Bobby Halton testing the HEROES pack

Comment

Comment by John K. Murphy on July 10, 2010 at 9:41am

Awesome equipment - anything to reduce the weight on our backs yet improve our ability and agility to do our jobs safer. With the trend to mount the air packs in the cabs for firefighters to don enroute to the fire emergency so they can immediately deploy on the fire ground, we have found an increase of lower extremity injuries including hip, knees and ankles as the firefighters are taking the long step from the cab to the ground. We determined that the mass and placement of the air pack on the upper back caused an imbalance for the firefighter. This has been creating stress on the lower extremities. This new lower profile pack appears to bring the mass of the air pack closer to the body creating better control and I would imagine reduce the number of lower extremity injuries – time will tell. This is a great addition to our service.

Comment by Ted R. Kolb on December 6, 2009 at 12:41pm

Bobby,
Thanks for the updates. Let’s hope that this new technology moves along at a reasonable speed through all the tests that are required before it is marketable. The fire service really needs a more user friendly and simpler SCBA. Also the profile of this new pack seems to be a great advantage for easer maneuverable inside a structure.

Comment by Bobby Halton on December 6, 2009 at 10:54am

Ted,
I have secured the inventor and developer of the pack who are producing an indepth article for us now. The pack is heading into the final DOT approval process and we will publish an exclusive as soon as approval is finalized.

Comment by Chris Johnson on December 6, 2009 at 12:20am

Great job there chief

Comment by Brad Hoff on November 20, 2009 at 9:38pm

It will be interesting to see how these new packs will integrate with our existing ones for FAST purposes. Is NIST currently testing these? Any idea on the time frame for full production and on the market?

Comment by Bobby Halton on November 19, 2009 at 3:47pm

Ted
I have the inventor and Dr. rown working on a piece right now another publication produced a piece by a third party with inacturate information. We will publish the inventors and manufactures informationas soon as final DOT testing is completed. I promise to keep everyone updated!

Comment by Ted R. Kolb on November 19, 2009 at 10:49am

This air pack seems to be a big improvement from what we know have. How about posting some additional info about the technicial aspects and cost of the pack.