Firefighter safety is goal one. No dog or cow tag system would accomplish personal accountability adequately. The whole idea of collecting tags if you get around to it or if something goes bang in the night seems unworkable. Fallon was the first user of the Grace T-PASS. It is is an electronic PASS device carried on each firefighters turnout coat. The are electronicly encoded with the firefighters name. It functions just like any other PASS device. If you stop moving for 17 seconds it chirps. If you don't move in the next 7 seconds it sounds. You can manually sound the PASS as well. Plus it transmits via radio frequency to the command reciever. When this signal is received by the Command Receiver, three things occur: A vocal announcement sounds indicating that a firefighter is in distress. Two flashing lights on the lid of the Command Receiver indicate an alarm condition.
The name of the individual in distress is prominently displayed on the LCD screen. Additionally, a relay connection within the receiver can be utilized to activate sirens, vehicle lights, or other audio-visual signals. A visual and audible alarm is sounded at the wearer. Command instantly calls the firefighter on the radio and asks what's up. In addition to instant notificatiion to command the second an alarm is sounded it also notifies if a unit is not turned on. Once again the accountability officer would call on the radio and tell the wearer by name to turn on their PASS. If for some reason the PASS runs out of batteries, falls off, or the wearer goes out of range the unit tells command firefighter JONES pass is not transmitting. Once again command would contact the wearer via radio. Each rig can have a TPASS assigned to indicate it is onscene with the following named firefighters. In mutual aid events the system instantly integrates with other T-PASS users. Over 400 T PASS are in use in the state. Information can be stored and retrieved from the PC interfacing with the command receiver: The time each individual reported on the scene. The time that each PASS device was activated. The names of individuals who go out of range, and the time that this occurred. The identity of an individual in alarm, as well as the time that the alarm condition occurred.
The TPASS looks like any other PASS device it just has an antenna.
The unit is attached to every set of turnouts in the department. It works as advertised and the department is very pleased.