire training academies, and high school magnet public safety recruitment programs. For more information, contact Larry Sagen, executive director of FIRE 20/20, (360) 447-3698 or by e-mail at lsagen@fire2020.org.
● At the eighth Campus Fire Forum, held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, BULLEX DIGITAL SAFETY donated its Intelligent Training System fire extinguisher training product for a raffle that benefited the Phoenix Society of Burn Survivors Scholarship Program. The national conference, organized by the Center for Campus Fire Safety, focuses exclusively on campus fire safety issues. The forum gives colleges and universities an opportunity to learn the best practices regarding campus fire safety and see the newest tools and technology available to them.
Several colleges and universities-including the University of Illinois, Arizona State, the University of Texas, Stanford University, and the State University of New York-now use the BullEx System for student and faculty fire extinguisher training.
● ELKHART BRASS has named Jerry Herbst regional sales manager of the northeastern region, which includes New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. He has more than 25 years of experience in the fire service, having served as a chief, county fire officer, and training instructor. Previously, Herbst worked as marketing director for VFIS. Working regionally in the northeast with VFIS, he directed and served as the vice president of the VESO Trust, a nationwide trust dedicated to providing death and line-of-duty death benefits to emergency service workers.
● The NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION (NFPA) named Christian Dubay vice president, codes and standards. He will oversee electrical engineering, fire protection applications and chemical engineering, public fire protection, building and life safety, and codes and standards administration for the organization. Dubay joined the NFPA in 1995 as an associate fire protection engineer, was later was responsible for the automatic sprinkler technical committees, and served as editor of The Automatic Sprinkler Systems Handbook and The Residential Sprinkler Systems Handbook.
● HURST JAWS OF LIFE announced that Jack Hankins has joined the company as vice president of the Hydraulic Equipment Group, North America, responsible for all aspects of the business. He will be based at the Hurst facility in Shelby, North Carolina. Previously, Hankins spent 25 years with Scott Health & Safety, most recently as vice president of global sales and marketing.
● The BARRINGTON (IL) COUNTRYSIDE FIRE DEPARTMENT has donated two ambulances to Louisiana fire departments in Sorrento and Houma affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Before Hurricane Katrina, the Sorrento (LA) Fire Department answered about 300 emergency calls a year; before the end of 2006, it answered more than 500, according to Chief Mike Lambert, who is also is president of the Louisiana Fire Chiefs Association. He said the ambulance will be a first responder unit to emergency medical calls providing basic life support, and a transport unit of last resort. The department assists Acadian Ambulance and the Gonzales Fire Department.
The ambulances were driven from Barrington, by a 53-member contingent from four local churches, and were filled with food donations for the Baton Rouge Food Bank.
● The UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FIRE SERVICE INSTITUTE (IFSI) has received a $20,500 grant from the Illinois State Library to support its library’s project to collect and chronicle historical materials related to the deaths of more than 700 Illinois firefighters over the past 150 years. “In Memory of our Heroes: Developing a Digital Image Collection of Illinois Firefighter Line of Duty Deaths (IFLODD)” will be a collection of digitized historical and cultural materials that document the ultimate sacrifice firefighters have made.
To prepare the collection, IFSI library staff will work with fire organizations, historical societies, fire museums, and other libraries. The collection will include digitized photographs, newspaper articles, fire station logbooks, and other resources. The digital materials will be available through an online database. In addition to remembering fallen firefighters, the project will provide “lessons learned” to contemporary firefighters.
● LACROSSE FOOTWEAR, INC. received a supply and delivery contract for the Gunnison Bunker Boot from the Calgary Fire Department in Alberta, Canada. The contract commences immediately for a one-year term and nine optional years. The Gunnison Bunker Boot, manufactured at an ISO-9001-certified manufacturing facility in Portland, Oregon, is certified to the National Fire Protection Association 1971 standard. It is constructed with a 7.5 oz. Leather/Defender 750 Kevlar/Nomex® combination upper; has a broader ASTM certified steel toe, Crosstech® protective fabric lining, and a stitchdown and thermomolded heel counter. Its new Flex-Shield midsole offers puncture protection.
