You, a firefighter preps for the unknowns when entering a smoke-filled building as to what lies behind the door once it has been breached to enter to fight fire.  What could be on the other side of that door or window?  Is there anyone inside?  What would happen if it is so densely populated by smoke that you happen to get separated from your company without realizing it?  It happens, but you train and work hard so this may not turn into a reality as not to happen.  You in the back of your mind it can but you and your crew train and drill like it is the worst of the worst cases to prepare yourselves.

It is a well-known fact that entering a heavy smoke-filled building that sometimes it is just so thick, you can’t even see your hand in front of your mask or you find yourself crawling on the floor feeling yourself around in the pitch black. 

What would happen if you or one of your firefighters got separated inside a burning building unable to reconnect with your lifeline? Trying to feel your way through the pitch black smoke laced environment probably could be real frustrating or damn right scary.  What to do?

A group of six firefighters experienced this same situation when the group were battling a blaze in a Worcester, Massachussetts cold storage building on December 3, 1999.  The group became disoriented inside the large building and were killed when they become separated.  Command was unsure where their personnel was inside the building causing a delay in rescuing them.   The six firefighters lives perished needlessly. 

Remembering Worcester’s six Heroes on this tragic day, a group of inspired researches formed an organization pooling originally as an organization of college professors that now has led to an industry-wide project.  It now commands the attention of bringing and combining scientists with manufacturers together annually at the Firefighter International Workshop on Personnel Location and Tracking Technology on an annual basis.

TRX System’s CEO Carol Politi and team have plans to unveil the new Sentrix Firefighter Tracking Technology device in 2013.  This is a unit that is the same size as a deck of cards attached to a belt worn around the waist of a firefighter.  It uses a series of algorithms and in-building data to wirelessly transmit the location of personnel to command staff.  The device consists of a mix of GPS, RF signals and WiFi sensors including accelerometers and gyroscopes sensors, similar to what you’d find in a GPS enabling them to create a 3D image of where a person is currently at in real-time. and where they have been.  Just think of all of the training and real-life possibilities that the device could use?  Amazing and impressive. 

One particular Fire Department took the product to the real test at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, a training and education system for emergency response personnel located at the University of Maryland.  The drill consisted of a firefighter lost on a floor in a burning building.  The sensor transmitted back the information to the IC’s laptop which indicated a 3D version of the firefighter on the computer screen listing which the floor of the burning building he was on and the pinpointed location on that floor.  The RIT team went in to rescue their firefighter.  The Fire Chief was quite impressed!

I’d say this is quite the product and if it can help save one life or more, then it is clearly the winner and should replace the now widely used PASS System that is used by most Fire Departments.

What are you thoughts?

Sources:  www.mrfi.org; The Fire Chief.com; Fire Rescue 1

(c) 2012 The NW Fire Blog

Lisa Swenson, Staff Writer