Tag Archives: fire

Over 19 Million Homes at Risk of Fire This Christmas

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CHRISTMAS PAST & PRESENT by Jenny Falconchristmastree1Regulatory body for Electricians advises on how Brits can avoid leaving their homes at risk of electrical fault and potential fire at Christmas
Make an electric check part of your routine this winter

  • 9 in 10 UK homes will be using Christmas lights this year
  • Only 1 in 4 question whether the lights they are using are safe
  • Shockingly 97% show no concern that the amount of lights they use could be a danger

The NICEIC & ELECSA are reissuing a crucial message as we approach the Christmas season; think safety first when decorating your home this Christmas.

The UK’s leading regulatory body for electricians NICEIC and ELECSA surveyed 2,000 UK tenants and homeowners. With 9 in 10 of us using lights to decorate this Christmas, some disturbing facts have been revealed about our attitude to electric safety over the festive period. In excess of 1 in 4 showed no concern about the safety of the lights they are using. This result is marginally better than the response to the 2015 study. Tony Cable, Senior Electrical Engineer for NICEIC and ELECSA said;

“Electrical safety in the home is important at any time of the year, but at Christmas we tend to forget that all the decorative lights we use around the home massively increase the dangers to our family. Just grabbing old lights from the loft and plugging them in isn’t acceptable. Everyone needs to be aware of the dangers and take into account the risks”.

Faulty electrics in the home account for 20,000 house fires each year, causing upwards of 70 fatalities. Most electrical issues in the home are easily preventable by ensuring your home is regularly checked electrically by a suitable, registered electrician.

Last year it was highlighted that people use the same Christmas lights year on year and 2016 has shown similar results.  65% of Brits are guilty of  reusing lights, which is a 5% increase on last year.

A further concern that the study unveiled is that 97% of Brits do not consider the amount of Christmas lights they have running on their tree, across the home, and in the garden; Vicente McNeill, a London based electrician is all too familiar with this issue:

“The most common problem that occurs at Christmas is over-loading due to people plugging in too many lights… In my opinion, homeowners are not aware of the strain they are putting on their home systems.”

Brits are advised to think safety first when decorating their home this Christmas. To assist NICEIC and ELECSA have identified the top five tips to ensure your home is electrically safe this Christmas;

  1. Do not overload sockets– Try to avoid extensive use of extension sockets and adapters. Do not plug multiple extensions into each other.
  2. Do not re-wire your lights– Many homeowners will be tempted, or have already rewired lights to include 2, 3 or sometimes 4 sets of lights into a single plug. This is dangerous and causes a potential fire risk.
  3. Make sure lights you use outside are certified safe for external use– Only use outdoor lights that have been specifically designed to be used outdoors. If you are unsure check the manufacturers’ instructions.
  4. Do not leave lights on for long periods– Many homes will be tempted to keep lights on for 24 hours, overnight or even more concerning, leave them on when they go out. All Christmas lights increase the risk of fire and overloading and should only be switched on whilst you are at home.
  5. Always use Christmas lights that have been certified for use– This can be identified by the European Standards Symbol (represented by CE) and the British Standards Kitemark. If in doubt, don’t use them. Always buy lights from reputable stores.

If anyone is concerned about the safety of their home electrics, or would like to obtain professional advice about their Christmas lights, they can visit www.niceic.com/safechristmas or www.elecsa.co.uk/safechristmas to find the latest advice and tips and to find a registered electrician.

 

 

This Is How Real Men Take Selfies: Firefighter’s Selfie Goes Viral

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Most selfies are, let’s be completely honest, a moment of vanity and posing. How many photos have you seen of people in bathrooms, taking a picture of themselves in the mirror with their phone? I am not immune to the occasional selfie myself, but it seems at the moment that selfie means any picture that has a person in it. The word ‘selfie’ has become as ubiquitous as the pictures themselves.

firefighter's selfie goes viral

Which is why this picture of a firefighter and his colleagues, completely exhausted after battling wildfires in California, is not only one of the best selfies of all time, but quite rightly went viral.

Firefighter Tim Bergon took this selfie to show his wife that he was okay. He had been battling the Cocos fire in San Marcos, San Diego County.

