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Video: MFRI & TRX Systems demonstrate tracking system.

The Maryland Fire & Rescue Institute has been working with TRX Systems in the development of the Sentrix Tracking Unit. Science Nation reporter Miles O'Brien (formerly of CNN) takes a look at this system, which promises to operate deep inside a building where GPS will not work.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), electrical engineer (and CEO Carol) Politi and her team at TRX Systems are developing a portable device called the Sentrix Tracking Unit. It straps on like a belt and consists of a suite of sensors. "The sensors include accelerometers and gyroscopes. Those are sensors similar to what you have in your Wii for example–pressure sensors ranging sensors. It allows us to create a picture of what a user has done," says Politi.

"The sensors monitor the movement of the user," explains Ben Funk, vice president of Engineering at TRX. "So when the user moves forward or backwards, left or right, it determines how far a person moved in each direction."

Posted by dave statter on December 5, 2011 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, EMS Health & Safety, EMS Topics, fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, News, Technology & Communications, Training & Development, Videos • Tagged: accountability, Ben Funk, Carol Politi, College Park, Command Fire Apparatus, Dave Statter, EMS, EMT, fire, Fire Truck Blog, firefighter, firefighting, fireground accountability, Fires, FireTruckBlog.com, Glenn Usdin, GPS, Maryland, Maryland Fire & Rescue Institute, MFRI, Miles O'Brien, National Science Foundation, NSF, paramedic, Science Nation, sellfiretrucks.com, Sentrix Tracking System, STATter911.com, TRX Systems

Once again it’s the news media’s fault. Some must see video of a car getting creamed by a rockslide. No … actually it is the other way around.

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Firegeezer has the story today of a man in Kansas City, Missouri whose vehicle became one with Engine 8 because his head was buried in his GPS.

I will let you be the judge of what Andy Edmonds had his head buried in. Edmonds didn’t get hit by the rockslide that blocked Highway 129 in Blount County, Tennessee. He hit the rocks.

People are always telling me how the media creates stories (including a comment that somehow we created the recent situation in Rockville, Maryland). In this case, I guess you can say it is partially true. Edmonds admits he was distracted by the TV camera and then things went terribly wrong.

That last phrase is one of those awful TV reporter clichés (the British version is “horribly wrong”). If you ever catch me saying that on TV just throw a shoe or something at me and tell me to go away.

Emily Cyr at wusa9.com found this story and since it wasn’t directly fire or EMS related was hesitant to put it in the STATter911.com video player (up and to the right). I told her it’s videos like this one that remind the people who read the blog that there will always be a need for what they do.

Here are more details about the story from WBIR-TV:

A Sunday morning rock slide in Blount County has shut down all lanes of a portion of Highway 129 known as “The Dragon.”

According to Yvette Martinez with the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the south and northbound lanes of U.S. 129/State Route 115 are closed.

The rock slide occurred two miles south of Chilhowee Dam.

Martinez said several large boulders fell from the mountainside around 9:30 a.m.

10 News photojournalist Jerry Owens was called to the rock slide just after it occurred. While he was shooting video of the slide, a car coming around a curve became distracted and did not notice the debris covering the roadway until it was too late.

“I didn’t even notice that rock fall right there,” said driver Andy Edmonds. “I’m lucky to have hit it in a way to not get too hurt. My dog here, she probably took a pretty good hit, but she’s alright.”

Edmonds and his dog Maybelle were not injured.

Posted by dave statter on March 15, 2010 • Filed under: must see video, News, Videos • Tagged: Andy Edmonds, Blount County, Chilhowee Dam, Dave Statter, Engine 8, Firegeezer, GPS, Jerry Owens, Kansas City, Missouri, rockslide, STATter911.com, TDOT, Tennessee, Yvette Martinez

U.S. National Grid: An advocate makes the case for its use by first responders.

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Click here for demonstration of map coordinate systems that conform to coordinate recommendations of the National Search and Rescue Committee

In September, after we ran a story about an ambulance that couldn’t find a street address, we heard from a STATter911.com reader who made the case this wouldn’t have been an issue if the first responders had been using the U.S. National Grid.

It was not a topic we were very familiar with, but it is something near and dear to Al Studt’s heart. Al has brought this concern up following a number of other incidents including last week’s plane crash in Wheeling, Illinois.

Al describes himself as a U.S. National Grid advocate and instructor with 26 years in the fire service in New York and Florida. He is the PIO with Florida Disaster Engineers, Inc. He is also a Communications & Structures Specialist with FL-TF4 Urban Search & Rescue Team, based in Orlando and a lieutenant with Cape Canaveral Fire Rescue.

We asked Al to write up his thoughts on the subject so we could share them with you. He has done just that:

A major benefit to US National Grid (USNG) is that literally everyone can be on the same page; local Fire Rescue responders, dispatchers, EMS, law enforcement, Forestry, Emergency Operations Centers, out-of-area strike teams, National Guard, USAR, Red Cross, CERT, ham radio operators, Salvation Army, etc. Citizens could be easily trained how to use it. USNG coordinates can be used to reference locations with or without a GPS. If users have a GPS, they can relate their present position to a map. If users are issued a coordinate, they can find it. What does not work is Street Addresses in times when Street or Address designators are gone, obscured by smoke, flooding or instead are completely unfamiliar to the responding crew. Street addresses are also not relative to any off-road or wilderness emergency.

The fire service needs to take steps to implement US National Grid.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE BY AL STUDT