Firefighter Nation

The Boston Globe reports that research and testing by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute is getting much more closer to having a sophisticated tracking device commercially available for fire departments.


For over 10 years WPI scientists have been working on creating technology that is more reliable for finding lost firefighters. After the Worcester Cold Storage fire in 1999, associate professor Jim Duckworth and colleagues began working on solutions to rescue missing firefighters. Believing that current technology could be redesigned, Duckworth and other scientists went to work.

The creators initially sought to design a device that could be easily worn and transmit a signal that an incident commander could use to monitor each firefighter's location and condition. The device would also transmit a downed firefighter's location to a rapid intervention team, cutting down the tiime spent having to search. It also had to be "firefighter proof", durable and affordable.

Global Positioning Systems seemed to be the obvious choice when starting out however it had no benefit inside a building. Instead, the researchers began working with radio waves and triangulation. Many years later they are close to having narrowed it down to three systems and have begun conducting timed rapid intervention experiments.

Two systems utilize similar technology found in aviation and motion detection. The University of Michigan presented a "chip" inserted in a firefighter's boot, for testing purposes, monitored a simulated missing firefighter's motion and location in a multi-story building. It transmitted this information to the incident commander who in turn radioed directions to the rapid intervention team. In their test run, the rescuers located the missing firefighter in 12 minutes, even while experiencing a technical problem. A similar device worn on the back, created by Seer Technology, completed their test run in nine minutes.

The third device, by Q-Track Corp. used a short-range AM radio signal and a magnetic field to locate their "missing" firefighter in seven minutes.


After many years, WPI scientists beleive that the a device for locating missing firefighters inside a structure is closer to becoming a reality.

Read more about the WPI First Responder Locator System at the Boston Globe.