A restaurant in Escondido, Plan 9 Alehouse, then posted the picture to their Facebook page, captioned “Thank you!!!” The owners are friends with the Bergon and his family according to CBS 8. The picture has 36,549 likes and 4,624 shares so far.

Plan 9 Alehouse is also giving out free food to firefighters.

What do you think? Best selfie ever?

Image via Plan 9 Alehouse Facebook.

Does The Twitter Office Give The Best Fire Safety Advice Ever?

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At the Twitter office in New York they mix humour with sound advice, advising workers to leave the building BEFORE tweeting. This hilarious tweet came from Vivian Schiller, who started at Twitter last Wednesday as the company’s new head of news.

twitter new york office tweet

 

What do you think?

Riots Update: Ealing Man Left Fighting For Life; Backlash Continues.

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A 68 year old Ealing resident is still fighting for this life today. Police have expressed worry for the pain who is still on life support. He was attacked on Tuesday after confronting rioters who had set fire to a bin. He was trying to put the fire out. He was attacked and has ‘savage’ head injuries that left the police unable to tell his age, he has since been identified and the police are looking for his family.

On Wednesday morning three young Asian men were knocked down and killed while trying to defend their properties. Police in Birmingham have launched a murder inquiry. A man was arrested and had his car impounded following the incident near a mosque in the Dudley road area.

The father on one of the victims, Haroon Jahan, 21, called for peace and asked for their no be no more violence or retribution for his son’s death. He stated that this was not a ‘race’ issue.

A spokesman for the West Midlands force said: “The incident took place close to the Jet filling station on Dudley Road in Winson Green at approximately 1.15am. Three ambulances, two rapid response vehicles and an incident support officer was sent to the scene.

“When crews arrived, they found around 80 people at the scene with resuscitation ongoing on three men. Crews used their advanced life support skills while police officers provided support.”

Violence in Birmingham on Tuesday was not as bad as Monday but it spread to West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. London was relatively calm after 16,000 police officers hit the street with rubber bullets.

Independent record labels and filmmakers have been left devastated after a fire destroyed a blaze in a Sony warehouse in Enfield. The Pias Group feared a ‘ruinous’ stock loss. The three-storey, 20,000 square-metre building in Enfield, owned by Sony DADC was burned to the ground.

The fire affected Domino and film production companies with DVD stock. Pias is the UK’s largest independent sales, marketing and distribution company.

Other labels that might be affected include 4AD, Warp and Beggars Banquet.

A on Pias’s website said: “There was a fire last night at the SonyDADC warehouse which services the physical distribution for Pias in the UK and Ireland. Pias is working closely with SonyDADC who are implementing their emergency plans. Pias’s UK offices in London and all other areas of our business are unaffected. More information will be communicated shortly to all our labels and partners.”

The release of Arctic Monkeys’ new single, The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala, was affected, all stock going to retail outlets had been destroyed in the fire.

There has been a lot of debate about the riots from various sources, including Darcus Howe, a West Indian Writer and Broadcaster. His controversial interview has been seen by millions of people.

I disagree with him on three counts, 1) Not all of the rioters were black 2) Working class white people are just as disenfranchised as blacks. 3) There is never any excuse for this behaviour, no matter where you are from.

The student who was mugged while bleeding has spoke of his ordeal. Ashraf Rossli said: “They threatened to stab me, they told me they had knives,”. The student from Malaysia only arrived in England a month ago.

He went on to say:

‘Some of them were quite young, maybe still in primary school. They had their hoods on and demanded my bicycle.’

In the YouTube video he is apparently helped to his feet by a Good Samaritan but the thieves took his wallet, phone and Sony PSP games console.

The video was even mentioned by David Cameron today in his address to parliament.

‘When we see children as young as 13, looting and laughing, when we see the disgusting sight of an injured young man with people pretending to help him while they are robbing him, it is clear that there are things that are badly wrong in our society,’ said the Prime Minister.

The 20-year-old finance student had his jaw broken but said “Britain is great” and said he felt sorry for this attackers.

A petition calling on the Government to evict the looters from council houses and stop their benefits has had 83,000 signatures in 24 hours. It only needs 100,000 signatures to be debated in parliament.

Have your say below.

