GAFSED Scholarship Program- ENTER NOW!

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATION ENTRIES FOR THE GAFSED / RANDY CARLISLE MEMORIAL EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM YOU'RE A WINNER!!! Well you could be, if you have a child entering college or already a college student! Those of you in attendance at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel & Conference Center, for the September continuing education classes sponsored by GAFSED, have heard the announcement that the GAFSED / Randy Carlisle Memorial Scholarship   program has been rolled out! The GAFSED Board of Directors wants to make sure all of our members know about this awesome opportunity of winning a chance to help pay for your college education, or your child's education beyond high school. The average cost of college books per year is $800.00 and up; so $1,000.00 can sure help to ease the financial burden placed on college students and their families. It's just our way of giving back to you the membership and to say "Thank you" for all you do for our association and this industry. The winner of this $1,000.00 scholarship will be awarded in March of 2014.       The cut-off date for submitting an application AND essay is December 31st, 2013. Applicants must be between the ages of 17 and 25 AND be an employee, a child of an employee, or owner, of an Active GAFSED member in good standing. The application and details are on the GAFSED website,Find the "Scholarship" link and simply click to get started! Visit our web link  RC MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION FORM In closing, as I picture Randy with a huge smile on his face ... full of enthusiasm, I can still hear him say, "...never let an opportunity to learn something pass you by." So, with those encouraging words we hope you will take advantage of this opportunity and make the most of it! Thanks again, and Good Luck! Your GAFSED Education Scholarship Committee DAWN BODEN,  ADMIN@GAFSED.COM

Life Kit for Battery Fires on Aircrafts.

SpectrumFX Making the LIFE Kit Available to Airlines Worldwide to Fight Lithium Battery Fires in the Cabin of Commercial Aircrafts

Lithium battery fires aboard commercial airlines are a new and dangerous threat.

Tulsa, OK, October 02, 2013 --(PR.com)-- In the preceding 10 years, fire safety and fire potential aboard commercial aircrafts has changed and the challenges faced by the aviation industry to put these fires out while airborne have increased 10 fold.

Just a few years ago technology brought aboard commercial passenger airlines did not include: cell phones, lap top computers, DVD players, Readers or iPads. All of these everyday use devices can cause a new risk of fire and explosion in the passenger cabin and in cargo shipments. All of these devices and much more use the battery technology of Lithium and Lithium-ion batteries – these batteries pose a new threat aboard our commercial airlines.

Certified and aboard our commercial airlines to fight most contingencies of fires is an extinguishing product referred to as Halon, a commercially available agent that will extinguish a multitude of fires using last century technology and science. However the FAA also states; “…Halon 1301, the fire suppression agent found in Class C cargo holds, ‘is ineffective in controlling a lithium metal cell fire’ and lithium metal battery explosions can lead to 'rapid fire spread' in cargo compartments.”[1]

The range of Halon products now being used in the airline industry are no longer manufactured. By worldwide treaty Halon is being phased out because of its ozone depleting properties.[2]

A small Aviation Safety Company in Tulsa, OK, SpectrumFX, Inc., is taking new steps to offer groundbreaking safety measures to control this new risk of fire danger. SpectrumFX is now marketing its biodegradable agent in a product called the LIFE Kit. This Kit, to be carried on board, is the first known product that will assist the cabin crew in extinguishing a Laptop or other fire caused by Lithium-ion batteries aboard airlines worldwide.

For more information you may contact SpectrumFX at info@spectrumfx.net or call 918-392-9799 and you can visit their website at www.spectrumfx.net

[1] AVFLASH NEWS October 8, 2010

[2] http://www.epa.gov/ozone/intpol/

Read the full story here: http://www.pr.com/press-release/517853

A-Gas RemTec- Shipping

Check out this video on proper shipping of Halon cylinders. For more video's about what we do and how we do it, please find us on youtube!

Clean Agent System Bottle Inventory

9/11/01

In Honor of all who serve, near and far. 

All gave some, Some gave all... May we never forget.

 9/11/01

Airbus Wins Greentec Award for Innovative Fuel Cell Project

Airbus Wins Greentec Award for Innovative Fuel Cell Project

02 SEP 2013

Airbus’ has been awarded with the GreenTec Award 2013 for its research activities to integrate fuel cell technology into commercial aircraft. The “Multifunctional Fuel Cell Integration” analyses the replacement of the auxiliary power unit (APU) and the ram air turbine (RAT) with a fuel cell.

Günter Butschek, Airbus Chief Operating Officer said: “Airbus has always been a driver in making aviation more environmentally friendly and invests around €2bn per year in research and development to improve our aircraft’s performance. We are on track to meet the aviation industry’s short-term environmental targets that include sustainable and carbon neutral growth from 2020. Fuel cells are one of the most promising step change technologies to make our aircraft even more efficient, cleaner and quieter. The recognition of our fuel cell project at the GreenTec Awards underlines the relevance of our activities. I thank our partners and congratulate the whole team on this great achievement.”

