Splitting the shadows with Nightstick
Iain Hoey
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Jonathan Gordon, Fire & Industrial Marketing Manager at Nightstick, explores the role of Dual-Light tech in delivering clarity and control in pivotal moments
Emergency personnel – including firefighters, paramedics, and search and rescue teams – often operate in environments where visibility is severely compromised due to smoke, darkness, or adverse weather conditions.
In such settings, clear visibility is essential for the safe and effective execution of their duties.
Traditional lighting tools may prove inadequate, compelling responders to carry multiple devices or to sacrifice functionality.
To address these challenges, Nightstick has developed the Dual-Light series, notably the INTRANT® and INTRANT® Duo models, designed to meet the specific needs of emergency services.
By integrating spot and floodlight capabilities into a single, compact tool, these products enable users to illuminate both immediate areas and distant targets simultaneously.
This dual functionality enhances situational awareness and reduces the need to switch between devices, thereby streamlining operations during critical moments.
In the following interview, Jonathan Gordon, Fire & Industrial Marketing Manager at Nightstick, offers insights into how Nightstick’s approach is shaped by direct input from emergency professionals, discussing the company’s ongoing efforts to refine their products based on real-world applications and the future direction of portable lighting technology in supporting those who work under the most demanding conditions.
What emerging tech trends in portable lighting have you noticed recently in the industry?
The need for Dual-Light technology is stronger than ever, as first responders increasingly require versatile lighting solutions that can illuminate both distant hazards and immediate surroundings.
Nightstick’s Dual-Light, pioneered in products like the INTRANT® and INTRANT® Duo angle lights, has set the standard in the industry.
Feedback from users has shown that Dual-Light is the single largest factor taken into consideration for improving safety and functionality in emergency situations, driving Nightstick’s innovations forward.
This trend reflects a broader industry shift toward enhanced productstandards, where simple, single-function lights are no longer sufficient.
Nightstick’s Dual-Light technology has redefined benchmarks, and shown how important a multifunctional tool can improve safety.
As a result, the focus has moved to designing lighting solutions that not only meet but exceed the demands of high-pressure environments.
With the ability to toggle between spot and flood modes, Dual-Light has set the bar for what is now anticipated in emergency lighting — versatility, durability, and adaptability are now the baseline for success in Fire Safety.
In critical moments where visibility is a matter of life and peril, how does Nightstick’s Dual-Light innovation give first responders an edge?
It’s all about situational awareness and ease of use.
Nightstick’s Dual-Light technology equips first responders with both a powerful spotlight and floodlight into a single device, allowing them to adapt quickly to changing conditions.
The spotlight cuts through smoke and darkness to illuminate distant threats, while the floodlight brightens the immediate surroundings, ensuring responders can see the ground, equipment, and other critical elements at their feet.
This duality is essential in environments where visibility can shift in an instant, and responders need to be prepared for both long-range and close-up tasks.
The ease of switching between lighting modes gives first responders a clear operational advantage.
Rather than juggling multiple tools or adjusting settings, they can seamlessly move between tasks without losing focus.
Dual-Light simplifies the process, reducing the cognitive load and enabling responders to stay sharp and focused on the mission.
It maintains orientation and helps to prevent slips, trips, and falls by thoroughly lighting your vicinity.
In life-and-death situations, this combination of visibility and simplicity makes all the difference, leading the way for responders to have the right lighting support needed for the right job.
As the inventors of Dual-Light, how does Nightstick separate itself from other lighting companies looking to adopt this tech?
Nightstick’s first Dual-Light product was a LED handheld designed in 2007.
While we knew we had something special back then, it wasn’t our desire to pioneer for the sake of innovation alone.
There had to be a focus on real world needs and bringing products to market that truly solve problems.
This is why we added Dual-Light across multiple firefighter product platforms: Angle Lights, Lanterns, and helmet lights.
In both Europe and the U.S., slips, trips, and falls rank as the number one cause of workplace injury, accounting for approximately 20% of nonfatal incidents, emphasizing the need for heightened safety measures in diverse work environments.
It became evident there was a direct need for light at one’s feet and adding a secondary flood along with the high candela spot supercharged the visible coverage.
What came next was incorporating measures into our right-angle lights such as dual-switch buttons, with emergency responders having independent control when every second is at a premium.
This is a stark difference from being forced to cycle through modes from a single switch.
The freedom of separate switches for floodlight and spotlight allows the user to turn on what they need and keep off what they don’t.
In addition, a battery status indicator is placed on the top of the light fully in view at all times.
An indicator light on the front of an angle light strapped onto the jacket isn’t very helpful, as the user being unable to see battery status while handsfree is unrealistic.
Staying aware of current runtime is vital for peace of mind and ultimately getting the job done accurately and safely.
Saying you offer multiple lights on your product is not the same as intentionally designing multiple lights for the users’ application.
Don’t be fooled.
What role has feedback played in the design and engineering stage in fire and safety lighting?
Listening and responding to feedback from firefighters and first responders has been instrumental in shaping Nightstick’s product line.
Our Dual-Light technology was created from users’ needs for both spot and flood lighting in one device.
After launching products like the INTRANT® right-angle light and FORTEM® helmet light, ongoing feedback allowed us to refine features such as longer runtimes, brighter and more durable LEDs, and ease of use with separate switches, making sure our lights consistently meet the demands of today’s operations.
We also moved the additional floodlight LED higher up to avoid contact with the flashlight strap on turnout gear.
Speaking with fire chiefs and departments, we learned that a 90º rotating head made crawling in small spaces more manageable as the light could be directed forward instead of the beam being pointed at the floor from the crawl position.
Firefighters have also expressed value for the downward-angled floodlight for improving awareness and preventing blinding teammates during close-up work.
We continue to rely on this feedback loop to continually provide value-added innovation.
Users wanted more flexibility with helmet-mounted lights, which led to the development of the FORGE® IS Helmet-Mounted Light which can be pinpointed in any direction 360º while on the helmet for exact placement.
This mount flexibility substantially increases the user experience by which the light can be harnessed.
How is Nightstick evolving its products to meet the future needs of firefighters and emergency responders in 2025 and beyond?
Nightstick is poised to advance innovation in 2025 by focusing on practical solutions that directly address the needs of emergency responders.
Under the microscope, we’re always searching for ways to help firefighters perform their tasks better and safer.
Spending the resources and time to develop lights that are increasingly lightweight, yet still perform at the highest level, is a key focus at Nightstick.
Dual-Light remains central, with key upgrades in brightness, battery life, and flexibility.
Configuring innovations like dual-fuel compatibility into our complete Fire Safety lineup allow seamless switching between rechargeable and alkaline batteries, so you’re ready no matter what the mission brings.
Nightstick’s recently launched INTRANT® Duo, addresses the ongoing need for powerful yet lightweight portable lighting.
Duo combines a smoke-piercing 55,000-candela spotlight with a 275-lumen floodlight, all while weighing only 11 grams.
This product is significant because it reduces strain on responders carrying heavy equipment while enhancing visibility in both distant and close-range situations.
The INTRANT® Duo offers the optimal combination of lightweight design and powerful lighting.
As we move into 2025, our focus will remain on designing tools that not only raise the bar for the industry but also meet stringent certifications like UL and ATEX, vowing unmatched durability in the toughest conditions.
Firefighters and first responders can expect future products to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, always with safety and raw performance top-of mind.
Nightstick will continue working directly with firefighters to refine designs based on real time feedback.
This hands-on approach guides every product released to meet the highest standards of practicality and reliability.
