Empowering Firefighter Safety at the Edge

By Salomé Valero Ph.D., Director, Innovations – Kyndryl
      Raju Karuppiah, Director, Architecture – Kyndryl
     Chandra Mohan Ravanan, Associate Director, Data Architecture – Kyndryl
     Michael Wilson, Associate Director, Alliances – Kyndryl
     Mohan Sundaram, Senior Partner Solutions Architect – AWS

Kyndryl

Climate change is intensifying wildfires worldwide at a rapid pace, turning them into prolonged, devastating events that require an immediate global effort. Sources such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) article “Wildfire Climate Connection,” from 2023, support this alarming trend. Firefighters bravely risk their lives as they combat raging infernos across the globe. Yet, they consistently face dense smoke and hazardous toxins that pose long-term health risks. It is our ethical duty to equip firefighters with cutting-edge technology that enhances their firefighting abilities and prioritizes their safety and well-being.

This initiative was born from the harrowing experience of Joan Herrera, a wildland firefighter in Catalonia, Spain. During a devastating wildfire near Barcelona’s Horta de Sant Joan, five of his brave colleagues made the ultimate sacrifice, while he narrowly escaped with his life. Deeply impacted by this tragedy, we have since joined forces with Joan and the global firefighting community. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies like the gas and health sensors, Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics services, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to collect and analyze near real-time. Our mission is to develop personalized strategies that proactively safeguard the well-being of these courageous individuals who put their lives on the line. Through this collaborative effort, AWS and Kyndryl have forged an unwavering commitment to protecting and preserving the lives of those who selflessly protect us.

Firefighters confront a multitude of severe risks, with a staggering 70% of line-of-duty deaths among these heroes attributed to cancer. These perilous hazards encompass the inhalation of noxious smoke laden with carcinogenic particles, unintentional exposure to hazardous substances and volatile fumes, and extreme temperature fluctuations that push the limits of human endurance. An integrated IoT solution tailored to individual firefighters remains an elusive yet critical challenge to overcome.

Kyndryl’s Unique Approach

To address this pressing challenge of safeguarding firefighters during perilous wildfire and urban operations, an ingenious and pioneering solution has emerged to monitor their exposure to toxins in near real-time, employing an intuitive color-coded alert system. This approach directly confronts the formidable hazards encountered by firefighters, enabling the development of personalized strategies to protect them from the cumulative risks and immediate as well as long-term impacts of inhaling noxious smoke and hazardous substances while battling fires.

This inventive solution encompasses a compact device embedded with environmental sensors, cleverly designed to attach to firefighters’ protective jackets and health wearables. These cutting-edge devices tirelessly monitor the immediate surroundings, vigilantly evaluating for hazardous elements such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, temperature, humidity, firefighter’s heart rate, smoke density, among others. Moreover, they continuously assess the physiological effects of these demanding and high-stress environments on crucial health indicators, providing real-time insights into the well-being of the firefighters on the frontlines.

The consolidated data from the wearable devices is seamlessly transmitted in real-time via a secure and robust wireless network to a powerful AWS IoT/Data platform, where it undergoes advanced processing and analysis through machine learning models. The processed data is then condensed into an intuitive and user-friendly color-coded status, displayed on an accessible and centralized command dashboard, readily available to fire incident commanders and command center personnel. This state-of-the-art dashboard provides an at-a-glance overview of each firefighter’s exposure levels to hazardous smoke and toxins, employing a traffic light system for easy interpretation. A green status indicates optimal health conditions, while yellow or red signals caution or the immediate necessity for retreat to safety, respectively. Consequently, armed with this critical real-time information, the fire command center can promptly execute informed decisions and initiate measures to evacuate or reposition firefighters from potentially hazardous zones, proactively mitigating risks and safeguarding their well-being.

Firefighter Safety solution Architecture on AWS

A. Wildfire Scenario – This section details the flow of environment and personal data for the wildfire solution as described in the below figure.

Fig 1.1 — Solution Architecture on AWS for Wildfire scenario

Here is the solution walkthrough.

1. Firefighter to carry mobile paired with Lion Device and Smartwatch. Mobile App to collect environment data from Lion device and vital data from Smartwatch. App publishes data to AWS IoT Core. 
2. AWS IoT Rule to sink raw data into Amazon S3 bucket location organized for each firefighter.
3. AWS IoT Rules::Rule Engine triggers an AWS Lambda function to process data acquired for each firefighter and calculate aggregated values for CO2 and NO2. If threshold are reached, alarm is published through AWS IoT Core::IoT Thing. Analyzed data loaded into Amazon S3 bucket location.
4. Amazon Athena is enabled on Raw data acquired and analyzed data for query capability.
5. Amazon DynamoDB table is updated by event-driven lambda with firefighter detail and SOS Flag based on
   • Lion device data (for gas monitor) and data Smartwatch (for health vitals)
   • Rule engine result
6. Amazon API Gateway and AWS Lambda to serve data from Amazon DynamoDB.
7. Firefighter console hosted on Amazon EKS cluster for firefighter chief to monitor firefighters’ live location and their vitals. Manual alarm can be sent from Firefighter console.

