Marc Diening, CEO of Magirus (far left), with the Firefighting Team of the Year 2016 - International: The Firefighting teams from Italy, that dedicated their help during a series of earthquakes in central Italy.

All Fire Department teams that helped during the series of earthquakes in central Italy in summer 2016 have now received a special award for their performance. On Friday evening, 27 January 2017, in front of an audience of more than 700 firefighters and guests from all over the world at the Congress Centrum Ulm, Germany, they won the coveted Conrad Dietrich Magirus Award together with the title "International Firefighting Team of the Year 2016." Likewise, the jury as well as online voters awarded prizes to two particularly demanding firefighting operations. The fire department from the huge São Paulo metropolis in Brazil was also among the top three teams as was the fire department of Altenmarkt, Austria (near St. Gallen) with only 840 inhabitants. The São Paulo fire department fought a dangerous fire in an industrial company; the Altenmarkt fire department was confronted by a major fire in a magnesium foundry with multiple explosions. The award as “National Firefighting Team of the Year” went to the Volunteer Fire Department from Lehrte, Lower Saxony, for a demanding rescue operation on the A2 motorway. The Volunteer Fire Department Erkrath in North Rhine-Westphalia earned the Special Prize for Social Commitment.

"Fire departments make an enormous contribution to our society," said Marc Diening, CEO of Magirus, in his welcome address. "The winners of the Conrad Dietrich Magirus Award 2016 represent the many hundreds of thousands of personnel worldwide who risk their lives daily." London Fire Commissioner Danielle Cotton QFSM, guest of honour, also paid tribute to her colleagues. "The submissions show the great physical and mental demands of fire department tasks. I am pleased that the Conrad Dietrich Magirus Award honours this commitment." On 1 January 2017, Cotton was appointed Commissioner of London Fire Brigade – with 103 firehouses and over 6,000 employees, one of the largest fire departments in the world. She is the first woman to head this organisation.

This year, the Conrad Dietrich Magirus Award was presented by two people who will go down in history with the spectacular rescue operation in the Riesending Cave near Berchtesgaden in 2014: Klemens Reindl from the Bavarian Mountain Rescue Service and Marko Budić from the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service. With their teams and 700 additional people, they were part of one of the largest mountain rescue operations seen in Germany. After eleven days, they brought the badly injured speleologist Johann Westhauser to safety from a depth of more than 1,000 metres.

The Conrad Dietrich Magirus Award is now in its fifth consecutive year and is considered to be the "Oscar of the firefighting industry". Over one hundred fire departments from numerous cities and municipalities throughout Germany as well as from Europe, South America, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East participated in the competition, often with daring missions. A jury comprised Michel Bour, General Secretary of CTIF (the International Federation of Fire and Rescue Services), Ann Marie Knegt, Editor-in-Chief of the English magazine "Fire and Rescue", Hermann Kollinger from the Austrian fire brigade magazine “Brennpunkt”, Piotr Pajor Vicepresident of Firemax Sp. z o.o. in Poland and Tristan Reitz from Magirus chose the best applications. After being put online, they were subject to public online voting. The winners received the most votes both from the jury and online voters. This resulted in the teams from Italy and Lower Saxony being the clear winners. They received the Conrad Dietrich Magirus Statue as well

Elbeco announced an exciting addition to the company's Shield Outerwear line: Genesis, a new jacket that offers enhanced functionality with ultimate water-and-wind-proof, breathable, protection against the elements while facilitating a full range of motion. Public Safety professionals will appreciate its comfort and long-lasting durability.

NEW benefits include:

• “Quick Release” side zipper vents with stability tabs and adjustable snaps
• Elasticized waistband
• Removable Thinsulate^TM liner
• Low-profile utility shoulder straps
• Three-piece waterproof hood with drawcord that rolls up into the zipper compartment when not in use
• Front two-way zipper
• Two inverted pleat front patch pockets with top and side entry
• Seam sealed
• Optional badge tab, name tape and mic loop included
• Optional ID Panels available separately in shell colors and HiVis, plain or with reflective identification

The Genesis Jacket will be available on shelves August 2017, offered in Midnight Navy (SH3804), Black (SH3800) and Brown (SH3805). For more information on the new jacket or to wear test, contact your Elbeco Sales Representative today by calling 1-800-468-4654. More details are also available on our website by visiting http://elbeco.com/product/shield-genesis-jacket/.

The BILCO Company, a subsidiary of AmesburyTruth™, recently announced that its line of Colt Fire Protective curtains has received UL10D approval for the containment of fire in commercial buildings. Products are now available with 60-minute and 180-minute fire protective ratings.

Colt Type FA electrically operated fire curtains seal off an area which is on fire to prevent it from spreading throughout a building. The curtains are held in the up position by means of a low-voltage 48VDC motor and deploy automatically to seal off an opening upon a loss of power or by receiving a signal from a fire detection system. Battery back-ups and control panels can be supplied with the curtains and a simple switch raises the curtain back fully to the ready position.

UL 10D is a relatively new standard that covers the evaluation of fire protective curtain assemblies intended to provide supplemental, passive fire protection as part of an engineered fire protection system. The standard allows fire protective curtains to be used for nonstructural separation and are not intended to be substituted for structural hourly rated partitions or opening protectives that have been tested for fire endurance and hose stream performance.

In addition to the UL 10D standard, U.S. fire protection authorities have also recognized the need for fire protective curtains in commercial building applications. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recently updated the NFPA 80, Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, to reflect the growing popularity of fire curtains as a means of fire containment.

Since 2014, BILCO has been the exclusive distributor for Colt’s commercial building products throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In addition to the fire and smoke curtains, Colt manufactures a line of natural ventilation and passive smoke control products. The Coltlite, a natural louvered ventilator, and the Firelight, a glazed skylight ventilator are two of Colt’s many products that provide highly energy-efficient solutions for environmentally friendly building designs.

For more information on the Colt smoke and fire curtains or BILCO’s other commercial products, call (800) 366-6530 or visit www.bilco.com.