The technology of fire safety has come a long way since the days of bucket brigades, and hand pump trucks pulled by horseback. Today we have high-tech sprinkler systems for every kind of structure imaginable, state of the art fire trucks, and personal fire extinguishers to help keep us safe.
But what about tomorrow? What will the next great advancement in fire and life safety be? Let's gaze into our crystal ball for a moment and see a few experimental systems and emerging technologies being worked on today that could become normal in the coming years.
Robotic Firemen
Developed by the Office of Naval Research, the Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR) will hopefully fight fires so that sailors won't have to. Advanced technology like infrared stereovision allow it to see through dense smoke. Early tests have shown the ability for SAFFiR to identify what is on fire, grab a hose, and extinguish the flames.
Ambulance Drone
The working prototype built by Delft Technical University Student, Alec Momont, is designed to deliver a defibrillator to a person suffering a heart attack. The thought process is that in order to save someone in cardiac arrest, you need to cut response time to prevent brain damage and fatalities.
The ambulance drone delivers the defibrillator and then a qualified professional directs the usage with someone near the victim via the drones two way video communication system. The drone can reach anyone within a 5 square mile zone in just over a minute drastically improving the victim's chances of survival. This technology could even be expanded upon to allow firefighters to extract victims from a dangerous situation.
Sonic Fire Extinguisher
Scientists have toyed with the idea of using sound as method for fighting fires for years. But it was two George Mason University students, Viet Tran and Seth Robertson, which finally made it work and portable. Their functioning prototype directs low frequency sounds at a fire to extinguish the flames.
Much like the thump of bass tracks in hip hop songs, the low frequency sounds produced by the extinguisher generate pressure waves in the air and rob the fire of oxygen. Once refined, this technology has the potential of fighting everything from small kitchen blazes to building or forest fires.
Smart Smoke Detectors
Everything today is smart, from your television to your phone, and even your watch. So why shouldn't your smoke detectors be smart too? Video Image Detection is based on the premise of analyzing images taken with digital surveillance cameras.
The system is connected to a computer that can determine where and when a fire erupts and direct responders accordingly. This technology is especially effective in open area facilities where traditional systems are unreliable. It is also possible to combine your security needs with your fire detection concerns in the same video feed.
Life Guard
With the increasing complexity of the technology needed to run the sophisticated fire safety systems of today and tomorrow, it is imperative that everything runs correctly. Life Guard is a high tech inspection and reporting tool that makes sure all of your equipment meets local codes and standards.
Every device in your system is bar coded and scanned during inspection to create accurate reports. Life Guard will easily find any devices that have failed and immediately supply the owner with the cause of failure, pricing to repair or replace, and even the codes and standards that the device addresses. Life Guard can even tell you which of your system pieces are still under warranty and can alert you when the warranty is about to expire.
Life Guard also stores every report for you online. Every inspection report is encrypted as well so only you can access the data with the user-friendly portal and gives you the opportunity to add any other relevant documents in a secure repository.