Equipment Advice

[Aussie_Fire]

Good morning everyone.

I was wondering if anyone has come across or is aware of a product that is capable if realtime wireless Biometric monitoring of fire fighters. Something that could be worn under your turnout kit and track body temp and perhaps heart rate. This could be monitored real time by entry control or another safety officer depending on the size of the job. I imagain this could come back to a tablet realy time.

Has anyone got any experience with such a product? I have heard that main SCBA manufacturers do a similar thing for air consumption and air levels in real time back to an entry control officer. Just wondered if there was something for biometrics.

Thanks in advance.

Jess

 

[manlt]

There was some sort of pilot program in the late 80’s or early 90’s in the FDNY. I believe it monitored heart rate. Didn’t last too long. Heart rates were through the roof especially for chauffeurs if it was a phone alarm for fire. I think it is something nobody wants to see

 

[Lebby]

Some guys at work have been using the Whoop to collect biometrics to great success. Only problem is it isn't real time. But the data is great for health studies and contrast talk. It gives data to show the penny pinchers to back up what we've always said was an extremely hard job.

 

[Aussie_Fire]

Thank you Lebby and Manlt.

My people often work in 45 degree celsius ambient temps which if you then throw in Level two structural fire fighting turnout kit and a sturucture fire or HAZMAT operation, they can be working in superheated temperatures.
There is a huge focus on fire fighter health in Australia now. Especially with the federal govenerment now recognising 18 cancers that afflict fire fighters. Meaning if your a FF and you get that particular cancer you don't need to prove anything, it's automatically considered work related and you get full treatment and workers compensation benefits. The FF lobbyists are working on getting another 6 cancers recognised.

This had led to a focus of heat stress related illnesses that may not be acute at the time of encounter but statistics are showing the perhaps weeks later heart related injuries/deaths and even strokes. Hence i'm hoping to trial biometric monitoring and perhaps get some benchmarks or parameters about how hard people can work before we ashould consider changing them out.

So appreciate any other advice or products anyone has come across. i have found this, but no one is getting back to my emails.
https://equivital.com/products/ex-eq02-lifemonitor

Cheers team

Jess

 

[twoteamtease]

The creator of MPI here in the FDNY has or had some type of device that monitored his vitals. It was a watch I believe and may have even been some sort of Apple product.

 

[Lebby]

The creator of MPI here in the FDNY has or had some type of device that monitored his vitals. It was a watch I believe and may have even been some sort of Apple product.

He is one of the guys I was referring to who wear a whoop

 

[Captain784]

During the 1970 N.A.S.A. was developing "Project F.I.R.E.S." = Firefighters Integrated Response Ensemble System. I was involved in the field testing in the F.D.N.Y., but also the Chicago, Houston and Boston Fire departments and all were also involved. They tested a new S.C.B.A. based on the N.A.S.A breathing system used the moon missions; it became the SCOTT 4.5 S.C.B.A. when in production. The also tested new Bunker gear turnouts the 1st made with NOMEX that was an outgrowth of the flammability issues made evident after the Astronauts were lost in the capsule fire at the Kennedy Space Center. Also tested was a new style Helmuts, similar to what some fire departments use today. To find out if any of this was any good N.A.S.A. wired the test subjects with monitoring technology, that monitored the vitals of the firefighters trying out the new gear. This worked well and much good research was done outside of what N.A.S.A. expected. Textbooks on firefighter physiology we rewritten based on the new data that was collected. One outgrowth pf the program was portable Pulse Oximetry, that EMS depends upon so much now. The project F.I.R.E.S. was part of the N.A.S.A.s "Technical Utilization Committee" program. YES, physiology monitoring for firefighters is very much available thanks in a great part to N.A.S.A. Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired