While part 1 reviewed technology being developed to keep firefighters safe dealt almost entirely with robots, the second part of this two-part feature will look at the wearable and sensing technologies being advanced to keep firefighters safe.

Helmets

While part of the standard gear worn by firefighters typically involves a helmet with a shield, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University are taking that design a step further with its helmet for firefighters that communicates haptic instructions during a fire or other disaster.

According to its developers, the “haptic helmet” enables firefighters to maintain communications, which can be hindered by conditions such as excess smoke, thus putting their lives in even greater danger.

To develop the haptic interface prototype, the researchers modified an existing firefighter helmet and outfitted it with haptic actuators, which enable users to interact with a computer via body movements. The actuators work in conjunction with a control box and radio module to communicate instructions in the form of haptic signals.

For instance, the haptic helmet might buzz or vibrate at the back of the wearer’s head to instruct the firefighter to go back, or the helmet might emit a buzz to the left side of the wearer's head to instruct the firefighter to turn left. Such instructions are communicated via a radio frequency (RF) remote or a virtual reality (VR) simulator.

To see the helmet in action, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University.

A bullet-proof helmet

Another helmet in development — this time by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — protects against both fire and ballistics.

Because firefighters also respond to active shooter events, crowd and terrorist incidents, disaster response and hazardous material mitigation, threats to firefighter safety can include bullets in addition to fire. As such, firefighters tend to carry two helmets — one for fire and one for bullets — which is inefficient.

As such, the DHS is developing a helmet that provides protection from both fire and ballistics, and that can also accommodate features such as self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) gear, integrated communications and lights built into the helmet or that can easily mount to the helmet.

Gloves

Another wearable solution being undertaken to protect firefighters comes from South Korea’s Seoul National University where researchers have developed a robotic glove intended for firefighters, as well as for other first responders such as paramedics and emergency medical technicians.

The Exo-Glove, which is controlled via an electromyography sensor for measuring the electrical activity of the wearer’s muscles, supports repeated power grasping motions — wherein the thumb and all fingers are engaged in the grasping of an object by applying counter pressure. This stance, which demands considerable strength, is made efficient for first responders engaged in various emergency-related tasks using the robotic glove, according to its developers.

For more information on the Exo-Glove, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of Seoul National University.

Sensors

Sensor technology is also emerging as a possible solution for safeguarding firefighters against harm in burning buildings. For instance, researchers from the University of Miami have developed a sensor that promises to protect firefighters from exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) — a potentially cancer-causing class of chemicals that results from burning coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, tobacco and more — present in the warm zone of structural fires.

Source: University of Miami

Roughly the size of a USB flash drive, the sensor, originally intended to measure vinyl chloride, benzene and other chemicals, was modified to also detect PAHs in real time. According to the team, PAHs react with the sensor and trigger a voltage drop, resulting in a dip in the sensor readings. This can reportedly produce a readout that serves as a baseline for when PAHs are not present, the researchers explained.

Sensor patch

Similarly, a team of textile scientists from the University of Alberta in Canada have developed sensors that detect the subtle signs of fiber breakdown — due to ultraviolet (UV) light, moisture and heat exposure — in the protective garments worn by firefighters.

Because aging protective gear is a safety hazard for firefighters and that breakdown is not always visible to the naked eye, the University of Alberta team developed a sensor patch that can be adhered to protective garments.

The sensor patch uses graphene to create conductive tracks on the patch’s surface. When exposed to heat, moisture and UV light that exceeds a certain threshold, the graphene track will lose its electrical conductivity and an accompanying voltmeter checks the sensor patch to determine if electrical conductivity has been lost — signaling that the garment is no longer safe.

Wristband

Similar technology is being developed in the form of a simple, store-bought silicone wristband that could one day be used to track firefighters’ exposure to cancer-causing chemicals, according to researchers from Duke University.

The research team is suggesting that simple silicone wristbands could prove to be a tool for tracking what chemicals firefighters are coming into contact with and where, by absorbing the semi-volatile compounds the wearer is exposed to daily, thereby functioning as fingerprints of everywhere the wearer has been and everything they have encountered.

Textiles

A textile solution has been undertaken by researchers from Xi’an Polytechnic University, Tsinghua University and other institutes in China, who have woven breathable electrodes into fabric used in the making of suits and masks worn by firefighters.

By weaving Janus graphene/poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole), or PBO, into the fabric of suits and masks worn by firefighters, the researchers suggest that firefighters can increase rates of thermal protection and also receive warnings about increased risks as they fight fire.

To create the suits, researchers wove PBO into the fabric and then irradiated it with a carbon dioxide infrared laser, resulting in Janus graphene/PBO hybrid suits and masks.

Source: Tsinghua University

According to its developers, the Janus graphene/PBO woven fabric-based sensors can detect nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), the main toxic gas in fires, subsequently enabling firefighters to change course as increases in the gas are detected.

In addition to alerting firefighters of increased risks, the suits are non-combustible and flame retardant, offering better protection than standard firefighting suits.

This feature offers only a sampling of the technology being developed to protect firefighters on the job. Check back with GlobalSpec for more on this and other technologies.