Based in Ohio, United States, Three Firefighters LLC manufacturers technology which tracks firefighters as they enter/exit a burning structure while simultaneously limiting oxygen supply to the fire.
Our first product is DoorBoss PAR. DoorBoss PAR is sold as a kit comprising tool hardware (the DoorBoss), technology hardware, software and a mobile application.
The DoorBoss tool is affixed to the primary entry and exit door used by firefighters at the scene of the emergency. This position also allows the DoorBoss to mount DoorBoss PAR technology to monitor personnel entering and exiting the structure and provide information in real time to incident command. DoorBoss PAR technology will also store information for use post-incident for documentation, critique and training.
The DoorBoss is a simple tool placed by the first-arriving firefighter and holds the door used by firefighters in a mostly closed position, starving the fire of oxygen and thereby limiting fire growth. This solution is helping firefighters save 4,000 lives and $14.3 billion in property loss annually. Over $73 million has been allocated by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) to investigate the problems of modern fire control and personnel accountability – problems that Three Firefighters has solved.
Ninety-two per cent of fire departments in the US do not have the personnel to facilitate manual door control, proven to be an effective tactic for modern fire control by UL and NIST. While 68,000 firefighter injuries occur in the US annually, costing $7.8 billion in direct and indirect costs, DoorBoss PAR is a must have for all fire departments.
Studies performed by UL and NIST have proved that the amount of air moving into a structure directly affects the loss of lives and property. These same studies proved that limiting the amount of opening at the door used by firefighters is the most effective method of limiting the amount of air able to enter the structure. During the studies, doors were controlled manually. This required a skilled firefighter to control the door, holding it in a mostly closed position while fire hoses and personnel would enter and leave the building. Manual door control is not practical in 92% of fire departments due to the lack of available personnel. First-arriving crews simply don’t have the resources to assign a highly trained firefighter to manually control the door. This fact makes the DoorBoss a must have for those 92% of fire departments.
The impact that the DoorBoss will have on the firefighting market is immense. The DoorBoss is the only product which utilises the proven science of door control while freeing up the hands of skilled firefighters, allowing incident command full use of available personnel. The DoorBoss allows incident commanders to assign a firefighter to a life- or property-saving task.
Due to lack of resources, firefighters attempt to use simple wooden wedges to control the flow of air into a structure. These are easily knocked out of the way by advancing hose lines or, when used incorrectly, could trap a firefighter. The DoorBoss will never trap a firefighter in an untenable environment. From the exterior, a firefighter can simply walk through the arm holding the door and reset after entry. From the interior, a firefighter can simply remove the door grab with one swipe of the hand to rapidly exit. If incident command chooses not to utilise door control at any point during the emergency, the arm of the DoorBoss can simply be placed along the interior wall of the structure.
Smoke-control devices do not facilitate the proven science offered by UL and NIST of using the actual door to control the flow path. Further, the DoorBoss is the only product that allows for a small amount of smoke exchange outside of the structure to allow incident command to read smoke conditions for tactical based decisions.
For more information, go to www.threefirefighters.com
