By Michael Cayes
Mooring Tech, Inc.
This article is provided by Mooring Tech, Inc. and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of FireRescue1.
Wearable health monitoring technology is “in”. Every smartwatch on the market has a pedometer, and FitBit is posting record profits this year. As expected, tech companies are jumping on the trend and customizing health and vital monitoring to benefit those in service fields, especially firefighters. If Suzie can see how many calories she burned on the treadmill at the gym, shouldn’t she also be able to monitor her heart rate and oxygen levels when she runs into a burning house? Firefighters work in physically and mentally taxing conditions on a regular basis. To keep them from ending up in the hospital right along with the people they are called in to save, tech suppliers are coming up with affordable equipment solutions.
The U.S. Fire Administration conducted a study in 2012, and the results were horrifying; almost 50 percent of firefighter deaths were caused by heart attacks. Even otherwise healthy men and women can experience heart attack when put under enough stress. “When you get into zero visibility, and you get disoriented, it’s probably one of the scariest feelings you’ll ever have,” says Charles Werner of the Charlottesville Virginia FD, “You’re in an intolerable environment — it’s literally un-survivable without protection, but you only have a limited amount of air, and depending on how hot it is, you can only stand the heat so long.” Thousands of men and women walk into conditions just like that every day. In the last five years, Motorola and the Department of Homeland Security have both developed systems to monitor blood pressure and other vital signs that can give warning when a firefighter needs to be pulled from their position or relieved on a call.
The Department of Homeland Security offers the PHASER or Physiological Health Assessment System for Emergency Responders. PHASER tracks heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure and works in conjunction with a GPS device to ensure that firefighters can be tracked even if they become disoriented or confused due to stress.
Motorola’s offering is a fully integrated tech suit, complete with a helmet-mounted camera, a display on the breathing mask, an environmental sensor, a radio, and a strap that monitors vital signs. The suit is intended to be hands-free, and it is likely that the vitals are meant to be displayed to the wearer of the suit and transmitted to a database where they can be tracked by other crew members providing backup from outside the structure.
These vital monitoring systems have the very real and immediate effect of sending more firefighters in the field home safe to their families every night. Firefighters test the limits of what they can do as individuals and as a crew on a regular basis. These wearable technology options will help give a more realistic picture of what those limits are. For crews out working disaster areas or wildfires, without ready access to medical aid should they experience trauma such as a heart attack, knowing the limits and getting backup before they are hit is financially and emotionally responsible.