For nearly 100 years, the National Fire Protection Association® (NFPA®) has promoted Fire Prevention Week. The observance occurs annually during the week of October 9th to memorialize the hundreds of lives lost and extensive damaged caused by the Great Chicago Fire. Fire Prevention Week also provides a focused effort into teaching fire safety education and prevention.
This year, the official theme is, “Smoke alarms: make them work for you!™” According to the NFPA, homes without smoke alarms and homes with broken or disabled smoke alarms are the homes in which the most fire deaths occur. With such important data, it is imperative to spread the word about the importance of making sure your smoke alarms are working.
Join L-Tron in recognizing Fire Prevention Week
L-Tron has partnered with the public safety community for two decades, supporting various non-profit organizations, sponsoring and speaking at educational conferences and providing purpose-built technology to help fire departments perform their duties efficiently and effectively.
Our patented OSCR360 System is a multi-use tool assisting fire departments nationwide with in-house training opportunities, fire investigations, accessing unsafe structures and more.
OSCR360 can assist fire departments with:
Limitless Training and Re-Training
In addition to on-location tactical training, there are a wide variety of topics firefighters must be trained on. OSCR360 makes it easy to train and re-train multiple groups of firefighters as often as needed.
- Post incident-review and training: OSCR360 captures fire scenes in 360-degrees, so agencies can virtually revisit and walk through the scene. Users can review what went well and areas where response could be improved.
- Emergency pre-planning: Virtually tour population-dense and high-risk locations (schools, hospitals, factories, etc.) within your municipality. Firefighters can familiarize themselves with the layout and understand the environment they would be entering, should a future emergency arise.
- Fire science: Virtually observe past fire scenes to identify areas of origin, burn patterns, and fire behavior when exposed to various conditions. OSCR360 captures high quality images despite dark and dripping scenes using the OSCR360 Capture Kit and rain kit.
- Safety strategies: Learn how to safely size up a scene, control and extinguish fires, and ventilate structures. View a variety of environments, discussing potential approaches with firefighter safety in mind.
- Investigations training: Virtually walk through the digging process at a former scene to observe how evidence was uncovered, identify proof of incendiarism and connect each piece of evidence.
Accessing Unsafe Structures
Safety risks are a given when it comes to firefighting. From smoke inhalation and burns to structural instability and hazardous materials, danger may be hidden around any corner. OSCR360 can help firefighters stay safe in many of these circumstances.
- Burned out buildings: Badly burned structures are unstable and unsafe for human entry, due to the likelihood of collapsing floors and ceilings. Access the building using OSCR360 on a tripod through any opening (i.e. doors, windows, and holes in the walls or ceiling). Reach the second floor using OSCR360’s 32 ft tripod. Regardless of what angle OSCR enters a room, the tilt sensors within will automatically adjust the image to appear right-side up.
- Electrical/water hazards: Avoid unnecessary harm in flooded basements or dripping wet structures by examining the scene with OSCR360 prior to entry. In a basement, insert the camera through a drainage hole in the floor or a basement window to get a better idea of any environmental hazards.
- Hazmat scenes: Avoid dangerous fumes, flammable chemicals, explosives and more. OSCR360 is able to enter the scene first, or users can operate the system remotely/from a safe distance.
- Small spaces: When a space is too small for human entry, such as under a piece of furniture or in a crawl space or closet, OSCR360 can get the job done. OSCR is much smaller than a DSLR camera, fitting into tiny spaces with ease. In larger, yet still confined spaces (such as a powder room) OSCR360 can capture the whole room with one seamless image, providing context and clarity that individual photos cannot provide.
Take part in Fire Prevention Week by developing escape route plans and designating an outdoor meeting spot for your family, discussing fire safety strategies with your children, changing the batteries in your smoke detectors regularly, and keeping an eye on your smoke detector expiration dates, replacing them every ten years. Stay informed and stay safe!
