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8/3/18

Cooling Post

Chemours' fluorproducts business, which includes refrigerants, saw sales rise by 13% to $801m in the second quarter of this year, compared to 2017.

Increased sales of its new lower GWP Opteon refrigerants is said to be a major factor behind the improved performance and contributed to the company's total sales increase of 14% to $1.8bn. Increased Opteon sales and higher prices also contributed to pre-tax profits of $230m, up 17% on the previous year's quarter.

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Firefighters pause as they prepare to go into the John Boos & Co. facility. A fire was reported within a sawdust collection system. Graham Milldrum photo.

7/27/18

By Graham Milldrum
Effingham Daily News

A fire in the ductwork at the John Boos & Co. manufacturing site on South Banker Street drew firefighters to quell a blaze that never really got going.

It began at about 4:30 p.m. in the system that collects sawdust in the section that sifts out wood chunks, said Effingham Fire Chief Joe Holomy. The fire suppression system activated, alerting the staff and preventing the blaze from spreading, Holomy said.

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This trawler was engulfed in flames 12 miles off the Maine coast. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

8/7/18

By U.S. Coast Guard reports
National Fisherman

Just prior to 9:30 a.m., after completing their fourth tow of the day about 12 miles offshore and getting ready for the next, they lost hydraulics on the drag. It started to free-fall and pay out on its own. The brake for the drag was located aft near the starboard hatch, atop the engine compartment. The skipper left the helm and headed aft to set the brake and stop it from falling.

As the skipper headed back to the wheelhouse, the two 3' x 3' engine compartment hatch covers exploded up off the deck. The starboard cover delivered a glancing blow to the skipper, who fell down through the starboard hatch opening and into the engine compartment, which was engulfed in flames. The crewman bounded forward and managed to pull the skipper out of the compartment.

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8/13/18

By Jeremy Nobile
Crain's Cleveland Business

Align Capital Partners has announced the merger of Cleveland-based ABCO Fire Protection into its Kentucky-based fire safety platform company ISA Fire and Security.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Align notes ABCO is majority owned by Bob Titmas Jr., whose father founded the company in the mid-1970s.

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8/1/18

Summit Companies

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA -- Summit Companies, a premier fire and life safety specialist company, announced that it has completed the purchase of A-1 National Fire Co. of Las Vegas, Nevada. This acquisition is a strategic geographic expansion of Summit's existing fire protection, life safety and consulting business. Summit Companies currently has locations in the states of Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wisconsin and performs work across the United States.

"Summit's entry into Nevada is in direct alignment with the company's growth strategy to expand nationally," stated Summit CEO, Jeff Evrard. "Establishing a presence in Southern Nevada, not only demonstrates Summit's continued commitment to our customers and to client service excellence, but also expands the organization's presence in the southwest by complementing our presence in Arizona."

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8/8/18

By Iris Dorbian
The PE Hub Network

MIAMI -- Lincoln Road Global Management, LLC, a private investment firm focused on investing in lower middle market businesses, announced that an affiliate has completed an investment in Pro-Tec Fire & Safety, a leading provider of fire extinguisher and safety services in the Southeast. This is Lincoln Road's first transaction since the investment team was assembled under the leadership of Managing Partner Jeff Magny. Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

Lincoln Road makes investments in industry leading businesses that have strong franchise value, and can benefit from its operational expertise. The firm specializes in industrial, consumer retail, and business services companies in North America with sales between $20 and $150 million.

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8/22/18

By Randall Hyman
Science

Recent car crashes and airline fires have made it abundantly clear: Lithium-ion batteries, which power most portable devices and electric vehicles, are dangerous. If crushed and twisted, the porous plastic membrane that separates the electrodes inside can instantly shred and cause a short circuit, igniting the battery's highly flammable lithium electrolyte.

Now, taking a page from children's author Dr. Seuss, chemist Gabriel Veith and colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee may have found a solution: oobleck. The liquid mixture of cornstarch and water (which gets its name from a classic American children's book) acts like a solid if hit with sufficient force. While mixing up some oobleck for his children, Veith got an idea worthy of a cat in a hat with a vat: Replace the cornstarch with silica and mix it into the electrolyte of a lithium-ion battery to produce a variation that transforms from flammable fluid to inert solid when impacted. In chemical terms, it's called a shear thickening fluid.

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8/13/18

By Annie Guest
ABC News

Campaigners against a type of smoke alarm which has been blamed for tens of thousands of deaths worldwide are disappointed their bid for CSIRO test data has been rejected.

The campaigners sought the findings from the CSIRO's smoke alarm tests - conducted from 1993 to 2015 - that they say proves ionization alarms have a dangerously delayed response to common or smouldering fires.

But the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Brisbane found the documents were exempt from Freedom of Information laws because they related to commercial activity, and it was expected the CSIRO would conduct these tests in competition with others in future.

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7/23/18

By Beth Altena
The Rockford Squire

Rockford firefighters as well as participants from area departments saw first hand the differences in fighting fire in a home with a fire suppression system versus one that does not have the system installed.

On Wednesday, July 11, a specially designed trailer from Saugatuck was loaded with donated furniture and household goods and lit up. One side has a sprinkler system installed and the other does not. Fire Safety officer Ken Phillips narrated the day's training, which began with a round table briefing within the main office of the Department of Public Works compound in the industrial area in Rockford.

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