By Alan M. Petrillo

FDNY Assistant Chief Ed Baggott says requests for proposals (RFP) for a radio frequency identification (RFID) fireground accountability system have been issued and were returnable before the end of 2014. The RFP calls for developing an automatic accountability system based on lessons learned from a demonstration program the FDNY ran in conjunction with the NRL where officers and commanders could automatically see the number and identities of firefighters on an apparatus or nearby at the scene of a call.

The NRL system uses an RFID tag carried by each firefighter, says Rob Roberts, program manager and section head of the FDNY RFID personnel location system at the NRL's Space Systems Center for Space Technology. "This is what's called an active RFID tag, which means it has a battery in it that sends out a ping every five seconds," Roberts says. "The pings are picked up by a radio receiver on the fire vehicle, which builds a table of identifiers. That table of every firefighter either on or near the vehicle gets displayed on the vehicle's mobile data terminal (MDT)."

Roberts says the RFID tag is small-one inch wide by two inches long by ¼ inch thick. "It's very light and is sealed in plastic so it's waterproof," he adds. "Essentially, it looks like a small key fob."

Baggott points out that the RFID tag used in the FDNY program was sewn into each participating firefighter's bunker coat. "The key to making it a part of the gear is that everyone would be wearing their tag and they can't forget it," he says. "When a firefighter steps into the apparatus, the system automatically picks up a signal from the chip in the RFID tag that has information encoded from a database."

1 The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) had the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) develop a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag worn by firefighters that provided information into an automatic accountability system on their apparatus. The NRL demonstration program involved 15 pumpers and aerials and one rescue truck. (Photos courtesy of U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.)

Program Origins

David DeRieux, NRL Space Systems associate superintendent for Code 8100 Space Systems Development Department, says the demonstration program with FDNY had its birth five years ago when NRL personnel were brought to New York to talk with FDNY officials about programmable radios. "We met Deputy Chief Joseph Pfeifer then, and he asked us if we had a solution for the problem of determining who was on a fire truck at any particular time," DeRieux says.

He notes that Pfeifer explained the difficulties facing commanders in keeping track of firefighters and apparatus during the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center incident and says Pfeifer noted he sometimes has firefighters become dazed and confused during an operation where they may not make it out of a building, or they might end up in the wrong area for roll call.

"At the time, I was using an EZPass (traffic toll pass) on a daily basis and tho