Fire Fighting Technology

Fire Fighting Technology

Innovations in Communication Technology

This 80,000 pound powerhouse was just purchased by the Swarthmore Fire & Protective Association. Equipped with a 100-foot aerial and a 2000 gallon per minute (gpm) Hale single stage pump, Tower 14 can knock down just about any fire.

"The first five minutes after the first fire apparatus arrives on scene at a large-scale fire are coordinated chaos."

Joe Lombardo of the Garden City Fire Department made it a point during fire school to emphasize that a good firefighter will always maintain a clear head even in the most harrowing of circumstances. This task may be difficult in situations where an enormous amount of information must be transmitted to effectively fight the fire. Recent innovations in fire scene communication technology have allowed for more information to be transferred to the appropriate firefighters before and during the initial attack. The following outline some of the more important innovations to fire communication technology:

Communications between Incident Command and Firefighters on scene:

Digital technology is rapidly becoming integrated into fireground operations because, in general, voice clarity is much better than conventional radio, because it is easier to encrypt than analog. Mary Jane Dittmar, of Fire Engineering magazine, describes the technologies as working by "converting a voice into binary information and then compressing it. Through modulation and encoding formats, the analog information is converted to digital data, compressed, and then converted back again, while still maintaining acceptable levels of voice quality. Digital technology is clearer and easier to understand than analog technology because background ...

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...er units. All this information is now immedeately available to the first out engine so that the incident commander can come up with a plan of attack before even assessing the scene first hand. As such, the coordinated chaos may very well be sorted out before the apparatus even arrives on scene.

Works Cited:

Anderson, Leif. Using Technology to Manage the Information Overflow. "Fire Engineering." May 2002.

Bachman, Eric. Pre-Incident Size Up: An Important Response Tool."Fire Engineering." April 2002.

Cobb, Ralph. Benefiting from Military Technology. "Fire Engineering." May 2002.

Dittmar, Mary Jane. Fireground Communications: Strategies for Meeting Today's Challenges. "Fire Engineering." May 2002.

Hawkins, Clayton. A Model to Improve Emergency Management. "Fire Engineering." April 2002.

http://www.nfpa.org/Home/index.asp (visited December 15, 2002)