Graffiti gangs face new high-tech weaponry in the war against graffiti |
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Last year graffiti vandalism cost the Melbourne Metro network a whopping million and a group of local councils in NSW a whopping .5 million dollars. With the need to remove graffiti becoming an epidemic, individuals, companies and local community groups are now seeking out new-technology in the war against graffiti attacks.With graffiti removal in Melbourne and Sydney becoming such a problem, transport companies such as Metro have invested in a new technology called the ‘Graffit-e-nose’ which senses when paint is being sprayed at graffiti hot-spots. This technology was developed by Australian inventor, Graham Bell and in addition to sending a text message, a new model of the ‘Graffit-e-nose’ can now be programmed to set off alarms, turn on lights, or even activate sprinklers.Operations centres like the one in Melbourne are also using camera software which, over time, learns patterns of normal movements, then sends an alert when something unexpected happens. “We don’t have to watch the 4800 cameras to know something’s happening, because we’ve now got the smarts to tell us when things are not quite right,” Mr Bria said.The ‘Graffit-e-nose’ detects fumes up to 50 metres downwind of their source, and its range could be increased to 100 metres if ducts were added to pump air towards the device. |
 Graffiti Vandals caught on hidden camera |
Measures by graffiti vandals to elude authorities are still used, such as wearing stolen ‘Metro’ uniforms but police are monitoring social media accounts to predict when they will strike next. “We get the intel and believe we’ll know when and where something’s going to occur,” says Melbourne Police Inspector Darren Cooper.“We put ourselves in a position where we can make the arrest.”And police actually want gangs to keep posting their images online because “the more visible they make themselves, the easier it is to detect them,” Inspector Cooper said.Cameras across the major cities in Australia including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide are now coming on board to utilise this new technology in an effort to efficiently monitor trains, car parks, depots and the large expanses of regularly targeted ‘graffiti hot-spots’ that cost ratepayers, transport users and local businesses both time and money.“We’re definitely winning the battle, we’ve taken some really big gangs down, including interstate gangs” Mr Bria from Melbourne Metro said.
Police have warned they will continue to find and prosecute offenders and graffiti removal companies are working in with the authorities to stem the tide of vandalism and win the war on graffiti. |
 Graffiti vandal spraying paint |
Are graffiti vandals repeatedly offending in your area?Quick removal and graffiti protection such as anti-graffiti coatings and these new high-tech sensor devices can reduce your graffiti problem quickly and with long-lasting results.
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Graffiti Vandals ‘Tunnel’ In Melbourne
| Teenage Graffiti Vandals in Melbourne are invading underground rail tunnels in record numbers, delaying trains and risking their lives to post photographs of their exploits on social media. | |
 Graffiti Removal difficult in underground tunnels |
Trespassing graffiti vandals were caught on the tracks more than 1000 times in just seven months last year and the spike in “railway roulette” comes as authorities warn they are seeing tunnel explorers maimed and killed, and widespread delays resulting for commuters; along with the problem of increasingly difficult graffiti removal.
