Latest news with #FSRI
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
The Fire Protection Research Foundation and the Fire Safety Research Institute Issue Notice Around Potential Hazard Involving Fire Blankets Used for Electric Vehicle Fire Suppression Efforts with Battery Involvement
Key Takeaways: Experiments conducted by both organizations have demonstrated a potential explosion hazard when fire blankets are used during electric vehicle (EV) fire suppression efforts when there is battery involvement. When flaming is eliminated by the fire blanket, the ongoing accumulation of flammable gases released by continued thermal runaway in the battery pack presents a potential explosion risk. The experiments reinforce the need for continued research on EV firefighting tactics. QUINCY, Mass. and COLUMBIA, Md., May 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF), the research affiliate of NFPA, and the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), part of UL Research Institutes, today issued a notice about a potential explosion hazard when fire blankets are used during electric vehicle fire suppression efforts with battery involvement. During experiments involving the use of electric vehicle fire blankets to suppress an EV fire with battery involvement, it was observed that the deployment of a fire blanket eliminated flaming by denying oxygen to the vehicle and the battery fire. While the flaming was eliminated, battery thermal runaway propagation continued after blanket deployment, which resulted in the continued release and accumulation of flammable battery gases into the volume under the blanket In some of the experiments, this accumulation of flammable gases under the blankets presented an explosion risk to firefighters operating near the vehicle. The risk of an explosion can be increased when re-introducing air into an oxygen-depleted accumulation of unburned flammable battery gases. FPRF is conducting research to improve the safety of firefighters responding to electric vehicle (EV) fires and incidents by assessing current firefighting tactics and tools used by the fire service to manage EV incidents and the impact of suppression activities on managing re-ignition risks. Recent experiments for the Assessment of EV Firefighting Tactics, Tools and the Impact on Stranded Energy research project were conducted to assess the ability of four firefighting tactics to suppress and establish control of fire incidents involving standalone electric vehicle battery packs and full electric vehicles with confirmed battery pack fire involvement: standard hose stream application – water only; standard hose stream application – with injected agent; electric vehicle fire blankets; and firefighting appliances. Analysis of the data from FPRF experiments is underway. Preliminary results will be presented at the annual NFPA Conference and Expo on June 16, 2025 in Las Vegas and the full analysis will be provided in FPRF's forthcoming research report, which will be publicly available this fall at FSRI is conducting research to improve understanding of hazards generated by electric vehicle battery fires and to enable the development of firefighting tactics for effective electric vehicle fire control. Recent experiments for the Fire Safety of Batteries and Electric Vehicles research project were conducted to evaluate the capability of standard hose stream application, water application with an under-vehicle nozzle, and an electric vehicle fire blanket, to suppress and establish control of a burning electric vehicle with confirmed battery pack fire involvement. Analysis of the video and data from FSRI experiments is underway and will be addressed in detail in FSRI's forthcoming electric vehicle research report, which will be available at About Fire Protection Research FoundationThe Fire Protection Research Foundation is the research affiliate of NFPA. The Foundation is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to plan, manage, and communicate research in support of the association's mission to help save lives and reduce loss with information, knowledge and passion. The FPRF facilitates research on a broad range of fire safety issues in collaboration with scientists and laboratories around the world. About Fire Safety Research InstituteThe Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), part of UL Research Institutes, advances fire safety knowledge to address the world's unresolved fire safety risks and emerging dangers. As part of UL Research Institutes, we are committed to sharing our fire safety insights with everyone to advance UL's public safety mission of providing safe living and working environments for people everywhere. Through advanced fire science, rigorous research, extensive outreach and education in collaboration with our international network of partners, we impart stakeholders with the information, tools and resources that enable them to make better, more fire-safe decisions that ultimately save lives and property. Learn more at About UL Research InstitutesUL Research Institutes is a nonprofit research organization dedicated to advancing public safety through scientific discovery. Since 1894, our research has advanced our mission toward a safer, more secure, and sustainable future. Focused on global risks from fire mitigation and air quality to safe energy storage and digital privacy, we conduct rigorous independent research, analyze safety data, and partner with experts to uncover and act on existing and emerging risks to human safety. Discover more at View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE FSRI
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ESO Earns NERIS V1 Compatibility Badge, Ensuring Compliance, Continuity for Fire Incident Customers