B. Urban fire Scenario — This section details the flow of environment and personal data for the urban-fire solution as described in the below figure.

Fig 1.2 — Solution Architecture on AWS for Urban fire scenario

Here is the solution walkthrough.

1. Firefighter to carry Smartwatch paired with Lion Device. Smartwatch App to collect environment data from Lion device and publish it to edge device with vital data.
2. Producer script on edge device to publish data into AWS IoT Core.
3. AWS IoT Rule to sink raw data into Amazon S3 location organized for each firefighter.
4. AWS IoT Rules::Rule Engine triggers an AWS Lambda function to process data acquired for each firefighter and calculate aggregated values for CO2 and NO2. If threshold are reached, alarm is published through AWS IoT Core::IoT Thing. Analyzed data loaded into Amazon S3 bucket location.
5. Amazon Athena is enabled on Raw data acquired and analyzed data for query capability.
6. Amazon DynamoDB table is updated by event-driven lambda with firefighter detail and SOS Flag based on
   • Lion device data (for gas monitor) and data Smartwatch (for health vitals)
   • Rule engine result.
7. Amazon API gateway and AWS Lambda to serve data from Amazon DynamoDB.
8. Firefighter console hosted on Amazon EKS cluster for firefighter chief to monitor firefighters’ live location and their vitals. Manual alarm can be sent from Firefighter console.

Solution Summary

In today’s context, where climate change has amplified firefighting hazards, the global firefighter community, encompassing over 15 million members, faces escalating risks due to the heightened prevalence and severity of wildfires. Recent events serve as tangible evidence. Acknowledging our duty to shield these courageous firefighters in treacherous environments, Kyndryl’s solution emerges as a safety beacon. This personalized approach seamlessly integrates hardware, IoT devices, software, and AI, enabling swift analysis of diverse data streams from wearables and IoT devices. Timely notifications ensure firefighters and leaders are rapidly alerted to imminent dangers, facilitating prompt interventions and extractions. The versatile solution extends to personnel in environments with immediate and long-term health risks, offering transformative potential across various sectors. As we advance safety standards, Kyndryl stands prepared to empower industries, organizations, and individuals with a comprehensive protective framework of technology, data, and human welfare.

Solution Benefits 

• Provides incident commanders with near real-time situational awareness data, enabling them to rapidly identify and provide emergency support.
• Alleviate the administrative burden on incident commanders by automating the comprehensive recording, secure documentation, and organized storage of critical exposure data and incident details, ensuring seamless access for future reference, analysis, and reporting.
• Streamline data exchange with health insurance providers, facilitating swift approval of claims and ensuring prompt coverage of treatment costs during emergencies, as well as long-term medical care related to occupational exposure.
• Simplify deployment and alleviate client burden by offering a fully integrated, seamless, and user-friendly all-in-one solution, eliminating the complexities and integration challenges associated with managing individual components.
• Compliant with national and international regulations governing data handling, storage, and privacy, ensuring the utmost security and adherence to legal standards, safeguarding the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive information.

Conclusion

In the realm of firefighting, our IoT solution shines as a safeguard against the unseen dangers of urban fires and wildfires. Through cutting-edge technology, we’ve woven a cognitive platform that keeps firefighters safe in real time. A symphony of sensors, machine learning, and wearable devices form a protective shield, offering color-coded alerts and insights. From the command center to each firefighter’s wrist/ communications equipment, Kyndryl solution harmonizes information, empowering heroes with knowledge and alerts. With tailored variants for distinct scenarios, it’s a testament to our commitment to firefighter safety, redefining the boundaries of their protection for a brave new era.

Recognized with the 2022 Gold Edison Award for Lifesaving & Life-Changing Innovations in Fort Myers, Florida, USA, our solution exemplifies innovation that enhances firefighter safety and sets new standards in lifesaving technology.

Kyndryl – AWS Partner Spotlight

Kyndryl is an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner and provides Data & AI advisory, modernization, and management services. Kyndryl helps clients to unlock value from data across applications, cloud, and edge, thus driving faster insights and transforms business with effective management of data platform through DataOps, MLOps and FinOps. Kyndryl is instrumental in supporting 75 of the fortune 100 companies and 50% of Fortune 500 companies on their digital journey.

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