Riots Will cost Taxpayer £100 Million, Mark Duggan 'Did Not Fire at Police'.

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Mark Duggan ‘did not fire at police’

It has emerged that Mark Duggan had a blank-firing gun which had been converted to hold live ammunition

16,000 police on duty in London

England game against Netherlands at Wembley tomorrow called off

Jamie Olivier’s restaurant in Birmingham was targeted by rioters

Police Cells are now full and 44 more police officers have been injured

Three people arrested for attempted murder of police officer

Cost of cleaning up the riots could cost taxpayers £100 million

Prime Minister David Cameron has recalled Parliament for Thursday so he can make a statement

Sloane Square Tube station was among dozens that were closed last night during the rioting

Youths congregating at Piccadilly, riot police are there

People urged to stay indoors

In Clapham youths went on the rampage trashing dozens of shops and walking out stolen goods.
Residents complained that police were very slow to respond as a Debenhams store was ransacked.

This morning Clapham high street was cordoned off as a investigation and the clear-up got underway.

Rioting began in Hackney at about 4pm yesterday when hooded youths began hurling missiles at officers and setting fire to bins and cars. Masked rioters on BMX bicycles armed with batons attacked a crowded London bus during the evening rush-hour, chasing terrified commuters as they tried to escape.

Some of the thugs were as young as eight and they forced the driver to stop the double-decker by pelting it with champagne bottles stolen from a nearby Tesco. About 40 passengers ran away, some carrying their children.

Within hours similar scenes erupted in Lewisham, spreading to Peckham, Deptford and Croydon.
Hundreds of fires were started all over the capital, North London; Camden, Woolwich in the south, in West London; Ealing. People were forced to take the law into their own hands to protect themselves and their family.

In Dalston and Hackney, shopkeepers fought back against looting youths and protected their businesses. Surrounding areas were pillaged as members of the town’s large Turkish community stood up outside their homes and businesses to protect them.

Home Secretary Theresa May said this morning that there had been 450 arrests in the last two nights but she ruled out bringing in the Army and using water cannon. She told BBC Breakfast:

‘British policing has always meant and always depended on the support of local communities and that’s what we need now.’

She told Sky News the capital needed ‘robust policing’ – and claimed that police budget cutting had not had an impact on the violence.

‘Don’t let police budgets be used as an excuse for what is going on on our streets is sheer criminality and nothing else.’

Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP and former Army officer, hit out and told the Telegraph that tougher policing should be used.

He said: ‘I find it strange that we are willing to use these sort of measures against the Irish yet when Englishmen step out of line and behave in this atrocious and appalling way, we are happy to mollycoddle them.’

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh seemed to contradict the Home Secretary and said using the military had not been ruled out.

‘All options were discussed last night and that means, not that we’re doing it, the people of London need to know that the Commissioner and his management board team are considering everything and working through those options as we go forward,’ he told BBC Breakfast.

Mr Kavanagh said it was ‘a shocking and appalling morning for London to wake up to’ and he was struck by the ‘sheer scale and speed with which the attacks took place across London last night’. It ‘was truly unprecedented’

He said there was a ‘changing nature’ in the make-up of the rioters, with the profile changing ‘dramatically’ last night from 14 to 17-year-olds to ‘older groups in cars doing organised looting’.

He added: ‘And there was the far more focused attempt at injuring London Ambulance staff, there to help the community, trying to injure Fire Brigade officers and, of course, police officers.’

In Birmingham, West Midlands Police said it had made about 100 arrests and confirmed that a police station in Handsworth, Birmingham, was on fire. Merseyside Police said there were a number of incidents in South Liverpool and that cars had been set on alight.

Somerset Police reported 150 rioters were in Bristol city centre, with main roads closed and a number of shops damaged.

Councilors have said it will cost £227,000 to repair Tottenham

There is a brilliant article here on how the poverty these kids have is moral, not financial.http://www.thecommentator.com/article/359/london_rioters_are_the_pampered_children_of_the_welfare_state

And the Telegraph has a brilliant article with pictures of london before and after the riot

You can help people made homeless by the London riots by donating bedding, clothes, etc to Apex House, 820 Seven Sisters Road, London N15 5PQ