To gain these stakeholders’ perspectives, we asked the following questions to them:
- Are there any potential improvements to equipment that you use for any dangerous situations (search and rescue, car accidents, etc.) to reduce safety risks for yourself and others?
- What tools are required for each job? Which tools/equipment typically break down the most?
- What equipment do you believe has the most apparent/common issues? Why do you think these have not been addressed yet?
- How effective are smoke masks, gloves, PPE, etc. as equipment, and pros/cons of various tools/equipment?
- Are there better ways to reduce the flammability of worn materials with PFAs becoming banned in the near future?
- Thoughts on drones, GPS/tracking devices, UAVs, etc. for fighting fires?
- Where do you think robots, drones, and technology can replace firefighters/take them out of high-risk or deadly situations?
- What equipment do you use that you trust completely and why? What about it specifically works well?
- Have you ever improvised a piece of equipment in a situation where there were no other options? If so, what was the missing piece from the scenario?
- How can access to the roof be made easier for firefighters
- What are some other challenges you face with traversal?
- Is there a difficult situation/decision you had to make that you would be willing to share?
What we learned from our stakeholders
After conducting interviews and receiving individual responses directly from over a dozen firefighters in Baltimore, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, we were able to find common issues among firefighters as we begin developing a solution for them. Many of the firefighters said they trusted their protective gear, but discussed possible improvements that could be made to SCBA’s (Self-contained breathing apparatuses) in terms of durability, life-span, upkeep, reusability, oxygen life, weight, price, and overall quality. More generally, concerning other personal protective equipment (PPE), the firefighters mentioned restricted motion, lack of dexterity with their gloves, cost of equipment (such as boots), weight, and reliability as issues all needing improvement. Furthermore, firefighters mentioned gas-powered tools being heavy, expensive, and time-inefficient by taking too long to start, gas meters and other measurement tools being unreliable, as well as the process of cleaning and maintaining equipment being very time-consuming. Every second wasted is valuable time that could be the difference between life and death. Other issues mentioned were PTSD, high stress, toxicity and heat damage from fires, dehydration, ventilation, and a lack of GPS technology to track how close responders are to a hazard. Another common theme discussed was the importance of planning— whether in terms of inspecting equipment, or scoping out hazards before entering into a fire or emergency situation. Taking into account all of these issues, pre-fire planning— or the process of surveying hazards in order to gather information from a fire in order to reduce risk— is a high-priority issue for first responders and firefighters that we can improve. Over half of the firefighters asked were in favor of further implementation of GPS and drone technology that could provide an initial 360-degree scope of a fire and gather other vital information. This way, firefighters and first responders could be made aware of unknown life-threatening dangers and obstacles for each unique fire or situation before physically entering a burning building.
Finalized Problem Statement:
Preplanning and information gathering for firefighters are vital to reducing the danger they face. Rescue time inside a burning building or during a search and rescue mission can be drastically affected by this initial information gathering. Problems and hazards vary from situation to situation and we seek to help reduce the risk that goes along with that.
Through the use of our stakeholder information, we developed this finalized problem statement. After sending it out to several firefighters, we have received only positive feedback from our stakeholders. We will continue to reach out to them for more information and to refine the problem statement as we continue.