Life Of Firefighters Research Articles

Implementation of rover tank firefighting robot for closed areas based on arduino microcontroller

<span>Recently, communication via the wireless systems become promising, since the wireless communication system provides several benefits such as the disposal of the wire usage, provides long-distances communication, and the disposal of periodic maintenance of data transmission lines. In robotic science, the wireless system unit is the main part of the mobile robot. Whereas, only wireless communication module responsible for transmitting commands from the transmitter (e.g. mobile or PC) to the receiver (i.e. robot brain) and vice versa. With the increase in population growth and the construction of the urban, fires have become widely spread. It is worth mentioning here that the lives of firefighters are in permanent danger where they may be exposed to the combustion or inhalation of toxic gasses associated with the combustion process. Therefore, become necessary to find effective ways to reduce these risks. In this paper, a rover tank robot is implemented for fire extinguishing in closed areas based on the Arduino microcontroller, flame sensor, and motion sensor. The robot has a small water pump installed on a servo motor to pump water, the first flame sensor placed on the right of the robot's front and the second to the left of the robot's front. When a fire is explored through a flame sensor, the water pump sprays water to the location of the fire. The robot is driven wirelessly utilising the Bluetooth HC-06 module and the Wi-Fi camera utilised for driving purposes. Besides, a passive infrared (PIR) sensor is used to detect the presence of any living organism inside the fire site to alert the robot driver that an organism requires a rescue.</span>

Voice Controlled Fire Fighting Robot

Even though there are a lot of advancements in technology, there have been an increased number of devastating losses in the field of fire-fighting. Fire accidents that occur in industries like atomic power plants, petroleum refineries, chemical factories and other large-scale fire industries end in quite serious consequences which can cause injuries or even death of individuals. Therefore, this paper is enhanced to develop an automated fire extinguishing robotic vehicle that saves the lives of firefighters and other persons in those areas. The proposed robotic vehicle is controlled using specified speech commands. The language input is more familiar which makes interaction with the robotic vehicle much easier. The advantages of voice-controlled robots are hands-free and rapid data input operations. The speech recognition process is done in such a way that it recognizes specified commands from the user and the designed robot navigates based on the instructions via the speech commands. The fire can be extinguished using a water tank that is fitted along with the robotic vehicle. Consequently, the site of fire is live monitored using ESP 32 and the status of the fire zone is updated to the user through message.

0223 Interactions Between Home, Work, and Sleep Among Full-Time Firefighters

Abstract Introduction Firefighters endure large occupational burdens (e.g., heat, exposure to toxic fumes, witnessed trauma) and generally operate under conditions of chronic sleep deficiency due to long shifts plus disrupted sleep and circadian disruption due to emergency calls during the night. A typical shift for firefighters is 24-hours on/48-hours off, and firefighters are expected to use time-off to recover from any sleep debt. However, firefighters need to balance that recovery with social/family needs and home maintenance. We conducted focus groups and qualitative analysis of responses to understand how firefighters’ sleep recoverability is affected by occupational burdens and home/family dynamics. Methods Focus groups were conducted via convenience sampling in Portland, Oregon, with full-time firefighters, battalion chiefs, and spouses of firefighters to assess current strategies and coping mechanisms used to manage occupational burdens, home/family obligations, and sleep loss based on their 24-hours on/48-hours off shift schedule. Grounded theory, using NVivo 12 plus, was used to code focus group transcripts to reveal reoccurring concepts that were further grouped into themes. Results Major themes that emerged among firefighters and spouses (n=48) centered on spousal resentment of firefighters, driven by understanding a firefighters’ heroic occupation and need to recover from accumulated sleep loss and shift schedule, but also wanting a partner physically/emotionally present to share home/social responsibilities. While married firefighters discussed choosing family/home obligations over reducing sleep debt to maintain social/family relationships, single and divorced firefighters spoke of fewer conflicts impeding their ability to prioritize sleep at home. Conclusion This study improves our understanding of how work impacts home life in firefighters and can inform future strategies to address work-family conflict and sleep loss concerns, and highlights the importance of managing expectations of time-off to promote a healthier work-life balance. Support Oregon Healthy Workforce Center

Mental health and quality of life in firefighters working on the scene in South Korea: Focused on the capital area and the ground pro-motion area.

IntroductionToday, firefighters' work areas are expanding into various fields. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of mental health on quality of life between firefighters in the capital area and in the growth promotion area.MethodA survey was conducted with 206 firefighters including 110 firefighters in the capital area and 96 firefighters in the growth promotion area through a questionnaire.ResultThe differences in mental health based on working areas between firefighter groups have been identified. In addition, among the factors affecting the quality of life among firefighter, the factor most closely associated with quality of life was “sociopsychological health stress,” followed by “occupational stress,” “depression,” and “working area.”ConclusionThere is a need for research into mental health interventions appropriate for regional characteristics of each region regarding the implementation of mental health management by working area.