Airbus’ fuel cell research activities focus on ‘multifunctional fuel cell’ systems which not only supply the aircraft with electric power, but also make efficient use of the by-products in various aircraft systems. The electrical energy can be used both for conventional aircraft systems but also for main engine starting and emission-free autonomous ground operations at airports. In parallel, the inert nitrogen gas replaces common halon-based fire suppression systems for the cargo hold and may be used for inerting the fuel tanks. Finally, the water can be used for the water supply system of the aircraft. Another benefit is the significant reduction in overall aircraft weight – hence reducing fuel burn and emissions in flight – as well as reducing noise and emissions during ground operations at airports.

The GreenTec Awards are awarded each year for projects on eco-management and environmentally friendly technologies. The jury is composed of experts from various areas like engineering, economy and media and is supported by representatives from the economy, science, politics and media.

     

Source: Airbus.

- See more at: http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/news-events/news-archive/2013/september/airbus-wins-greentec-award-for-innovative-fuel-cell-project#sthash.bs0oXQRP.dpuf

Recycling Center Fires Causing Huge Health Risk

Recycling Centre Fires Causing Huge Health Risk

Rob Ratcliff, Content & Community Manager
23/08/2013

A spate of blazes at recycling centres raises the question of whether our drive for sustainability comes at a price.

The night sky is painted orange, and a dark silhouette hovers on an aerial platform, spraying water into the light, tackling a blaze that has been burning for almost three days already. This isn’t a wildfire, or a building burning, but tonnes of waste waiting to be recycled.

The fire at Bredbury Recycling Centre, near Manchester, is one of at least five that IFSEC Global has been made aware of in August so far. It broke out on Tuesday night, and as of Friday afternoon shows little sign of abating. In his latest update, station manager Paul Whittaker speaks of meeting with the police, the environment agency, and the council "to develop a plan for the bank holiday weekend."

Meanwhile in Nottinghamshire, just yesterday, a fire broke out at another recycling centre for the second time in three weeks. The first blaze was sparked on Saturday, August 3, and took them over a week to bring under control. Then yesterday, a second fire broke out in another part of the recycling facility in Worksop.

So what is going on? Why are there so many fires, why do they last so long, and don’t they present a risk to public health and safety?

Difficult to tackle
The why is difficult to answer, but undoubtedly the vast amount of combustible waste, stored in close proximity and in tightly packed conditions, is a huge contributor and has a large amount to do with why the fires last so long.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue’s Bryn Coleman explained the problem with the first fire at Worksop:

The fire is seated deep within a large amount of household waste therefore simply putting water onto it meant that only the top was being damped down, while the rest of it was still burning. The more water we put onto it, the more smoke there is, and clearly this is a concern for anyone living nearby.

In most cases firefighters are able to contain the fire and extinguish the majority of the visible flames, but the fire will continue to smoulder underneath the surface. The tactics that officers then use will be to turn the bales and damp them down gradually. Coleman explained on Friday, August 9:

At a meeting on site today, it was decided that the best way forward is to break down the burning rubbish into smaller chunks, damping it down as we go. The site owners will spend the weekend clearing enough space on site for us to do this, and our crews will return on Monday to continue the fire fighting operation.

For firefighters to leave the blaze, which is under control but still burning, is common in these incidents, but it shows how vast an operation this can often be.

Public health

Another significant problem with these blazes is the public health concerns. Many recycling centres are in central locations, unlike landfill sites, which are usually in an area with a lower population density. When these fires break out, Public Health England has to issue its usual advice. Indeed, we found this on each of the reports we read about recent blazes:

Smoke consists of a mixture of gases, liquid droplets and solid particles representing the decomposition and combustion products from fires. Any smoke can be an irritant and as such, if people have to be outdoors, they are advised to avoid outside areas affected by any smoke or ash or to limit the time that they spend in them.

Some of the substances present in smoke can irritate the lining of the air passages, the skin and the eyes. Respiratory symptoms include coughing and wheezing, breathlessness, sputum (phlegm) production and chest pain. If symptoms occur, people should seek medical advice or call NHS 111.

All of this means that firefighters have to work with scientists in order to test the air quality and the makeup of any smoke-carried debris. #smethwickfire

The scale of the problem facing fire services and public health officials was really underlined by a massive fire in Smethwick, near Birmingham, on June 30, believed to have been caused by a Chinese lantern. The incident was classed a “major incident” and saw 429 calls made to the emergency services -- more than three times the daily average. The fire could reportedly be seen over 40 miles away.

In the weeks following the incident, West Midlands Fire Service produced a remarkable video collating all of the data and information it had on the major incident. In response, the issue of Chinese Lanterns was debated in Parliament, and High Street shop Poundland stopped selling them. At the end of the video they make the point that there are 57 recycling centres in the West Midlands alone, which underlines the potential for incidents continuing to stretch fire service resources.

Around 20 fires have struck West Midlands recycling centres this year so far with another breaking out on Monday, August 5.

With so many recycling centres to protect from fire, how long will it be until firefighters are unable to contain the blaze within the confines of the site? With cuts facing fire services across the country, don’t we need to tackle the causes of these fires before serious harm is done to a community?

Click Here for the original Link : http://www.ifsecglobal.com/author.asp?section_id=414&doc_id=560952