Presenter: Casey Grant

The fire service and other emergency first responders are currently benefiting from enhanced-existing and newly-developed electronic technologies for use with personal protective equipment (PPE) ensembles. Protective ensembles used by emergency first responders include or will soon include electronics such as communications, GPS and tracking, environmental sensing, physiological sensing, and other components now becoming practical solutions at emergency events. However, overall integration and coordination of these electronic-based technologies on a broad scale is lacking, and a standardized electronics integration platform/framework is needed. Integration of these components with the emergency responder ensemble is required for managing weight, space, heat, and power requirements, as well as to create the least interference and burden to the equipment user. To address this situation, a Fire Protection Research Foundation study has developed performance requirements for the compatibility and interoperability of electronic equipment used by fire service and other emergency first responders.