As fire departments prepare to migrate to new national data standards, ESO's integration to NERIS reduces burden, ensures compliance AUSTIN, Texas, March 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ESO, a leading data services and software provider for EMS, fire departments, hospitals, and state and federal agencies, today announced it is one of the first software providers to earn the compatibility badge for the National Emergency Response Information System V1 (NERIS) through the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI). As one of the first software providers to earn the NERIS V1 Compatible Badge, ESO's Fire Incident application meets all new compliance requirements under NERIS while maintaining its focus on ease of use, data accuracy and intuitive reporting. Rolling out in 2026, NERIS is set to replace the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) and marks the most significant update to national standardized reporting for fire departments in decades. 'NERIS represents a tremendous opportunity to unite fire incident reporting under a newer, more modern data standard,' said Tom Jenkins, senior advisory and research manager at FSRI. 'Fire departments' ability to easily collect, report and gather insights from incident data is as important to their own decision-making as it is to overall community safety. Compliant third-party technology providers play a critical role in making that possible.' As part of its ongoing commitment to empower fire departments with industry-leading data and software tools, ESO has been working closely with FSRI for more than a year to provide the documentation and technical specifications required to earn NERIS compliance and demonstrate compatibility. 'The impending NERIS rollout has left fire departments unsure of how to best prepare. That's why we've made it a core focus to support them with the resources and technology to ensure a seamless transition,' said Sam Brown, chief operating officer at ESO. 'With this NERIS-compliant update, fire departments using ESO's Fire Incident application will gain all the benefits of a truly interoperable data platform—without the implementation headaches that come from such a comprehensive migration.' The NERIS update comes at no additional cost to ESO Fire Incident application customers, who will have access to onboarding and training resources as limited and general availability open throughout 2025. The application will also feature new compliant workflows and full permission sets for system administrators, while maintaining CAD file integrity and archived incident search pages. For more information about ESO, visit About ESOESO (ESO Solutions, Inc.) is dedicated to improving community health and safety through the power of data. Since its founding in 2004, the company continues to pioneer innovative, user-friendly software to meet the changing needs of today's EMS agencies, fire departments, hospitals, and state and federal offices. ESO currently serves thousands of customers across the globe with a broad software portfolio, including the industry-leading ESO Electronic Health Record (EHR), the next-generation ePCR; ESO Health Data Exchange (HDE), the first-of-its-kind health care interoperability platform; ESO Fire RMS, the modern fire Record Management System; ESO Patient Registry (trauma, burn and stroke registry software); and ESO State Repository. ESO is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit About Fire Safety Research InstituteFire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), part of UL Research Institutes, strives to advance fire safety knowledge and strategies in order to create safer environments. Using advanced fire science, rigorous research, extensive outreach and education in collaboration with an international network of partners, the organization imparts stakeholders with knowledge, tools, and resources that enable them to make better, more fire safe decisions that ultimately save lives and property. To learn more, visit Follow FSRI on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Media Contact:For ESO, Hope SanderRed Fan Communicationseso@ 737-280-8783Sign in to access your portfolio
NBC News
05-03-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Fired Los Angeles fire chief loses appeal to get her job back after making case to City Council
Former Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley lost an appeal to get her old job back in a hearing Tuesday before the City Council that included the 25-year department veteran's first extensive public comments about the events that led to her firing. Crowley delivered an impassioned 11-minute plea before the City Council as she appealed Mayor Karen Bass' decision to dismiss her in the wake of the deadly January wildfires. In the end, the council voted 13-2 to receive and file the appeal, shelving the matter and effectively ending Crowley's bid for reinstatement. Crowley needed 10 council members to side with her to be reinstated, according to the city charter. 'I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to appeal and to speak my truth,' Crowley said outside City Hall. 'We're going to push and work to get our people what they need to do their jobs, and to support the community.' Seated at a table in front of the council, Crowley opened her statements by restating her belief that the department is lacking the resources it needs to protect Los Angeles. 'When we fail to take care of our firefighters, we fail to take care of our communities,' Crowley said. Bass dismissed Crowley, who remains with the department at a lower rank, for what the mayor deemed to be failures of leadership during Los Angeles' January fires, including the deadly Palisades Fire on the Los Angeles County coast. Bass lauded Crowley in the early hours of the fire, but said she later learned that an additional 1,000 firefighters could have been deployed on the day the Palisades Fire started. Bass also said Crowley refused to prepare a report on the fires. After her initial remarks, Crowley addressed some of those complaints, including the after-action report that was to be filed with the city's fire commission. 