Emergency

Outdoor electronics specialist Etón Corporation has expanded its line of American Red Cross branded products with the new TurboDyne Series. We checked out the three new self-powered emergency preparedness devices – the Road Torq, Axis and Rover – at CES 2011.  Read More

With all the advances we hear about in fields such as nanotechnology and electric vehicles, it’s easy to believe that simpler technology has evolved as far as it can go – that there is simply no way of improving things like the stapler, the dinner plate or the garden hose. Well, that line of thinking was recently proven wrong with the invention of a better type of sandbag. Now, as if to drive the point home, we hear about a better way of filling sandbags, and it’s a device called the GoBagger.  Read More

Floods are an inevitable part of life and the standard line of defense is the humble sandbag. While having applications in emergency relief, engineering and military environments, their design has remained relatively unchanged since the 18th Century. That is until now.  Read More

What are you supposed to do when an earthquake hits? If you answered “Go stand in a doorway,” you get a gold star... although "Get under a table" would also be correct. Doorways are structurally stronger than most other parts of a building, and are often the last thing left standing when a structure has been destroyed by an earthquake. A narrow doorway offers little, however, in the way of protection from falling debris. That’s why an MA Design student from England’s Kingston has University invented a special kind of door.  Read More

There would be few scarier places to be in the event of a fire than in a high-rise building with no means of escape. Tragedies such as the World Trade Center disaster have highlighted the vulnerability of the building’s core and emergency stairwell as the only venue for evacuation. We've seen some last resort options that cater for those individuals brave enough to rappel or even parachute from the building, but that's still only part of the equation. When escape routes are compromised it not only prevents evacuation, but also prevents emergency personnel reaching the trouble spots. Escape Rescue Systems' solution is to use collapsible cabins which can be lowered over the side of the building to transport rescue personnel up... and evacuate building occupants down.  Read More

The satellite-aided search and rescue technology pioneered by NASA is credited with saving more than 27,000 lives worldwide since its inception nearly three decades ago. Now the agency has developed new technology that will more quickly identify the locations of people in distress and reduce the risk to rescuers.  Read More

Whether you’re tracking a moose, trying to locate a sinking ship, or conducting a little spying, you’re going to be using a field strength logger. One of the slickest units currently available is the WiNRADiO PFSL-G3 Portable Field Strength Logging and Surveillance System. Whereas such systems used to consist of several pieces of equipment, the PFSL-G3 is all contained in one portable, compact, rugged unit. It also now comes with an optional TETRA control protocol decoder, allowing users to prioritize signal traffic by importance.  Read More

Perhaps the best piece of advice I never got was "leave your flashlight in an obvious, easily accessible place”, because the one time you’ll really need it will be during a power outage or a blown fuse and the last thing you want at that time is wonder where the heck you put it. Oh, and keep it fully charged (you know why). While the mPower Emergency Illuminator won’t insist you keep it close by, it does have some impressive features – battery technology that will last up to 20 years (though not if you use it continuously) and a USB outlet which lets you charge other devices.  Read More

Sadly, emergency rescue vehicles get too much use. Disasters, natural or man-made, place a great deal of pressure on rescue services trying to take care of a high number of victims in a short period. To this end, a high-tech rescue vehicle capable of carrying up to four patients has been designed under the pan-European research and development EUREKA network.  Read More