The self-described “tunnel rats” and “urban explorers” are mocking police efforts to crack down on their illegal behaviour as they seek to increase their online popularity for spraying graffiti in Melbourne. One member of a crew of Melbourne graffiti vandals, who would not be named, said he engaged in the dangerous activity because he enjoyed the rush and the challenge of “outsmarting the cops.” Rail authorities warn self-proclaimed “tunnel rats” are not just disrupting travel for thousands of commuters but risk their lives and limbs too. As anti-graffiti protection and graffiti removal in Melbourne become immediate priorities for the network, the duration of the delays for commuters when these graffiti vandals enter the tunnels “can range from 15 minutes to an hour”. |
 Underground train speeds past graffiti vandals |
“When this happens, trains run direct to Flinders St station, disrupting the travel plans of potentially thousands of customers. “There is never a safe time to be on the tracks or trespassing on the train network.” But the teenagers continue to thumb their noses at the concerns of the authorities.The trespassers pick locks or use bolt-cutters to gain access to the City Loop tunnels, where they engage in their potentially fatal railway roulette.They have even stolen driver cabin keys and Metro uniforms to sneak into forbidden areas below ground. Victoria Police Transit Safety Division Inspector Darren Cooper said the consequences were often grim. “We’ve seen deaths and horrific injuries as a result of this risky behaviour,” he said.The tunnel trespassers are usually male, aged 15 to 20, and are cavalier about death or injury.The prospect of fines of up to 2 does little to deter the young offenders. One of the trespassers is a 17-year-old year 12 student who had a friend end up in a wheelchair after falling while running from a train. But, despite that, he insisted: “It would take me getting my legs or an arm chopped off to stop doing this.” The terrified mother of one of the boys said she wanted harsher penalties for tunnel rats like her son, as she feared his “adrenalin addiction” might get him killed.“It breaks my heart. It’s frightening. I wait every night to hear from the police to tell me, ‘Your son has been hit by a train’,” the Caroline Springs mother said. “I’m devastated by the fact that they are willing to give up their limbs for graffiti. “They have their whole lives ahead of them. “What a waste. They get a slap across the wrist and a ‘Naughty boys, don’t do it again’, and then the cycle repeats.” |
 Graffiti vandalism in Melbourne increases |
Figures from the Office of the National Railway Safety Regulator reveal 1166 incidents of trespassing on tracks in the seven months from June to December last year. In June there were 141 reports of trespassers across Victoria, which jumped to 212 in December. In the Metro network, incidents of trespassing on City Loop tracks reflected a similar number when compared with previous years — reaching a peak late last year.
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 Do you have graffiti or stains you need removed? |
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When Pressure Cleaning Goes Wrong
When Pressure Cleaning Goes Wrong |
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 Pressure Cleaning Gun Marks |
Every single week we receive calls from desperate property owners who have either attempted to remove stains themselves or have hired an inexperienced and poorly equipped pressure cleaning company – producing similar results to the image you see to the left.This month we look at the unfortunately common occurrence of damage to bluestone tiles from incorrect cleaning technique; adopted by so many of the cowboys out there in the industry.The bleached look and pressure cleaning marks we are frequently called in to assist with are becoming far too common as cleaners neglect to use the correct equipment, jet size and technique.With many people thinking they can buy cheap pressure cleaning equipment from a hardware store the incidence of such disasters is becoming more prevalent but the good news is that we have developed proprietary techniques to enable us to restore pavements and other hard surfaces that have been damaged by inexperience and poor technique. |
Has your property been affected by poor pressure cleaning technique?
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Top Ten Fires In History
The Top Ten Most Famous Fires In History |
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| Ever since mankind first began building structures out of wood rather than stone, fire has been a part of the learning process. In fact, so common have these infernos been throughout history that nearly every major city in the world has been largely burnt to the ground at one time or another, and like a damaged anthill, rebuilt each time. And each time there has been a huge demand for fire restoration and expert fire damage cleaning such as is provided by ‘The Stain Eaters‘.Below is our ‘Top 10′ list of the most destructive, most famous, or most historically significant non-war related infernos in history. | |
 Boston Fire – 1872 |
1. Boston’s fire was arguably one of the most expensive in terms of property damage in history with thousands of Bostonians losing their jobs and hundreds of businesses destroyed. In fact, it was so expensive that dozens of insurance companies even went bankrupt trying to pay out damages. 65 acres of downtown Boston—including some 776 buildings and twenty people were charred cinders by the end of this blaze. |
 London Fire – 1212 |
2. Known also as The Great Fire of Southwark, this inferno left 3000 people dead, many of whom died when they were trapped on the engulfed London Bridge. (Yes, there really was a London Bridge, but this one was made of highly flammable wood waterproofed with even more flammable tar.) While exact figures on the number of buildings destroyed may never be known, the fire left about a third of the old city in ruins. |
 London Fire of 1666 |
