The Jefferson City Fire Department is acting as a test site for new technology, affording the department thousands of dollars of equipment at no cost.
Fire Department spokesman Jason Turner said after purchasing new air packs, a representative of Scott Safety, a Tyco business of North Carolina, approached the department about trying the new technology upgrade. Turner said the representative was impressed with the department's training and policies surrounding the tracking systems on air packs, resulting in the department receiving $40,000 to $50,000 worth of free equipment.
"We're one of the first departments across the nation to use it as a beta test site," Turner said. "It works as an accountability system for our firefighters on the fire ground."
Since 2013, firefighters have used a tracking system on their air packs which can be seen by incident commanders with a laptop computer at the fire scene. These devices allow the commander to track how much air the firefighters have in their air packs and notify them when their air packs are running low and they need to come out. It also tracks the firefighters' movements, and if a firefighter doesn't move for 30 seconds it sends a signal to the commander to let them know the firefighter needs to be checked on.
Turner said the new upgrade is more detailed and more convenient for monitoring air packs, adding the upgrade makes it possible to monitor packs from multiple devices instead of one set piece of equipment.
Turner said the department is providing feedback to the company to fix any problems or incorporate recommendations from the department staff. Next month, he said, the department will hold a demonstration of the new technology.