Delta, Canada - SEI Industries Ltd. (SEI) is pleased to announce its recent acquisition of PremoFire™ from Vanguard Plastics Ltd (VPL). SEI will retain the PremoFire trade-marked brand and continue offering customers and end-users the Premo plastic sphere dispenser (PSD) and Premo Fireballs. SEI is committed to working towards a seamless transition from VPL by ensuring that supply, sales, product support and customer service of the Premo fire ignition product line remains consistent.

 

SEI Industries Ltd., manufacturer of the Bambi Bucket®, is pleased to welcome Michel Landry to its sales team as an outside technical sales representative for Bambi Bucket and Dragon Fire Ignition products. Michel will be transitioning with Aaron Tweedy over the next few months to become the main Canadian representative while Aaron concentrates on Bambi Bucket and Dragon Fire Ignition sales and support in the eastern US market.

 

Michel comes to SEI with 21 years of experience as a helicopter pilot during which he flew countless missions using the Bambi Bucket across Canada and Australia.  Michel has worked for several helicopter companies, frequently in a firefighting role and has primarily flown medium helicopters with companies such as Wildcat, Yellowhead and Helicopter Transport Services.

 

Michel comes to us with a wide range of knowledge of the Canadian helicopter industry, the people and the Bambi Bucket product itself, so we are very pleased to welcome Michel to our team.” says Shawn Bethel, Firefighting Division manager, SEI Industries Ltd.  Michel's first language is French, something that SEI hopes will help provide better product support and customer service in Quebec where a large helicopter and natural resource industry market exists.

 

SEI Industries Ltd. is proud to have participated in the recent 5^th International Wildland Fire Conference (Wildfire 2011) held in South Africa, May 9-13, 2011. The conference followed key aspects of integrated fire management including fire management and poverty alleviation in developing countries, fire management and carbon sequestration innovations, institutionalizing applications of the incident command system as well as international exchange and assistance programs/protocols.

 

SEI was one of approximately 40 exhibitors that presented their products at the tradeshow exhibition in conjunction with the conference. SEI’s key products on display were the famous Bambi Bucket® as well as SEI’s ground and aerial fire ignition tools that make up SEI’s Dragon Fire Ignition product line. One of the highlights of the conference was the aerial fire-fighting demonstration which conducted a live prescribed fire in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. This display was followed by an aerial firefighting demonstration using Working on Fire’s Huey UH-1H helicopters equipped with their Bambi Buckets to fully extinguish the fire within approximately 45 minutes.

 

Wildfire 2011 was organized and coordinated by Working on Fire and their efforts made the conference a ‘class act’ for the duration of the event. Wildfire 2011 was attended by several hundred international delegates and both the conference and tradeshow venues provided ample opportunity for the key players and stakeholders involved in the fire management industry to share valuable knowledge and experience. SEI has participated in all five of the international Wildland Fire conferences, held in the USA, Canada, Australia, Spain and South Africa. SEI looks forward to participating in Wildfire 2015 to be held in Seoul, South Korea. 

SEI Industries Ltd. introduced Powerfill systems as part of the Bambi Bucket product line to the helicopter firefighting industry in 2001. Since then, more agencies and operators worldwide have recognized the benefits of Powerfill with quicker dips, reduced turn times and ability to regulate external load to work within operating safety limitations. Recent contract changes with the US Forest Service to include Powerfill as a requirement is recognition that this feature and functionality is now widely accepted as a means to achieve increased efficiency and performance on the fire line. SEI will be displaying the Bambi Powerfill systems at Heli-Expo 2011 in Orlando, Florida, March 6-8, 2011 and welcomes attendees to come by booth #1218 and see why SEI continues to be the industry leader in firefighting bucket technology since 1982.