Predictive Temperature Alarm has been the missing equipment for firefighters for the last ten years

Press Release:

Gosport, Hants, UK. 09 Nov 2018

Predictive Temperature Alarm has been the missing equipment for firefighters for the last ten years.

Firefighters across the world have hailed the STS Defence Firefighter Rescue & Support Technology (FiRST) as “greatly improving situational awareness”. Comments from end users cite the technology as being “the missing equipment for firefighters over the last 10 years” and that it is “urgently needed as a deployable solution within the next 12 months for training and operational use”.

Representatives from Fire and Rescue Services across the UK, Europe and USA, together with industry experts and instructors from leading international firefighter training colleges and fire research institutes, joined STS Defence at the FiRST End User Conference, held at the National Conference Centre, Birmingham in September.

FiRST® is an award-winning wearable predictive temperature alarm that protects firefighters from heat stress, burn injury and flashover. This is the world’s first such technology, developed using artificial intelligence (AI) by STS Defence Limited in Gosport, Hampshire. Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback from firefighters, the company is now seeking an experienced market partner to help meet the global demand for this technology.

The event itself was chaired by the former Chief Fire Officer for East Sussex, Gary Walsh, and followed several months of user trials across more than ten different Fire and Rescue Services in the UK and USA. A panel debate of experts from the Fire Service College, the National Fire Chiefs’ Council and Greater Manchester FRS was used to discuss the benefits of the AI-based technology which gives an invaluable reminder to firefighters to mitigate against the risk of burn injury and heat stress when ambient temperatures are predicted to escalate rapidly, beyond the tolerance level of PPE, sometimes leading to flashover and risk of death.

In particular, instructors of breathing apparatus highlighted the long term welfare and health risks of heat stress, and how the insulating effects of modern PPE can reduce the ability of a firefighter to sense the increasing temperature before it becomes too late. It was also noted that the telemetry capability built in to FiRST offers Dynamic Risk Assessment and much improved Command and Control.

Robert Matthews, Business Development Manager at STS Defence said: “What the user trials have clearly shown us is that FiRST can be relied upon to always spot an alarm condition ahead of time and not give any false alarms. We are confident that FiRST is technology ready and we look forward to working with the fire sector to get it into service as soon as possible.”

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About STS Defence:

STS Defence are specialists in mission-critical communications and intelligent systems, and operate in markets including the defence, marine, aerospace and nuclear sectors.

We help our customers to resolve complex technical challenges; investigating and creating innovative solutions, designing and manufacturing equipment, and integrating and supporting systems through‑life.

The Research and Technology department exploits a growing pool of expertise in artificial intelligence, nurtured in the compa­ny through its Ph.D. sponsorship programme. STS Defence capabilities in AI, are being harnessed to deliver advanced technology platforms across a number of sectors including fire safety and maritime diesel engine optimisation.

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