With a bit of luck President Bush won’t be showing his face in Dubai as part of a well-intentioned Middle East Peace Tour, as happened last year. The last-minute declaration of a national holiday resulted in extensive road closures – and only the most intrepid made it on that day.

If that wasn’t enough, on the last day torrential rain caused mayhem on the roads – quite apt for a fire and rescue show.

Although the conference programme is still under development, the Fire & Rescue stream chair has been confirmed as Neil Wallington. After serving in various London fire stations, Wallington was appointed Chief Fire Officer of Devon FRS, and was International President of the Institution of Fire Engineers (1989-1990) as well as serving as fire advisor to the UK government.

Amongst the subjects being covered by the Fire and Rescue stream will be:

• high rise tower fire protection and safety (active and passive)
• high rise tower firefighting strategies and tactics
• oil and gas firefighting installations
• communications technology
• urban search and rescue
• developments and trends in firefighting and rescue equipment.

Other work streams planned in the conference are commercial security, information security, homeland security, and safety and health.

Disaster response is likely to be a central subject discussed during the event, bearing in mind recent calls for the creation of a UAE disaster response agency. The proposals were made in March by Rashid Al Hajri, Head of Information and Public Relations, Zayed Higher Foundation for Humanitarian Care, at the 5th Arab forum for administrative development, held in Cairo. Al Hajri called for the formation of programmes to deal with emergencies in the Arab world.

As the region’s most rapidly growing city, Dubai has seen its share of emergencies in the last few years. In March, two people were killed and five injured following an explosion at an illegal fireworks warehouse in the Al Quoz industrial area. The fire spread to over 70 nearby warehouses and losses were estimated at round Dh600 million.

At least seven other emergencies have occurred in the Al Quoz industrial area in the last five years. The lightning pace of construction in Dubai has resulted in a number of construction accidents – 249 in 2007, nearly half of which involved workers falling from heights. Dubai has reacted by planning up to 500 site visits per day by the Building Department Inspection Section, up from the current rate of 150 per day.

Construction safety will thus be a key theme for this year’s conference and exhibition, and a special display for safety at height will highlight the latest practices and techniques in active and passive fall protection.
As regards exhibitors, organiser Messe Frankfurt expects 800 companies from 53 countries.

Amongst those attending will be Akron Brass, who’ll be introducing a number of developments such as the new enhanced TurboJet and Assault handline nozzles. Improvements include making the nozzles easier disassemble and thus repair; easier pattern identification; and reduced rotation by as much as 50 per cent when changing from fog to straight stream.

Also on show will be BlazeMaster CPVC pipe and fittings by Lubrizol Advance Material. These CPVC pipes and fittings have a 23-year track record in fire sprinklers, and are a cost-effective alternative to steel pipe while also being easier to install.

German fire detection system manufacturer Detectomat will be exhibiting its range of modular fire detection and alarms, as well as addressable systems that can be hardwired or radio/wireless linked using its radio gateway products.

Visitors looking for mobile high-flow foam proportioning units may want to visit FoamPro’s stand, to see for themselves the AccuMax Rapid Deployment Foam System. This integrated and self contained proportioning unit does not require extensive setup with multiple suction hoses, or complicated flow/pressure calculations as with older, man-ually operated proportioners.

FoamPro believes that the AccuMax is the ultimate in mobile high-flow units, and that it will revolutionise big foam attacks when time and safety are the top priorities. IFJ will also be exhibiting at Intersec under the name Hemming Fire & Security, and we very much look forward to seeing you there. 

Printer friendly version