First respondersNYC tracks firefighters to scene with radio tags, automated display

Published 29 August 2014

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, New York City has been pursuing ways better to coordinate the 14,000 firefighters and emergency response it employs. Prior to 9/11, the Fire Department New York (FDNY) used a paper/carbon-copy ride list to account for who’s present). Now, on fifteen of its vehicles, FDNY can automatically see which firefighters are nearby from the onboard computer, and relay that information to the city’s Operations Center.

On fifteen of its vehicles, Fire Department New York (FDNY) now can automatically see which firefighters are nearby from the onboard computer, and relay that information to the city’s Operations Center. The system was invented by David DeRieux of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Space Systems, along with Michael Manning of Manning RF, and in close partnership with FDNY.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, New York City has been pursuing ways better to coordinate the 14,000 firefighters and emergency response it employs (prior to 9/11, the FDNY used a paper/carbon-copy ride list — Battalion Form 4 (BF4) — to account for who’s present).

An NRL release reports that the NRL’s system is based on an active radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag carried by each firefighter, similar to E-ZPass or how retail tracks inventory. “It’s in a little sealed plastic — it looks like a little key fob, actually,” says George Arthur, an NRL engineer who contributed to the project. “They’re positioned over the left breast, inside the bunker coat in a little Kevlar pocket that’s sewn in there. And it just sends out a little ping every five seconds: here I am, here I am, here I am.”

A radio receiver on the vehicle picks up the pings and builds a table of identifiers. “It just listens and says, ‘Okay, 1234, that’s Jessica Smith,’ so we know Jessica Smith is nearby,” says DeRieux. “Periodically, a program that’s running on their MDT [mobile data terminal], their onboard computer, quizzes this reader and says, ‘Let me have everything.’”

The table of every firefighter on or near the vehicle is displayed on the MDT screen. “As soon as [the driver] turns the ignition on,” says DeRieux, “this thing comes up. When they get on the scene, everyone takes off, they all disappear. Then eventually they come back for a roll call situation, and the captain can tell instantly everyone is within so many feet of the truck.”