Firefighting is an inherently dangerous environment and firefighters are exposed to risk while performing their duties. Therefore, maintaining constant communication and awareness is a key element in firefighter safety. Firefighters want to be connected to each other and to their officers on and off-site.

The Connected Firefighter Platform

MSA’s Connected Firefighter is a platform of products that provides connections when you need them most, offers simplified safety through technology, and delivers data driven insights. Together, the products create visibility, increase efficiency, promote situational awareness and enable accountability for everyone on the scene, all while creating a network of safety.

This set of technology connects the fireground to the cloud from the M1 SCBA Telemetry solution to LUNAR – a small, wireless device, designed to provide protection for firefighters through enhanced vision, as well as situational awareness and the FireGrid Software and App; all to improve teams’ connectivity.

FireGrid Suite of Software Applications – The Future is Now

FireGrid is a key component of MSA’s Connected Firefighter ecosystem. It is a cloud-based software platform easily accessible from anywhere which provides an additional layer of firefighter safety by collecting smart data to increase a department’s capability for managing products, people, and processes. On-scene information is aggregated from products and is available for immediate usage or stored for post-scene data reporting. So, it could be used by a department’s incident commander, someone monitoring off-scene remotely, a fleet maintenance manager, or even a training officer.

The FireGrid applications supply monitoring, maintenance, reporting, and inventory management. Let’s take a closer look at each of these four important elements.

Monitoring can have a local scope with an incident commander on the scene, or it could be carried out remotely for the MSA M1 Breathing Apparatus device through MSA HUB and M1 Control Module or MSA LUNAR device. What’s the difference? For example, the FireGrid Monitor tablet application or web platform allows monitoring of air management information and alarm status. With the use of FireGrid Monitor, Incident Command has control and instant confirmation is in the palm of their hand to ensure the safety of the entire team. Remote Monitoring provides a read-only view of what is going on at one of multiple scenes , from anywhere in the world.

Reporting – data collection and transparency are critical during an active scene but also after it has been concluded. FireGrid can be used for efficient post-scene processing and report generation, giving insight into fire ground operations and incidents Maintenance Managers and Training Officers will acquire the information and historical data they need for preventative maintenance and personnel injury prevention.

Systematic data collection and access to it after days, months, or years will allow for analyses that translate into relevant insights driving informed decisions. This can be on-device data, such as what’s going on with a fire brigade’s firefighting products. It also focuses on incident data like when a firefighter went into alarm and how long they were in alarm. As a result, departments can offer training insights from the information received from FireGrid.

Maintenance plays a key role in configurations and updates of the equipment. The maintenance aspect is how the company expands to a network of safety, which impacts everyone in the fire service. The FireGrid Configure mobile application provides easy personalisation, configuration, and even update of multiple LUNAR devices. In addition, it allows creating a shareable personalisation profile in a few simple steps with configuration settings shared with the team. This modern software simplifies over-the-air updates and gives the ability to retrieve data logs via the web-based platform.

Inventory management focuses on managing assets and the information associated with them. This can include things like what personnel they belong to, testing, and work orders. In the future, FireGrid will interface many of MSA’s product lines from breathing apparatus to a range of fire helmets or fire protective clothing.

To learn more about MSA’s FireGrid, click here.

This article has been produced by Yohan Morel, Marketing Leader, First Responder & Government Segments, EMEA