RFID
You Can Teach an Old Fire Horse New Tricks
Maybe you can teach old fire horses new tricks. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an emerging technology used in a vast array of applications. Today the fire service is grasping its technology to improve their efficiency, effectiveness, and safety.
RFID technology transmits information across radio waves that have the capacity to identify, recognize, trace, track and monitor animate and inanimate objects. RFID is “a system that transmits the identity (in the form of a unique serial number) of an object or person wirelessly, using radio waves.” RFID is part of the Automatic-ID family of technologies. RFID technology uses RFID tags and readers to identify object information contained with the tag’s microchip. The tag may contain data specific to the object, it may also have the added functionality of sending signals through sensors monitoring the condition of an object or person. RFID tags enhanced with sensors can identify the contemporary physical condition of an object such as a person’s vital signs; it can also track the historical use of the item for future analysis. Whether it is measuring a condition or offering identification data, RFID technology offers a means to track and monitor items automatically.
RFID technology is already being used in the fire service. At emergency scenes, when leveraging RFID technology, the incident commander has the capability to enhance firefighter safety by tracking and monitoring their activity. It can also be used as a tool to track and monitor actions for after action reports helping the crews improve upon their tactics and to learn from their mistakes. Other potential applications include inventory control in the firehouse and at emergency scenes, monitoring vital signs and the physical condition of firefighters during and after working fires, triage for mass casualty incidents, and monitoring fire apparatus performance and maintenance needs.
Fire department incident commanders have the capability to locate personnel that are trapped or in duress while operating at structure fires. Fire departments including the Dayton Fire Department and the FDNY operate with Scott brand self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) that has RFID technology integrated into the system. The frequency broadcasted by the integrated tag has the capability to penetrate obstructions such as walls and floors. The line-of-sight read range for this technology is nine hundred feet but this may be limited by obstructions encountered within structure fires.
Another potential application for RFID related technologies, such as sensors, in the fire service is to monitor the vital signs of firefighters during fire suppression activities. Firefighters operating in a structure fire are subjected to high heat environments requiring tremendous physical effort to combat hazards encountered during fire suppression and rescue activities. Further aggravating the conditions is the insulating effect of the protective fire ensemble worn by firefighters protecting them from the radiant heat qualities emitted by the fire. These conditions can have a tremendous impact upon firefighters often leading to injuries, de-hydration, and heat illnesses. RFID, combined with sensor technologies, can monitor a firefighter’s health condition during fire emergencies and alert the incident commander when a firefighter’s health is being compromised. Compromised firefighters can thereby be removed from the environment and routed to the rehab division to recover, mitigating potential negative health effects.
Similar to locating and defining the health condition of firefighters, RFID technology can be used to monitor the accountability for all personnel within Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH) zone of a fire emergency. At the emergency incident the incident commander assigns one firefighter to be the accountability officer responsible for initiating roll calls periodically to account for all personnel. This accountability system is a tool that the incident commander uses to establish the location and accountability of all firefighters on the scene operating within the IDLH environment. RFID technology can be applied to the personnel accountability system to accurately and efficiently account for all personnel.
RFID technology also has useful applications at mass-casualty incidents. Mass-casualty incidents are defined as “an incident that has produced more casualties than a customary response assignment can handle.” During these types of events the most troubling issue is tracking patient triage, treatment, and transport. Optimized with RFID technology, triage tags can be read at each stage of an incident i.e. triage, treatment, and transport. The data is transmitted to a server and arranged in a useable format that can be read by the incident commander or EMS supervisor. This information is useful in tracking the hospital destination of each patient, how many patients have been sent to each hospital to prevent overloading any one hospital, and how many patients were treated in total.
As illustrated in the previous applications, RFID technology can serve as an effective means for tracking assets. Thus far RFID technology has been shown to be effective in tracking human assets; however, it can be equally effective in inventory control within the fire service. Tools and equipment on fire apparatus are an integral part of completing emergency tasks at fire scenes. Inventory and maintenance of tools is an essential activity necessary to ensure that tools will be available and usable when needed. Inventorying and maintaining the tools is an arduous task that can take hours to complete if done properly. RFID technology can improve and complete this process without human intervention. Passive RFID tags that are placed on each piece of equipment can identify the tool, and its maintenance status. Strategically locating RFID readers throughout the apparatus room has the potential to identify each tag and downloading the information into the server where fire department personnel can maintain constant accountability and maintenance status for all of its equipment. The readers can maintain constant vigilance over the inventory, alerting personnel when tools and equipment are missing or need to be replaced for maintenance needs.