Design And Manufacturing of Pole Climbing Unmanned Fire Extinguisher

May it be the destruction of Jerusalem temple in 587BC or the infamous disaster in a mall in Philippines in December 2017, fire was the major culprit. Fire is one of the most severe and frequent disasters faced by the mankind especially in the machine age. Our project focuses on extinguishing such city fires with the help of a specially designed robot. The proposed robot would climb up a pole which can easily be constructed with minimal expenditures and efforts during or after the construction of the building. The robot being able to climb pole, would be able to traverse upwards, no matter at what height the fire is set. This versatility would eliminate the problems posed due to insufficiently long ladders (100 feet maximum) with the firefighting department. The robot is also equipped with a motor controlled nuzzling arrangement which will allow spraying the water jet in all possible directions. Such use of technology also safeguards the lives of firefighters which in conventional methods are put in danger. The robot will be equipped with a camera at the top which would enable the controller to judge the intensity and severity of the fire. The robot can be wirelessly controlled using radio controlled device which can control the locomotion of robot, direction control of water jet and an LCD which can display the camera sight.

Impact of Health-related Quality of Life in Firefighters: Focused on Posttraumatic Stress, Health-related Work Limitations, and Family Support

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, cross-sectional study was to identify the factors affecting health-related quality of life by examining the relationships among posttraumatic stress, health-related work limitations, and family support in firefighters. Methods: The data were collected from 3...

Health Conditions as Mediators of the Association Between World Trade Center Exposure and Health-Related Quality of Life in Firefighters and EMS Workers.

Studies have reported reduced health-related quality of life (HrQoL) in rescue/recovery workers for years postdisaster. Few have examined specific postdisaster physical and mental health conditions as mediators of the association between exposure to disaster and HrQoL. We used the Short Form-12 to measure HrQoL in 7190 male World Trade Center (WTC)-exposed first responders. Potential mediators included physician diagnoses obtained from medical records and mental health conditions obtained from questionnaires. Among moderately and highly WTC-exposed workers, health conditions fully mediated the observed relationship between WTC-exposure and physical health functioning of HrQoL, and substantially mediated the association between WTC-exposure and mental health functioning. Because WTC-related health conditions explain the relationship between WTC-exposure and HrQoL, medical monitoring with treatment of affected populations is necessary to mitigate the adverse effects of WTC-exposure on HrQoL.

소방공무원의 업무요인에 따른 구강건강관련 삶의 질

Objectives: The <TEX>$1.8{\pm}1.5$</TEX>purpose of the study was to investigate the oral health related quality of life according to work factors of firefighters in Korea. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 270 firefighters in Changwon, Gimhae, and Ulsan from June 27 to July 24, 2011 after receiving informed consent. The questionnaire consisted of 5 questions of general characteristics of the subjects, 6 questions of job-related characteristics, and 14 questions of oral health related quality of life(OHIP-14). Data analysis was performed with reliability test, descriptive analysis, t-test, analysis of variance(ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis using SAS(version 9.2) program. Results: The score of oral health related quality of life in firefighters was <TEX>$10.1{\pm}8.0$</TEX>. The scores of subscale of the oral health quality of life were <TEX>$2.4{\pm}1.5$</TEX> in physical pain, <TEX>$1.8{\pm}1.5$</TEX> in psychological discomfort, <TEX>$1.5{\pm}1.5$</TEX> in physical disability, <TEX>$1.4{\pm}1.5$</TEX> in functional limitation, <TEX>$1.3{\pm}1.4$</TEX> psychological disability, <TEX>$0.9{\pm}1.3$</TEX> in handicap, and <TEX>$0.7{\pm}1.3$</TEX> in social disability. The related factors of oral health quality of life in firefighters were rank(p=0.016) and the frequency of daily mobilization(p=0.029). Conclusions: Oral health related quality of life in firefighters was relatively in good condition. For the better oral health related quality of life in firefighters, it is important to establish the continuing oral health promotion program for those who have irregular job characteristics and job intensity.

Assessment of Factors Affecting the Continuing Performance of Firefighters’ Protective Clothing: A Literature Review

There has been some research into the level of damage and changes to important properties of firefighters’ protective clothing after exposure to conditions such as elevated temperature and ultra violet radiation. However, at this time, the results are not comprehensive enough to develop a standard procedure to estimate the remaining useful life of firefighters’ protective clothing. There is also a need to develop non-destructive techniques to evaluate clothing, for most tests used to evaluate properties of clothing are destructive, and visual cues cannot completely assess the level of deterioration of the properties of thermal protective fabrics. In this paper, major factors that affect the continuing performance of firefighters’ protective clothing and their effects on the service life of the clothing are reviewed. Some non-destructive methods which have been employed in different studies to evaluate the degradation of physical properties of firefighters’ protective clothing are also described, along with statistical and probabilistic methods for estimating the useful life of materials. Suggestions for future research, which will assist fire departments in determining the level of damage to clothing, and estimating its remaining useful life are also discussed.