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Here’s how fighting fires in Arizona has changed since Yarnell Hill tragedy 10 years ago
State wildland firefighters added a big tech advancement to their toolbox this year, a GPS tracking system called DropBlocks. Tiffany Davila with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management says these state-of-the-art satellite-based devices allow supervisors to locate crews more precisely while they’re on an incident. That was a challenge 10 years ago after the Granite Mountain crew was initially trapped in the canyon. “Often times our crews are deployed to fight fire in very remote locations, sometimes with [...]
RoGO has been awarded and Advanced Industries grant from the State of Colorado to enhance our life-saving technologies
The Early-Stage Capital and Retention grant supports businesses commercializing innovative and disruptive technologies … RoGO Communications has developed a lightweight device that connects firefighters over cellular-denied and radio-denied areas. Advanced Industries Grants Accelerate 43 Colorado Startups and Researchers Across the State
Advanced Industries Grants Accelerate 43 Colorado Startups and Researchers Across the State
“This is a really big step in the right direction,” Juliann Ashcraft said. It’s been almost ten years since Juliann lost her husband, Andrew, in the Yarnell Hill Fire … Ashcraft believes the new DropBlocks communication system will finally provide much-needed answers regarding safely fighting wildfires in Arizona. “If the people will incorporate this technology, this type of tragedy will not have to happen again in the future,” Ashcraft said. PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5), “Arizona fire crews testing new ‘DropBlocks’ fire [...]
Arizona Dept of Forestry and Fire to test DropBlocks
The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management will test a new satellite-based crew locating and communication device this fire season. … The department has been exploring for years ways to increase crew safety and enhance communication between firefighters and overhead. … DropBlocks will coordinate up-to-the-minute GPS location data and provide real-time data transmissions to agency or incident overhead. According to the agency, the system will be able to more precisely track crew movement and locations in wildland fire incidents. [...]