Demonstrated at: #FDIC2023

Following the catastrophic loss of six firefighters during a 1999 fire at the massive Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Company facility in Massachusetts, DHS S&T has pushed academia and industry to develop solutions for tracking firefighters in GPS-deprived environments. In 2022, NIST Public Safety Communications Research Division launched the FRST Challenge competition to identify and fund promising approaches. The Ascent Integrated Tech solution demonstrated at FDIC 2023 helped the Smart Firefighting team win a first-place finish in the FRST Challenge Phase 4 (of 5) Live Field Testing organized by the Indiana University Crisis Technologies Innovation Lab in the Pervasive Technology Institute.

At FDIC, Ascent Integrated Tech provided a live demonstration of a subject wearing the company's technology and moving about the Darley stand. The company designed the ensemble as part of a firefighter's helmet, with additional camera support for collecting information about the operational environment, such as shape outlines, temperature, and other input sources. The location capabilities are an element of a more extensive program that includes the Ascent Portal, which serves as a common operating picture (COP) incident management tool.

The Illonois-based startup is gathering steam as a participant in the W. S. Darley & Co. SmartFirefighting innovation cluster spearheaded by Kevin Sofen. Ascent Integrated's line-up of industry partners and the company's roots serving the U.S. Air Force firefighting units make this a startup to watch carefully.

Thanks to Ascent Integrated Tech CEO Paul Couston and his colleague Molly Izzi for showing the potential of this promising solution.