Emergency Technical Decon and Cool Clean Technologies Confirm Lithium Battery Fire Contaminants Cleaned from PPE

Author: Chief Mike Duyck (Ret.), President, Emergency Technical Decon
Published: 5/01/2023
Lithium-ion battery (LIB) fires are hazardous to communities as well as firefighters’ health and safety. Unpredictable and dangerous to fight, LIB fires release toxins contaminating firefighter protective gear. In response to this alarming fact, Emergency Technical Decon (ETD), a state-of-the-art cleaning solution provider, and Cool Clean Technologies, a solution provider of liquid CO2 technology innovations, partnered on a preliminary study investigating the removal of LIB fire contaminants from firefighter protective clothing. ETD and Cool Clean Technologies’ test results had an average lithium removal rate of over 80%; a promising start to completely decontaminating firefighter gear.     read more

WFCA, Plume Labs by AccuWeather Review 2022 Wildfire Season, Discuss 2023 Predictions in Webinar

Author: Western Fire Chiefs Association
Published: 1/23/2023
Experts from WFCA and Plume Labs by AccuWeather are coming together on Wednesday, Jan. 25, to discuss the continuing challenges that wildfires present to our communities and businesses. The teams will provide information on the forecast data solutions available to help mitigate the risk of wildfires to land, lives and property. And notably, they will present a collaborative proof of concept project: Wildfire and Smoke Evolution Mapping. Read on to learn more and register for this essential webinar.     read more

WFCA & Milliman Establish Alliance to Drive Down Property Risk in the WUI

Author: Western Fire Chiefs Association
Published: 1/09/2023
Consistent with its mission to lead, educate, support, and protect, the Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) has established a strategic alliance with Milliman, a global leader in risk management, to intelligently drive down risk in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). Our organizations have the confidence, experience, and humility, to recognize the complexity and consequential magnitude of the WUI problem, one requiring the recruitment of expertise outside of ourselves.     read more

To Burn or Not to Burn

Author: Chief Brent VanKeulen, Deputy Director, Western Fire Chiefs Association
Published: 10/28/2021
Burn season is open; however, in many areas the process to obtain a burn permit is antiquated, inefficient or even non-existent. This lack of information about who is burning and where is risky. The Burn Permits App, a product of the Western Fire Chiefs Association and powered by Public Fire Safety (PFS), is an automated burn permit process that gathers critical information about the burn. With this new app, fire departments will know who is going to burn, where and when.     read more

Airgain, HPUE, MegaRange™ And Public Safety

Author: Jeffrey D. Johnson, CEO, Western Fire Chiefs Association
Published: 6/16/2021
How first responders communicate is evolving faster now versus any point since the advent of two-way radios. One of the most amazing innovations is HPUE (High Power User Equipment) now available on FirstNet® (and no other network). HPUE is branded as MegaRange and fulfills a public safety demand for a more powerful cellular device. At 5x the power of a regular cell phone, these devices fully realize the vision that FirstNet’s founders had for our network which is built for and by public safety responders. The AirgainConnect antenna-modem transmits higher power to reduce blank spots and increase coverage in remote areas, parking structures, tunnels, and dense downtown areas.     read more