Episode 313: Why First Responders Need One Global Language for Safety with Kurt Vollmacher

How do you prepare firefighters for risks that did not exist 10 years ago?

Hello Smart Firefighting Community!

Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy.

Recorded live at the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) 2025 Conference alongside the AFAC, WAFA, and Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Conference in Perth, Australia.

After 4 decades in the fire service, Kurt Vollmacher has seen firsthand how quickly the job is changing. What used to be a world of diesel and gasoline has evolved into one filled with lithium ion batteries, hydrogen, ammonia, and a growing list of complex energy sources. For first responders, that shift brings new risks and a critical need for clear, reliable information.

In this episode, Kurt shares how his experience led him to focus on one simple but powerful idea: giving responders the right information at the right time. His work on ISO 17840 is helping create a standardized system of symbols, rescue sheets, and guidance that can be understood across countries, languages, and incident types.

This conversation explores the growing complexity facing firefighters, the challenge of aligning manufacturers and responders, and the importance of training around consistent, recognizable information. Kurt also reflects on the long road of building global standards, the partnerships driving the effort forward, and the mindset required to keep pushing progress.

At its core, this episode is about making emergency response safer through clarity, collaboration, and persistence.

So take a listen to hear what he has to share.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(334)

Episode 327: A Governance Problem, Not a Technology Problem: Inside Pratus with Roger Coleman and Sean Griffin

Every disaster review finds the same failure: communication. Crews on 9/11 passed handwritten notes. Agencies at the LA wildfires could not talk across radio bands. During Hurricane Maria, restoration...

20 Aug 1h 19min

Episode 326: Embrace the Suck a Little Less: Purpose-Built Wildland Tools with Scott Reimann of Vallfirest

Wildland fires are bigger and faster than they were 20 years ago. Much of the gear on the line has not kept up. A broken shovel. A pack that does not fit. Standard issue equipment that looks 50 years ...

11 Aug 36min

Episode 325: Become Dangerously Competent: Training, Hazmat, and AI in the Fire Service with Jake Ryks - The HazMat Guys

The fire service has spent years turning hazmat into either a horror movie or a checklist. Jake Ryks thinks both are wrong. Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering r...

30 Juli 55min

Episode 324: Firefighters Are Tactical Athletes: Recovery Debt, Sleep, and the Safe to Talk Culture with Marc Wysocki

Society wants an Olympic athlete neurosurgeon on every call. That superhero may have already saved the day ten times this week, at two in the morning, on no sleep. Nobody sees the beating on the insid...

23 Juli 57min

Episode 323: How a Fire Department Decides What Tech to Buy with Eric Linnenburger

The biggest constraint most fire departments face is not money. It is being shorthanded. Over 90% of a typical fire budget goes to personnel, which leaves almost nothing for the next great tool and no...

16 Juli 59min

Episode 322: Inside Panasonic Tough Command: Connected Vehicles for Emergency Response with Kjeld Lindsted

Most first responder vehicles are full of technology that does not talk to itself. A dash cam here. A radio there. An MDT, a license plate reader, lights and sirens, all from different makers, all sil...

25 Juni 42min

Episode 321: Building for Chaos, Not Compliance with Bailey Farren – Perimeter

Bailey Farren is the co-founder and CEO of Perimeter. In 2017 she was evacuated from the Tubbs Fire, and what she saw that night, people with no way to know where the danger was or where to go, became...

11 Juni 28min

Episode 320: He Missed the Hydrant, Then Built the Tool to Ensure No One Else Does. Rapid Response Co with Bobby Banome

Bobby Banome is an FDNY firefighter from Staten Island who got tired of arriving at fires without the information his crew needed. So he built something. Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to...

21 Maj 54min