3. Despite only 6 people losing their lives, this inferno is England’s most famous fire. It is remembered because it burned down many of the filthy slums associated with the Great Plague that had swept through the city the previous summer, the fire effectively cleaning the city and making it a fresh canvas upon which to rebuild. In this sense then, the fire did London a favour, although it probably didn’t appear that way to the displaced citizens of the city at the time. |
 Rome Fire of 64 AD |
4. While it is true flames gutted the heart of the capital of the Roman Empire, there is no evidence that the Emperor Nero fiddled while it burned. (Partially this is due to the fact that the fiddle had not been invented yet.) There was also a rumor that persists to this day that Nero had the city put to the torch as part of a plan to clear out choice pieces of real estate upon which he would later build his new palace, but this too, like so much about the hated emperor, is most likely just a bit of propaganda offered by his political opponents after his death. What is known it that, at least according to the Roman historian Tacitus, it spread quickly and burned for five and a half days, leaving ten of the fourteen districts of Rome either completely destroyed or seriously damaged. |
 Chicago Fire of 1871 |
5. Probably few infernos have been as famous as the one that ravaged much of Chicago in October, 1871, leaving more that 17,000 structures burned and 90,000 people homeless. Fortunately, it spread slowly enough that fewer than 300 died in the flames, but that’s of little consolation to those who were forced to face a cold winter without shelter as a result. Like the London fire of 1666, the fire paved the way for a new and improved Chicago to rise from the ashes with firefighting reforms that would one day make Chicago’s fire department one of the most renowned in the world. |
 San Francisco Fire of 1906 |
6. This fire burned 25,000 buildings over 490 city blocks and left some 3,000 dead and was both man-made and natural; natural in that the fire was a by-product of a massive earthquake that hit the city and man-made as many of the destroyed structures were the result of clumsy efforts by untrained and poorly led firefighters to dynamite largely intact buildings in an attempt to create firebreaks. (Some estimate this may have accounted for as many as 50% of the buildings that were destroyed that would have otherwise survived.) Of course, the fact that the earthquake—one of the largest in American history—destroyed the water mains didn’t help. |
 Peshtigo, Wisconsin Fire of 1871 |
7. While many people have heard of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, few people are aware that a second fire was taking place at the same time just a few hundred miles away in Wisconsin. Largely due to the remoteness of the area and the largely rural population, the exact death toll will never be known but some estimates put the number as high as 2,500. Hardest hit was the little town of Peshtigo, most of whose population of 1,700 died in the flames with many of the survivors escaping the flames by jumping into the Peshtigo River. Surviving witnesses reported that the firestorm generated a tornado that threw rail cars hundreds of feet and flung entire houses into the air. |
 Texas City Fire of 1947 |
8. This blaze was ignited by an explosion on a freighter carrying 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertiliser and remains to this day the largest industrial explosion in history. So massive was the blast that resulted from the explosion that it leveled over 1000 buildings and left nearly 600 people dead or missing (including the entire Texas City volunteer fire department). It also started a chain reaction among the various refineries and chemical plants along the dockyard that added to the carnage and left the entire dockyard and much of the surrounding city gutted. The shockwave of the blast was felt 250 miles away in New Orleans while windows forty miles away in Houston were shattered. It even knocked a sightseeing airplane out of the sky and hurled one of the ship’s anchors about a mile through the air. |
 Halifax-Nova-Scotia Fire of 1917 |
9. Most people have never heard of this event largely because it occurred during wartime and so was largely kept out of the press by wartime censors, but Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia was the scene of the world’s largest man-made accidental fire in history killing over 2000 people and injuring another 9000. It all began when the cargo ship Mont-Blanc, loaded to the gills with ammunition bound for the war in Europe, collided with a Norwegian freighter in the narrow confines of Halifax harbour and caught fire. Before the flames could be brought under control, they ignited the highly volatile ammunition, resulting in an explosion that was so powerful (estimates are that it blew with a force of three kilotons of TNT) it destroyed the town and even caused a tsunami in the harbour with a pressure wave of air that snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and carried fragments of the Mont-Blanc for miles in every direction. |
 Fire in Tokyo, Japan – 1923 |
10. Much like San Francisco seventeen years earlier, the city of Tokyo was both leveled by a massive earthquake and ravaged by a fire that swept through the rubble afterwards, resulting in a staggering death toll that some estimates place as high as 142,000 (with the single greatest loss of life occurring when approximately 38,000 people packed into an open space in downtown Tokyo were incinerated by a firestorm-induced fire whirl). Further, the quake created a tsunami which added to the chaos, resulting in the destruction of 570,000 homes and leaving a staggering 1.9 million homeless. The city was entirely rebuilt just in time to be incinerated again in World War II by American B-29 bombers. |
Fire damage affected your property?Contact the industry-leading experts in fire damage restoration and fire damage cleaning today by clicking the image below: |
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Paint Spills & Bladder Leakage!
