Tracking technology can be a real game changer

For several years I've been following research on firefighter location technology.

Interior structural firefighting presents a complex environment in which to make such a system work and I'm very pleased to see the excellent progress described in this story.

There are so many field applications for a robust firefighter tracking system.

I have to admit that, as a firefighter and company officer, I wasn't always where I said I was on the fireground. I always had a good reason, but in many cases the personnel accountability board/sheet wasn't accurate.

Either the incident commander couldn't keep up with status reports from multiple units, communications were slow, or we were simply freelancing. (Again, with "good" reasons, but that didn't make it right.)

As an IC, and now a fire chief, it's very frustrating when you're unable to accurately identify the location of the units operating (or staging) at an incident.

Beyond the obvious safety benefits, the ability to know exactly who's doing what, when, and where, is a real game changer for upping the effectiveness of interior structural firefighting.