Looking at it for the first time is not very impressive.

It’s a plastic stick-like rectangle about six inches long with two screw holes at each end, and nothing else. But Fire District One Chief Larry Hess said the unassuming device would go a long way in keeping his firefighters safe at a fire.

The “sticks” as Information Technology Officer Bobby Worchel calls them, are actually imbedded with a computer chip that is a radio transmitter. The radio signals are picked up by a wireless receiver in the battalion commander’s truck and transmitted to a computer. From a color-coded display the chief can see exactly where his men are located around a fire scene, because each firefighter has a stick in a pocket of their fire gear. There are also sticks located in every fire truck and vehicle that responds to the scene.

Fire District One Chief Larry Hess, left, and Information Technology Officer Bobby Worchel show the new Safescene radio transmitter “sticks” that will let fire supervisors know where their firefighters are located on a fire scene through the computer. (Staff Photo by Erik Sanzenbach)

The sticks which have a range of 300 feet helps commanders at a fire scene manage personnel more efficiently. He can tell certain groups to go to the rear of a burning building, and others to stand by for other duties.

“It’s not a GPS system,” Worchel said. “It just tells the commander, ‘hey we are here.’”

If for example, firefighters get into trouble, like a wall collapses on them, and they send out a mayday, the commander will know exactly who is in there. In fact, the sticks are programmed to tell the commander the identity of the firefighter, the rank, blood type and next of kin.

As firefighters and fire apparatus show up on the scene, they start popping up on the computer screen and the commander can see that everyone is there, and can start assigning duties. There is a grid of colored squares on the computer screen each signifying a certain duty, and at one glance the commander can tell who is where.

A company called Azure Wireless in Michigan manufactures the technology, known as SafeScene.

Hess said the idea for the sticks came up after a horrific fire in a Charleston, S. C. fire where nine firefighters died when the roof of the building collapsed.

“That fire showed how unstructured the command system was in knowing where everybody was assigned,” Hess said.

He said that there is a lot of bravado and machismo behavior with some firefighters, and that attitude can get them killed.

“It’s this false sense of bravery. We’re trying to weed that out, and this system helps us to do that,” Hess said.

The entire system has 200 sticks, the software and the wireless receiver systems. Hess said the SafeScene costs $55,000 and was in the district’s budget and the district did not have to get grants for it. Hess said that he has fostered a philosophy of safety first in his firefighters and the expense of the SafeScene system is worth the price to keep his men alive.

He said that across the country 120 firefighters a year lose their lives and a lot of the deaths are avoidable.

“I have the philosophy that says I send my firefighters home in the same condition they came to work,” Hess said.

He added that Fire District One is the first fire department in the state to use the SafeScene system. He said it adds to Fire District One’s already stellar safety record with the Louisiana Workmen’s Compensation Commission.

“This is the next level of firefighter safety,” Hess said.