'I will set the record straight on multiple false accusations made against me,' Crowley said. 'I did not refuse an after-action report. This is a false accusation. During our discussions about an after-action report, I advised the fire commission about what was best.' Crowley said she recommended working in collaboration the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) on a post-fire report. 'They're already conducting an analysis of windstorm and wildfires,' Crowley said. 'In contrast to LAFD, FSRI has resources to conduct a thorough investigation… that will be independent, which is so important as we figure out a way to move forward.' Crowley also addressed accusations about department staffing. She repeated statements that the department was limited because of fire engines that were sidelined for maintenance. Crowley has said budget cuts impacted mechanics and mainly affected fire engines and ambulances that needed repair. 'On the morning of the fire, I did not send home 1,000 firefighters who could have hopped on fire engines,' Crowley said. 'We did not have enough apparatus to put them on. Over 100 sat broken down in our maintenance yards.' Crowley also refuted the mayor's claims that the chief did not notify her office about the windstorm and potentially life-threatening wildfire conditions. Firefighters union members spoke in support of Crowley during the meeting's public comment period. Several speakers expressed support for the mayor's decision, which took up the bulk of the meeting's public comment period. The last time the council heard an appeal like Crowley's was in 2005 for an animal services manager, according to the city clerk's office. The 10-vote bar was a tough one for Crowley to meet. Four council members stood with Bass when she announced the firing Feb. 21 at City Hall. Another member publicly announced support Tuesday. Only two have publicly stated opposition to the mayor's decision. Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes Pacific Palisades, called for Crowley to appeal the decision, as had council member Monica Rodriguez, of the San Fernando Valley. 'As a council, we also unanimously approved an outside, independent after-action review,' Park said Tuesday. 'The fire department and the city should not be investigating itself following the biggest disaster in our city's history, nor should it be investigated by a commission of political appointees.' In a statement following the decision, Crowley described the decision as disappointing but expressed gratitude to those who showed her support. The LAFD also released a statement after the council hearing. 'The Los Angeles City Fire Department is grateful for Chief Crowley and her leadership during the time she served as Fire Chief,' the agency said. 'As the City recovers from the devastating fires, Interim Fire Chief Villanueva will utilize his years of service to ensure collaboration between the LAFD, other City Departments and leaders as the focus is to move forward as one.' The back-and-forth between the mayor and former chief began in the days after the fires started on Jan. 7, when Bass was on an overseas trip that she later said was a mistake, and intensified with Bass' claims that Crowley did not warn her in advance about the high winds that fanned the Palisades and Eaton wildfires. The windstorm was widely expected and publicized days in advance of when the fires started in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. In a statement to NBC4, the LAFD said the department followed all standard preparation procedures. 'Prior to the Palisades Fire, the LAFD emailed two separate media advisories, conducted multiple live and recorded media interviews about the predicted extreme fire weather, and notified City Officials about the upcoming weather event,' the agency said. Text messages to and from Crowley offer some insight into coordination for the windstorm and fires. The messages include correspondence with the city emergency manager and LAPD chief outlining the plan for an emergency operations center ahead of the Palisades Fire and a message from Crowley to regional fire chiefs calling for 'anything else you can send us' after the fire started on the LA County coast. The mayor's office released a statement about the 350 pages of text messages. 'These documents show that in the day leading up to the fires, Chief Crowley was not in text contact with the Mayor or any member of her staff regarding the coming weather event until after the fires had already broken out,' the mayor's office said in a statement. Crowley, elevated to Los Angeles fire chief in 2022 at a time of turmoil in a department consumed by complaints of rampant hazing, harassment and discrimination among its 3,400-member ranks, criticized the city for budget cuts that she said have made it harder for firefighters to do their jobs. Bass has said that the budget cuts did not have an impact on the LAFD's response to the wildfires. 'My disappointment with this situation is that our chief, the chief chose the wrong time and the wrong place to raise an issue,' Padilla said Tuesday. 'Spending time talking to the press to tell her side of the story, which I think is important, versus at the command center during the fires raises major concerns about what proper time should be. And it is because of that that I hope we recognize that this is a Mayor doing what is within her jurisdiction.' Former Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva, a 41-year LAFD veteran, was announced as interim fire chief. Crowley has been with the LAFD for about 25 years, working her way up through the ranks of the department as a firefighter, paramedic, engineer, fire inspector, captain, battalion chief, assistant chief, deputy chief and chief deputy before earning the top job.
