Fire-fighters in Surbiton will adopt a new state-of-the-art breathing apparatus early next year.
Every second counts for Surbiton’s fire-fighters as they embrace the digital age and take on new equipment in early 2012.
They demonstrate training and how London’s fire-fighter roles are more than putting out fires. The latest breathing apparatus, Merlin’s Entry Control Board, will replace its predecessors.
Surbiton’s crew manager, Ian Meyer, said: “This is a life saving piece of equipment set to be safer for us and will give us more time to save lives.”
The device was displayed at the recent UK Rescue Challenge in London’s Excel Centre. It will give them more time to help communities and less time spent on calculating the mathematics when their air is critically low.
The control board calculates how long their remaining oxygen-tank has. A hand written board is currently used for this task.
The pressure of having to fiddle with hand written recordings has been alleviated by a piece of technology that can do it for them. On average a fire-fighter has 15-20minutes per job.
Each fire-fighter is supplied with a motion sensitive radio. This sensor will bleep at a loud, slow pace to inform them to move.
If there is no movement then the control board at the fire engine will sharply bleep at a constant pace to warn everyone within its surroundings that there is a problem with the fire-fighter.
An emergency involving collapsing buildings means they can send a signal to the radio inside to inform the fire-fighter that they must vacate immediately. It bleeps loud again and this time a running man icon appears on the radio.
Fire-fighters deal with physical and mentally draining risks every day.
Mr Meyer says: “We all think what if? We may become hardened to our jobs but we are never truly de-sensitised. Accidents with children are the worst. Be careful, accidents happen.”