Paint Spill Creates Urgent Salvage Operation |
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 Paint Bladder Bursting |
Paint spills, whether the result of malicious vandalism or an accident – like a truck overturning, spread quickly and if not handled efficiently can cause severe environmental damage. In the recent example of paint spill cleaning to the left, the cause of the leakage was a faulty storage bladder inside a large steel container. The paint cleanup had to be achieved quickly but also with extreme caution so as to recover the vast quantity of expensive paint that remained.
Paint Spill Containment and Clean upAccidental paint spills such as this one unfortunately do happen frequently and can cause expensive environmental damage & embarrassment to company reputations. It is important that they are professionally managed and dealt with correctly and quickly. The Stain Eaters have mobile spill response units that can be mobilised quickly to contain a spill and prevent it spreading and entering sensitive areas like storm water drains. |
 Cleaning Paint Spill |
The ‘Stain Eaters’ Proven Paint Removal ProcessIn dealing with this particular paint spill challenge we followed our time-tested process to ensure the best result for our client. In achieving optimal cleaning and collection performance we: 1. Contained the spill from spreading 2. Stabilised the substance by covering it with an absorbent material designed to soak up and retain it 3. Collected & discharged the spill according to EPA guidelines 4. Applied a series of cleaning solutions to break down the molecular bond of the paint and released it from the surface 5. Washed the surface down with water under pressure and left the area totally clean and free of any contamination 6. Vacuum collected all waste-water to ensure nothing entered a drain or harmed the environment 7. Collected all residual paint that could be salvaged and secured it to return it safely to the client So… if this ever happens to you, don’t get sweaty palms worrying about damaging the environment and dealing with the EPA, call in the experts to manage it all for you! |
 Paint Recovery Operation |
 Regardless of the location, our Surface Restoration Technicians can manage pedestrians and vehicles, footpath closure permits and waste water to get your surfaces restored with minimal inconvenience. |
Anti-Charlie Hebdo Graffiti Attack on Gaza French Centre
Islamic Graffiti Vandals target French in Gaza |
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 Graffiti protests sprayed on French Centre in Gaza |
Masked men sprayed graffiti on the walls of the French Cultural Centre in Gaza city on Friday to protest against offensive cartoons republished by the French weekly Charlie Hebdo that allegedly ridicule Prophet Muhammad of the Islamic faith.The graffiti read “Anything but the messenger of Allah (God),” and “French journalists go to hell”. The caretakers of the Centre will now be working to quickly remove the graffiti before it encourages others to add to it.
Gaza police arrived at the French Cultural Center building in western Gaza city to investigate the incident and were deployed outside the compound’s main gate as well as on the adjacent main road, an AFP correspondent reported. The French cultural centre was twice under bomb attacks in October and December. On Thursday, the Palestinian presidency condemned in an official statement Charlie Hebdo’s insistence to publish the offensive cartoon and circulate 3 million copies.”We stood on the side of the French people against terrorism, but at the same time freedom of expression has to be respected, mainly when it comes to religion,” said the official Palestinian statement. Also, the Islamist Hamas movement slammed the French media for publishing offensive cartoons satire of the prophet. |
 Bomb attack on French Cultural Centre in December last year |
Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza said in an emailed press statement that “Charlie Hebdo is a clear provocation to the Muslims’ feelings all over the world.””The aim of publishing the offensive cartoon against Prophet Muhammad is to strengthen the culture of hatred against Islam and the Muslims and an intentional incitement to using violence against Muslims,” said Barhoum.
