AMERICAN LAFRANCE CORPORATION will be moving its corporate headquarters and some Cleveland, North Carolina, manufacturing operations to North Charleston, South Carolina, by 2003. The company will centralize sales, engineering, purchasing, customer support, and some manufacturing operations at a state-of-the art plant owned by Freightliner, LLC, American LaFrance’s corporate parent. The move involves custom cab and final truck assembly and the American LaFrance fire truck museum. Chassis manufacturing and the American LaFrance customer service center will remain in Cleveland. American LaFrance will occupy a 283,500-square-foot building and plans to add 100,000 feet of manufacturing space.
SCOTT HEALTH AND SAFETY has acquired AMERICAN BRISTOL INDUSTRIES INC. The new venture will be called Scott American Bristol Breathing Air Systems and will be integrated into Scott’s new state-of-the-art facility in Monroe, North Carolina. American Bristol produces high-pressure breathing air systems and holds many U.S. patents in the breathing air purification, air monitoring, and breathing apparatus charging systems areas. The company designs and manufactures a complete line of compressors. Scott Health and Safety designs and manufactures high-performance respiratory protection systems, gas detection instruments, and other life safety products.
HURST JAWS OF LIFE named Mitch Stewart manager of tool service and training at the new International Jaws of Life Service and Training Center in Shelby, North Carolina. He has been an instructor in extrication techniques since 1984.
WHELEN ENGINEERING named Jeff Busch Midwest authorized managing sales representative for all the company’s automotive product lines, responsible for the development of the Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Nebraska markets. He will be based in Overland Park, Kansas.
UNDERWATER KINETICS won the American Eagle Patriotism Award from the Industrial Supply Manufacturers Association (ISMA) for supporting the recovery efforts of the World Trade Center and Pentagon disasters. Underwater Kinetics shipped approximately 8,000 Underwater Kinetics 4AA Hazardous Location Approved flashlights and helmet clips to the World Trade Center disaster site.
MSDSONLINE has signed an agreement with BNA, INC., a Washington, D.C.-based publisher that provides BNA with private-label reselling rights to MSDSOnline’s MSDSadvantage, BinderView, and MSDS Starter Kits products. MSDSadvantage provides Internet access to comprehensive material safety data sheet content from a database of more than 700,000 MSDSs from more than 13,000 leading suppliers.
The DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA launched DC Atlas, a Web-based mapping and planning resource available to all District employees. A suite of GIS (geographic information system) applications allows employees to view in a map format data and more than 100 detailed mapping layers of administrative, education and recreation, planning and economic development, public safety, environmental, real property, socioeconomic and demographic, transportation, and other information provided by the District’s 67 agencies. The atlas is used for emergency preparedness, community planning, and crowd and traffic control and as a tracker for citizen service.
3M SPECIALTY MATERIALS announced 3M Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid, a halon alternative, successfully completed the test protocol of International Maritime Organization (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee Circular 848. The completion of the IMO testing allows administration and certification agencies to approve commercialization of the fire protection system for marine applications. Test witnesses included agents from Underwriters Laboratories representing the U.S. Coast Guard and representatives from Lloyd’s Register and the United Kingdom’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
The AMERICA’S 9-11 MEMORIAL QUILTS ORGANIZATION has seven memorial quilts under construction to honor the memory of victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Each quilt will contain photos and names of individuals who perished in the attacks. For more information, contact Jeannie Ammermann, President, America’s 911 Memorial Quilt Organization, 9300 W. Terry Street, Bonita Springs, FL 34135. Phone: 941-949-6616. E-mail: quiltmaker@comcast.net. Web site: http://www.angelfire.com/dc/wtc1/
The NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION (NFPA) will fund tuition and housing expenses for six senior fire service representatives selected to serve as fellows in the annual Harvard University Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program. The U.S. Fire Administration will fund two similar posts. The three-week program focuses on defining problems, analyzing policy options, and determining the role of public officials in today’s society. The selectees are Chief Juan “JJ” Adame, Corpus Christi, TX; Asssistant Chief William “Bradley” Anderson, Columbia, SC; Chief Chris Connealy, Houston, TX; Deputy Chief Fire Marshal Dennis Lockard, Newport Beach, CA; Chief James Reardon, Northbrook, IL; Fire and Paramedic Chief Wes Shoemaker, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Deputy Chief Terry Tullier, New Orleans, LA; and Public Service Administrator Ken Wood, Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal, Chicago, IL. Deputy Chief Franklin Edwards, Jr., Chesterfield County, VA; and Chief Edgar “Jack” McArthur, Jr., Snohomish County, WA, were selected as alternates.
The NFPA has elected the following to its board of directors: Corinne Broderick of Massachusetts Medical Society, board chair; George J. Ockuly, first vice chair; Chief Warren McDaniels of New Orleans (LA) Fire Department, second vice chair; Paul Fitzgerald, formerly of Factory Mutual (FM) Engineering and Research, treasurer; and Vincent Bollon of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), secretary. All will serve for one year. Steve Muncy of the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) has been elected to a three-year term on the NFPA board.
Other newly elected board members include Chief Luther L. Fincher, Jr. of the Charlotte, (NC) Fire Department; Chief Douglas P. Forsman of the Union Colony Fire Rescue Authority in Greeley, CO; and Todd Gritch, director of code services for HKS Quality Control Group, an architectural firm.
The NFPA awarded Martin (Mickey) Reiss, P.E., the 2002 Paul C. Lamb Award. The award honors individuals who have served the NFPA in a manner that “characterizes the height of voluntary spirit and deed.” Reiss is president and CEO of the RJA Group, Inc., in Chicago.
DONALD W. BELLES, P.E., FSFPE, of Greenbrier, Tennessee, won the NFPA’s Standards Medal, given for outstanding contributions to fire safety in codes and standards development prepared by NFPA technical committees.
THOMAS M. MOSES is the 2002 recipient of the NFPA’s President’s Award. Moses is a longtime advocate of public safety and has served as a trustee of the NFPA’s Fire Protection Research Foundationand on the NFPA’s board of directors.
The NFPA announced that former NFPA President George D. Miller will continue to serve the organization as a part-time consultant. Miller, who retired from the NFPA after 10 years as president, will be involved in outreach to state and local code enforcers and key organizations central to the NFPA’s mission and goals, beginning immediately.
The Madison (WI) Fire Department has installed an SBC AMERITECH-designed high-tech video conferencing system, one of the first to be incorporated into a fire department in the United States. The department plans to use the system to tap into a national network of experts for information on issues ranging from hazardous chemicals to crowd control. It will allow training to be offered at the fire station, so firefighters are on call and can respond to emergencies within their territories. The department will be able transmit presentations from outside experts nationwide to discuss specific issues. In addition, the system allows the department to tape and archive its training sessions, so firefighters can review specific firefighting methods at their leisure. Finally, the system allows immediate and timely communication between fire department headquarters and the individual fire stations.
