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Menlo Park Fire Protection District will become the first in the nation to use a hands-free augmented reality tool that will make navigating through smoke, darkness and high heat easier. On Dec. 19, Qwake Technologies introduced its first fireproof model of its C-Thru Navigator for Menlo Park firefighters to try for the first time at the Baylands Structural Collapse and Burn Center in Menlo Park.
“It’s a game changer,” said Menlo Park Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen. “Now that we have this technology, it can allow us to find fire quicker, to find victims and prevent us from falling into openings.”
In a room full of smoke, it’s almost impossible to see but with C-Thru, firefighters will be able to see the heat source, outlines of windows, doors, hallways and people, according to Lorenzen.
The technology has been in the works for nearly a decade and when the San Francisco-based Qwake Technologies formed a partnership with Menlo Park Fire in 2016, the company was able to use its training center to test its product.
The C-Thru Navigator is a helmet-mounted AR technology that uses an edge detection algorithm and infrared cameras to help relieve the cognitive load on the firefighters while they are in stressful environments, said VP of engineering Eric Lotfi.
CEO of Qwake Sam Cossman was inspired to create C-Thru while leading expeditions into active volcanoes where the heated gas would make it hard to see. Cossman said he would borrow thermal imaging cameras from fire departments but found it difficult to use their hand-held tools when he needed his hands to climb. It was then that he and his team created a hands-free thermal imaging camera that they soon realized would greatly benefit firefighters.
Prior to the use of technology, firefighters had to navigate through burning buildings by touching around for nearby objects and calling out for victims.
Former Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said after 40 years on the job the one part he doesn’t miss is “crawling in a burning building, stumbling over stuff and getting tangled up.” He described the looming anxiety that he often felt of whether he would make it out alive.
C-Thru will help firefighters find the victim in one-third of the time, Harold Schapelhouman said. “That means that people have a better chance of living, so it really will be saving lives and it makes the firefighter spend less time on the most dangerous thing that we’ll do,” he added.
The technology also connects to an external display where a commander is able to see through the eyes of the firefighter and allows them to send visual cues for communication. This clears up radio lines that can be used for critical communications such as a mayday, when a firefighter is lost, trapped or injured.
Despite the technology adding an additional four pounds to a four pound helmet, Lorenzen said the benefits of C-Thru are worth the extra weight.
Deployment of C-Thru
C-Thru is going to service next year, said Schapelhouman, who has been working with Qwake since the start of its partnership with Menlo Park Fire.
According to Cossman, Qwake recently secured a $4.7 million contract with the Department of Homeland Security to ramp up production of 400 units that are going to 80 departments referred by the United States Fire Administration, DHS and a number of congressional offices.
The company has conducted 22 field trials and built 14 versions of C-Thru to get to its current model, he added.
Mike Ralston, co-founder of Qwake and a former Menlo Park firefighter, said the prototypes have been tested hundreds of times by fire departments around the world. The product has been adjusted over the past decade through feedback received from firefighters and fire departments.
C-Thru Navigators will cost about $5,000 to $10,000 each, said Ralston. “There’s an investment there but it’s a life saving investment,” he added.
Menlo Park Fire has been at the forefront of incorporating technology with its robotics and drone program and was the first to embrace C-Thru and help the company perfect the product, Cossman explained.
“Our small team of firefighters, innovators and engineers could not have done this without the support of groups like [the Menlo Park Fire Protection District], so we’re very grateful for that,” said Cossman.
Learn more about the technology at qwake.tech.
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