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9/11-inspired Collapsed Building Simulator to Be demonstrated at 2012 New Jersey Fire Expo

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Wildwood, New Jersey — By all accounts, we have passed the point of no return. 9/11, the Oklahoma bombing, Hurricane Katrina and a host of other tragedies have made it perfectly clear that first responders need real-time, real-life training to be effective. “It’s all theory until disaster strikes,” says Tom Quinn, President of Personal Protection Equipment Specialists (PPES).

After eight years of development, countless training hours of testing in a fully functional prototype, the Guardian Mobile Collapsed Building Simulator is now a reality. No longer will first responders have to rely on theory alone. Now, they can get the real-life training they need to save lives, including their own, in this unique “school on wheels”. Those visiting the 2012 New Jersey Fire Expo on Ocean Avenue in front of the Wildwood Convention Center in Wildwood, New Jersey, will get a first-hand look at what a Baltimore journalist called “a box of pain.” The Expo takes place on September 14 and 15.

The GUARDIAN is not for fighting fires, but for saving lives through intensive training that enhances individual and collective skill sets. Even the most experienced first responders will find themselves challenged by the GUARDIAN. Hindered by limited visibility, smoke and debris, encumbered by pounds of protective gear and bulky breathing apparatus, first responders will encounter the same conditions found at the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This hands-on experience allows them to perfect the necessary techniques in stabilizing collapsed environments, shoring up flooring, breaking through concrete and rebar, containing gas leaks and extricating victims through the confined ruins of a collapsed building.

While these techniques can be – theoretically – covered in the classroom, they cannot be mastered until they are performed in the real life simulations that only the GUARDIAN can re-create. Most importantly, the GUARDIAN gives first responders the opportunity to work together as a team while performing under conditions that have been referred to as being “as real as it gets.”

Already three units have been manufactured and delivered to the Washington Township Fire District in New Jersey, Pennsylvania Fire Academy in Norristown, PA, and Rhode Island Urban Search & Rescue in Cranston, RI. These state-of-the-art models expand the original mandate to include additional real-life scenarios through the addition of a Window Rescue Kit with Repelling Wall, Sewer Line Escape Kit and Railcar Tanker-Dome-Leak Simulation Training Kit.

About Personal Protection Equipment Specialists
Founded in 1996, PPES is a full-service company specializing in meeting the needs of first responders and the fire and rescue industry. In addition to the GUARDIAN Safety and Survival Training Simulator, PPES provides Rescue and EMS equipment, service, training and certification. Members of the press who wish to learn more about this invaluable new tool in first-responder training are invited to contact Jay Gundel & Associates at (302) 658-1674. Photos, video footage and details of this innovative simulator are available and personalized tours of the unit can be arranged by request.

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