The cartoon of Mohammed was published on the Charlie Hebdo magazine last Wednesday, in its first edition since an attack on its Paris offices claimed by Al-Qaeda that killed 12 people on January 7, sparking angry protests across the Muslim world. Graffiti is used in a wide variety of ways across the world but is generally seen as provocative vandalism and is best dealt with by removing graffiti quickly and putting graffiti prevention methods in place such as increased vegetation, art murals, quick removal and increased lighting and security. |
| For all your graffiti removal and stain removal needs including fire damage restoration, tyre mark removal and more contact The Graffiti Eaters or The Stain Eaters today! Do you have graffiti or stains you need removed? |
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Graffiti Vandals strike Broadmeadows Museum 3 Times in a week
| Graffiti Removal Needed for Museum in Northern Melbourne | |
 Broadmeadows Historical Society Hit by graffiti over Christmas – *Picture by Dennis Manktelow
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RUTHLESS vandals have attacked Broadmeadows Museum with graffiti for the third time in a week. Broadmeadows Historical Society secretary Elayne Whatman returned to work on January 12 and made the discovery. She said the museum had been a regular target of graffiti vandals — particularly on public holidays — but never to this extent. TELL US: Was your club, park or school vandalised over the holidays? Post your comments below. Graffiti spray paint was splashed across doors, windows, railings and walls, as well as on rubbish bins and the back of the Broadmeadows war memorial, she said. “It is (disappointing) because if you see them and you stop them from doing it, this is what happens — they come down and do more,” Ms Whatman said. “It’s all over the place. They’re going to have a job and a half (removing it). “This is the worst that it’s ever been.” |
 Graffiti on wall in Broadmeadows Article Source |
According to Ms Whatman, Hume Council had indicated the graffiti may take weeks to remove. “This is the first day back after Christmas,” she said.
“It was a kick in the stomach, a kick in the guts,” she said. She hopes the incident will force council to boost security measures, such as CCTV cameras. Broadmeadows Acting Senior Sergeant Ben Davies said it didn’t appear to be targeted graffiti, with the assumption young kids may have been behind it. But he has warned that offenders could face jail time. “It’s disappointing for the whole community, having to see that sort of vandalism,” Sen-Sgt Davies said. Council’s city infrastructure director Daryl Whitfort said they had received four reports for graffiti removal at the museum in the past 12 months, which was “minor” compared to problem areas such as bus shelters and parks/playgrounds. He said the museum was fitted with an alarm and “not considered to have security issues”. In 2013-14, the Hume council spent 8,000 on graffiti removal. |
| Local Council, shop traders and residents could have prevented much of this graffiti removal expense with efficiency and quality. The Graffiti Eaters proven prevention methods provide this and so much more.Do you have graffiti or stains you need removed? You want it off, we’ll get it OFF!  Graffiti and stain removal, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and more…
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Graffiti Vandals Using Fire Extinguishers to attack buildings
Vandalism Using Stolen Fire Equipment Needs To Be Extinguished |
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 Fire Extinguisher Used to Spray Graffiti Vandalism |
Graffiti vandalism has sunk to new lows in the last decade with unauthorised spray painting and tagging remaining a curse for many local councils, businesses and residents who have to foot the bill to remove graffiti on a regular basis.
