Think Public Safety

Improving Safety for Fire Fighters Author: Sean Fitzgerald

Created Aug 01 2014, 5:00 AM by Paul Jeffs

When fire-fighters enter a burning building, safety is the main thing on their minds – safety of any occupants of the building and safety of the rescue team themselves. To keep everyone safe, effective communication between crew members within the building, and back to the fire-ground commander is essential. Fire and rescue services have been using analogue two-way radio for many years to provide this link, but extreme noise, low visibility and high temperatures all contribute to making staying in touch difficult and the older radios have reached their limits.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) in the UK had been using analogue radios for seven years. However, the radios were unclear especially when used whilst wearing Breathing Apparatus (BA), in high rise buildings and during tactical ventilation scenarios. To overcome these issues, GMFRS deployed a new MOTOTRBO™ radio system including IMPRES™ audio accessories to help suppress ambient noise and improve voice intelligibility.

Before deploying the system for use at real incidents, GMFRS put MOTOTRBO DP4000 Series radios through a rigorous set of tests at their training centre to ensure the radios met their requirements. Testing also helped identify and prove the best accessories to use for each of the different fire-ground roles: Industrial Noise-Cancelling Remote Speaker Microphones (INC RSMs) for fire-fighters, Bluetooth headsets for officers and extreme noise earpieces for use by crews operating noisy ventilation fans or high-pressure lances. The MOTOTRBO portfolio even includes ATEX certified radios and accessories for use in potentially explosive environments.

Following the successful conclusion of testing, GMFRS fire fighting teams now use the MOTOTRBO radios in every situation they are called out to, whether fire, flood or road accident. Fire-fighters can work more efficiently and safely thanks to clear, effective and robust communications

Take a look at the video by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

Read the full case study: Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service deploy MOTOTRBO radios.