by Larry Causey
Featured August 10, 2006 Temple Daily Telegram, Temple, Texas

Temple firefighters have another tool to guarantee their safety while inside a burning building, said Capt. Leroy Vargas, training officer for Temple Fire and Rescue. "We want our firefighters to have the benefit of the latest technology to provide the safest working environment," he said.

Firefighters completed three days of training Wednesday with the Telemetry Personal Alert Security System. Each firefighter is required to wear the device, called T-PASS, at a fire site.

Firefighters are naturally aggressive, Vargas said, with the goal of rescuing trapped occupants, then of protecting property. Modern protective gear and longer-lasting air packs enable firefighters to penetrate much further into a fire than in the past, he said.

Imagine having little to zero visibility, wearing more than 50 pounds of gear, manning a hose line with 175 pounds of pressure and working in temperatures of several hundred degrees, he said.

"It is difficult for our firefighters to truly see what is happening to the stability of a structure," he said. "Buildings can only take so much heat before they begin to collapse."

The T-PASS has more features than the old system, which was only a motion sensor with an audible alarm. If a firefighter stopped moving for too long, the alarm would sound.

The disadvantage was that it wasn't very loud and only worked if another firefighter was within earshot, he said.

The new system has a motion sensor and an audible alarm. But it also sets off an alarm at the base module, which is outside of the building with the fire commander. In addition, it identifies the firefighter by name. Since the fire commander would know, for example, if that firefighter was on the third floor, it narrows down the search, Vargas said.