Click here for Mobile Site: http://m.wbztv.com
  • Font Size    
Advertising
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

New Safety Measures In Place After Fatal Fire

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +    Comments
Dec 3, 2009 9:13 pm US/Eastern

New Safety Measures In Place After Fatal Fire

Reporting
Ron Sanders
WORCESTER (WBZ) ― Thursday is the tenth anniversary of a warehouse fire in Worcester that killed six firefighters.

Joseph McGuirk, Timothy Jackson Sr., Thomas Spencer, Paul Brotherton, Jeremiah Lucey, and James Lyons III all died in the inferno that broke out in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse December 3, 1999.

The fire in the vacant building was sparked by a homeless couple who knocked over a candle and then ran off.

The tragedy drew international attention and also spurred improved safety measures for firefighters.

 First Responder Locator System

In a lab at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Professors David Cyganski, PhD and R. James Duckworth, PhD are close to completing two systems to locate and rescue firefighters inside burning buildings, which they started developing in the immediate aftermath of the Worcester warehouse fire. "

"And we took it as a personal mission to do something to protect firefighters and began developing means to track firefighters," said Prof. Cyganski.

One system tracks firefighters in 3D, predicts flashover and transmits their vital signs from sensors that will be incorporated into firefighters' face masks for an incident commander to monitor.

"He'll know if they're getting into trouble and he'll also be able to see how the fire's progressing and if there's imminent flashover, he can extricate his people," said Prof. Duckworth.

If a firefighter is in distress, transmitter he wears will allow him to be found and rescued by a team using a receiver that guides rescuers.

"This is our way of honoring those firefighters who lost their lives," said Prof. Cyganski.

The search and rescue system is expected to be ready in about a year, the 3D tracking system in about 3 to 4 years. The professors are grateful to Congressman Jim McGovern for procuring grants needed for the research.


(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

WBZ's Most Popular

Add Comment

here. here. Need a log in? Register here
  •  * Will not be displayed with comment
  •  * e.g. (http://www.mywebsite.com)
  •  
  • Click here to refresh with new letters

Show Comments (0)

Close Window Login


Close Window Flag Comment


loading...
You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Boston Area News

Top News Stories

© MMX, CBS Corporation. All rights reserved.