Sensor networks supporting fire Emergency Response

Numerous previous studies recognize the importance of providing real-time information to first responders during fire emergencies. However with current Emergency Response (ER) there exists a significant gap with regard to capturing, distributing and presenting real-time contextual information related to incident and wireless sensor networks have shown great potential in addressing this gap. As such, this paper discusses the opportunities and challenges of implementing viable wireless sensor network to support firefighters before, during and after their response work. This discussion is based on the findings of SafetyNet; a research project which investigated information and telecommunication technologies supporting fire emergency response in UK.