In recent years graffiti vandals have upped the stakes and have now turned to using fire extinguishers as giant spray cans, allowing them to spray vandalism quicker and across wider areas than ever before. Timothy McDonald of the ABC has said “One man’s vandal is another’s graffiti artist. But if someone fitting either description wants to use a fire extinguisher to tag a wall, they won’t have much trouble finding detailed instructions on the internet.” If a graffiti vandal succeeds in refilling a fire extinguisher with paint and re-pressurizing it – hopefully without injury – they’ll be able to spray a lot of paint onto a wall in a very short time. The vandalism is usually pretty simple, because the fire extinguisher empties out in a matter of seconds, but the letters are often huge. For those who clean it off, such as The Graffiti Eaters, a local expert graffiti removal company, it can be a terrible mess to deal with as vandals know it’s easy to do and that it’s very hard to get off when placed in difficult-to-reach places, as access equipment and safety gear is usually required in the removal process. The hire of access equipment and use of industry-leading safety equipment can increase the cost of graffiti removal and is why we strongly suggest to lock or at least keep fire extinguishers and other similar items well out of reach of potential vandals. The dedicated technicians of The Graffiti Eaters are getting called out to more and more jobs where fire extinguishers have been used and this has also included paint sprayed by similar items such as ‘super-soaker’ water pistols, spray bottles and more. |
 Vandal spraying graffiti from fire hose |
The popularity of using fire extinguishers to spray graffiti vandalism is growing at an alarming rate with Lachlan MacDowall, an expert on graffiti who works in the Centre for Cultural Partnerships at the University of Melbourne saying “Fire extinguishers have been used for some time to spray graffiti and have become part of a long tradition of improvisation among graffiti vandals.”
So using fire extinguishers to spread graffiti on buildings and other assets seems to be part of a larger trend of trying to produce implements for graffiti out of everyday objects. MacDowall also said that vandals “who use fire extinguishers are partly reacting to the increasing legitimacy of street art. He says some artists don’t like the fact that street art isn’t as dangerous as it once was.” In Australia today we have a lot of opportunity for people to undertake graffiti in a legal context and also there’s a lot of custom made spray paints where you can get easily interchangeable nozzles of different sizes and a massive range of colours, so there is a sense that graffiti perhaps has become a little bit too democratised or a little bit too easy. It will for the meantime remain an illegal fringe activity that causes frustration and negative consequences but for many people using the fire extinguishers is another way to remain ‘on the edge’ of acceptable societal behaviour. |
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Swimming Pool Cleaning – Rust and Moss Removal
 Swimming Pool Cleaning Before |
Recently we were called in to clean the facade of a large property in Brisbane and noticed that their backyard area, especially surrounding the pool was made of expensive Italian limestone being severely damaged by rust, moss and other stains inflicted by the recent harsh weather in the area. As we were already onsite we were able to also clean their swimming pool area at a heavily discounted price, treating it with extra care using a specialised mix of chemicals and mid-level pressure washing. |
 Swimming Pool Cleaning After |
This technique avoided any surface damage or degradation to the grout and was able to give the area surrounding the pool the clean and inviting look it deserved.Coming into the warmer weather, rust stain removal and pressure washing of moss stains is a great way to protect your valuable outdoor areas and provide a happy and safe environment for both your family and friends. |
 Happy Family by their clean pool |
Once cleaned, protective coatings can also add many years to the areas around your home including pools, patios and driveways. That is why during the month of January when you call our friendly team, we will do our very best to ensure you get the your work completed quickly, for a great price and with incredible results that will leave you smiling all year round… |
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Graffiti Mural painted as tribute to WW1 Christmas Day Truce
 Christmas Graffiti Mural |
German and English artists have come together to create graffiti art murals commemorating the 1914 Christmas Truce during the First World War. The three artists took inspiration from the famous event that took place 100 years ago – when troops from both sides emerged from the trenches and met in ‘no man’s land’ in Flanders Fields to exchange gifts and play football. |
 WW1 Truce over Christmas Day |
The London art event, which took place this week, saw two UK-based artists and one German-based artist paint a huge graffiti mural in their own inimitable styles to remove graffiti vandalism and replace it with memorial artwork on the existing site. British artists Zadok and Ninth Seal and German artist Sokar Uno collaborated to produce the work as a tribute to the historic event but the mural is now also working to prevent graffiti vandals from coming back to deface the wall. |
 Graffiti Mural being painted to cover graffiti vandalism |
A similar project is being created in Berlin, where a huge canvas artwork by other renowned graffiti artists was also put on display in the centre of Berlin on 16th December. For graffiti protection, graffiti removal and our Top 10 Tips and Tricks to Prevent Graffiti Vandalism, click the banner below: |
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