Milestone Birthday for British Fire Consortium

The British Fire Consortium, the industry’s largest trade association, celebrated its 25th birthday this month with a formal dinner and dance in Cardiff, which followed the Association’s 2007 AGM. Members also used the occasion to bid farewell to outgoing Chairman and founder member, Pat Pearl, who is moving to New Zealand, and to welcome his successor, Colin Rhodes.

Pat was Chairman of the BFC for the last 20 years. He said “This was a very sad occasion for me although I’ll be coming back to the UK every three months to conduct fire alarm and sprinkler training courses for the BFC.” Pat will join Auckland based company Homesafe Sprinklers Ltd which specialises in domestic and residential systems. He also plans to start up a trade association, similar to the BFC, in New Zealand. He continued, “Since we set up the BFC, we’ve made huge inroads into every aspect of fire. Our membership is now represented on British Standard committees for portable extinguishers, emergency lighting, fire alarms, safety signage, sprinklers, dry risers, and fire blankets. This makes us the most diverse of all the UK fire trade associations, as well as the largest. We also offer excellent and comprehensive training courses including the new modular NEBOSH certificate course which is unique in the industry.”

New Chairman, Colin Rhodes, has 19 years of experience in the fire industry. His company, Cumbria based Castle Fire, installs and maintains all types of fire safety equipment including, most recently, smoke and ventilation systems. He sits on British Standards committee BS 5306 which covers the installation and maintenance of portable fire extinguishers. He said, “I’m looking forward to building on the achievements of the Consortium to date, helping to raise standards in the industry generally as well as helping our members to raise standards within their own businesses. I also want to make sure we give our members as much information as possible so they are aware of every opportunity which might help them grow and diversify their businesses. The Consortium is unique in that it gives as much of a voice to smaller companies, even one man companies, as well as the larger operations.

We will continue to encourage our members to gain ISO 9000 and BAFE registration or other third party accreditation, but it will not be a mandatory requirement of membership, and I will encourage all our members to raise issues and voice their opinions at our regular quarterly meetings and through our newsletter.”

The Consortium was officially launched at the British Safety Awards in 1983 to provide all types of end user with easy access to fire safety training, consultation and equipment suppliers throughout the UK - as well as improving the business interests of its members. Now with more than 250 members, including installers, manufacturers, and consultants, the Consortium membership offers unrivalled expertise, quality and competitive supply in all areas of fire safety equipment.