Firefighting and emergency response are dangerous professions, and a growing body of research and data shows the contributions that job-related exposures have in chronic illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, and an array of neurological disorders. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently undertook two large studies focused on firefighter cancer and concluded that firefighters face a 9 percent increase in cancer...
Read More
The intelligence community has been warning for some time about “home made†explosive and chemical weapons, many of which can be fashioned from materials bought at Home Depot or the local pool supply store. Fast forward to Saturday March 14, 2015 when leaders in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq provided the Reuters news organization with soil and clothing samples taken by the peshmerga from...
Read More
Much like military conflict, manmade and natural disasters present similar challenges of uncertainty, complexity and variability. These time-constrained and chaotic decision environments require rapid adaptation and an ability to pivot quickly to changes in the environment. The complexity of the event, coupled with time compressed decision space and the severity of the potential consequences, creates conditions that are unforgiving of error. Given the austere and...
Read More
While cloud-based analytics and AI services can provide high-value recognitional services across imagery and data, too often data communications back to the cloud are jittery and quite often denied due to the crush of requests related to the incident, hampering access. Moving recognitional and computation services to the edge ensures access, but also delivers an ultra-low latency solution in time constrained environments. BlueforceEDGE is our autonomous...
Read More
The complex environment of warfare and mass casualty incidents produces multiple environmental hazards that can harm personnel and prevent the accomplishment of military and public safety objectives. The renewed use of chemical weapons in Syria, contaminated water in military on continental United States (CONUS) bases, and a deadly fourth generation agent (FGA) employment in United Kingdom illustrate the continuing evolution of methods and hazards. The lack...
Read More
Battlefield, disaster response, and public safety sustainment is both art and science; it's about synchronizing, integrating, and transporting commodities in a highly "just-in-time" manner to provide maneuver and incident commanders with freedom of action, extended operational reach, and prolonged endurance. As it turns out, the "science" of sustainment is not terribly difficult as it is grounded in basic math and computation, based on real-time time...
Read More
No matter what the public safety networks look like in 20 years, they are sure to have core capabilities grounded in location-based services. A critical component of any successful rescue operation is time. Decision cycle time can be optimized by having the precise location of buildings, core services, emergency service resources, and disaster relief sites. This information is critical to disaster relief teams and public...
Read More
The relationship between weather and emergency management (not to mention emergency preparedness) is fundamental and can be quite complicated. Weather causes many of the disasters that require an emergency response, yet awareness of conditions is essential for management of incidents unrelated to weather as the cause. For sure, meteorological awareness can have a profound effect managing the extent of destruction to life and property to...
Read More
Much like military conflict, manmade and natural disasters present similar challenges of uncertainty, complexity and variability. These time-constrained and chaotic decision environments require rapid adaptation and an ability to pivot quickly to changes in the environment. The complexity of the event, coupled with time compressed decision space and the severity of the potential consequences, creates conditions that are unforgiving of error. Given the austere and...
Read More
It's that time of year. Every fire season, millions of acres across the world burn during wildland fire events. Worse, between 2000 - 2019 alone, more than 400 wildland firefighters lost their lives fighting these fires while protecting civilians, homes, and forests. While the hazards faced on the fire line can include burnovers/entrapments, heat-related illnesses and injuries, smoke inhalation, vehicle-related injuries (including aircraft), slips, trips,...
Read More
The 2022 Blueforce Texas Road Show gives you hands-on access to the latest in Public Safety, Safe Campus, and Autonomous Platform technologies. The Road Show kicks off Tuesday October 11, 2022 in Houston. For more information, click here…
