Swedish firefighters believe FiRST® technology could be a key piece of the jigsaw in achieving safer fire and rescue operations

Firefighters and industry experts from RISE, the fire Research Institute in Sweden, witnessed FiRST technology in action during recent Fire and Rescue Services live fire training at the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh, UK.

Björn Wiberg Svensson, MBR Fire Captain and Retained Station Manager commented: “As the fire training field in Västerås is under development to satisfy the needs of both modern firefighting training and education, as well as fire research, a visit to the FSC was very valuable and inspiring for both organisations. We were very impressed with the presentation of FiRST and the End User UKFRS feedback. The live demonstration of FiRST together with the latest telemetry option reinforces the opportunity for this technology to enhance firefighter safety and welfare, and we will be contacting our current SCBA manufacturer to let them know what we saw and recommend the potential integration of this technology.”

FiRST is an award-winning wearable predictive temperature alarm that protects firefighters from heat stress, burn injury and flashover. This is a world’s first for this type of technology, developed using artificial intelligence (AI) by STS Defence Limited in Gosport. 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.

STS Defence originally engaged with RISE last year under the “First Responders of Tomorrow” vision. Artur Zakirov, RISE Safety and Transport / Fire Research, currently working within the SafePos II project stated that: “The need for safety products in this field is large and the FiRST technology can be a piece of the jigsaw to safer future fire and rescue operations.”

STS Defence Chief Technology Officer David Garrity commented: “This has been a great opportunity to showcase the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning applied to solving real-world problems such as fire safety within the Firefighting community.”

Photograph at FSC – present left to right:

Stefan Eriksson (MBR), Mats Fredriksson (MBR), Petri Aho (MBR), Artur Zakirov (RISE), Dan Harrison (STS), John Boswell (FSC), Björn Wiberg Svensson (MBR), David Garrity (STS), Robert Matthews (STS)

Represented Organisations:

Mälardalen Fire and Rescue Department (MBR)
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE)
STS Defence Ltd (STS)
Fire Service College (FSC)