The Standard Fire Service Interface And Incident Management Information System

---

Demonstration -- April 3, 2002, NIST Building 205, Gaithersburg, Maryland

Background

For the past several years, BFRL staff members have been working with the fire alarm industry and the NFPA Technical Correlating Committee for the National Fire Alarm Code to develop new technology to be implemented in fire alarm panels. This technology includes:

• Significant expansion of the types of information available to assist emergency personnel in responding more efficiently and safely.
• Technology to allow secure access to this expanded information in various locations and formats tailored to fire service needs.
• A standard fire service interface that will allow easier access to information and control functions provided on fire alarm panels for fire department use during incidents.

A fire service interface specification has been developed and is proposed for inclusion in the 2002 edition of the National Fire Alarm Code (NFPA 72). A prototype display has been developed by BFRL in accordance with the NFPA 72 proposal that can be used to demonstrate the ultimate capabilities of such a system. Information that will aid in managing fire ground operations have been identified through focus groups of fire service personnel. BFRL has now demonstrated the use of the system with the NIST Fire Department in responding to an actual fire incident in the BFRL Large Scale Fire Test Facility (Bldg 205) on the NIST campus in Gaithersburg.

The Demonstration

A multi-room test structure was constructed inside Building 205 for a series of full-scale fire experiments in which furnishings within the structure were ignited. These fires were designed so that they would proceed to flashover. Thermocouples, opacity meters, video cameras and other sensors were connected to the prototype display. The prototype alarm panel creates a multi-function display as web pages viewable by ordinary web browsers and displays sensor measurements, onsite video, and processed information such as the heat release rate. The system was configured so that text portions (layers) of the web pages could be accessed by handheld, wireless devices such as handheld computers and text pagers.

Following ignition of the furnishing item within the test structure, analog fire detectors provided real time data to the system that was verified against physical criteria for verification that the alarm is from an actual fire. Once such verification was achieved, the alarm was transmitted to the NIST Fire Department (as is usually done through the NIST site wide fire alarm system) indicating the presence of a fire and its location.

At this point the fire department personnel were able to access the information display web page to see detailed information in real time. For example, temperatures, visibility and fire size were displayed in real time. The same information was accessed from the responding fire department apparatus on a laptop computer fitted with a wireless modem card. This is to enable responding personnel to view and query the system for real time information so they could begin to formulate tactics in route.

Once on the scene, the display in the building was used to monitor conditions as hoses were laid and the suppression team began to make entry. The wireless display in the vehicle, the terminal in the firehouse, and the panel mockup onsite all had full access to the information and could query the system independently. As the suppression team entered the structure, their position in the structure was monitored and displayed continuously (the tracking system is being simulated at this point because practical tracking technologies are still under development). Conditions in the structure were monitored in real time and special warnings would have been issued should the system determine that the limits of the firefighters’ protective clothing was reached or flashover would occur before suppression could begin.

The command officer could use the environmental readings to determine if the attack is effective and the fire is being suppressed. A reduced set of real time information can be accessed by any firefighter on the scene with a compatible handheld computer or text pager. These displays would be used by team leaders from suppression teams, search and rescue teams, or ventilation teams operating independently, but who would benefit from access to the same information on the fire simultaneously to coordinate their activities without the need for audio contact.

Result and Outcome

The objective of the demonstration was to obtain feedback from the fire service on the display format and features, information presented, and its potential usefulness in fire ground operations and safety.

It also demonstrated the capability of monitoring ongoing fire experiments anywhere in the world. This is also one of the goals of the Building 205 retrofit that was completed last year.

For further information contact: 

Walter W. Jones, 301-975-6887, wwj@nist.gov, or 

R.W. Bukowski, 301-975-6853, bukowski@nist.gov

 

 

Privacy Policy  /  Security Notice  /  Accessibility Disclaimer  |  FOIA  |  Information Quality  |  About NIST NIST is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce