Plzen, West Bohemia, Dec 19 (CTK) – Special smart clothes and gloves for firefighters, designed by researchers from Plzen and companies from the Czech Republic, have won a competition in Brussels, Milan Baxa, from the firm Applycon, told journalists yesterday.
Thanks to this, it is standing a big chance of winning the planned tenders in Belgium, France, Germany and Britain. The countries are about to spend about 15 million euros on the technologies, Baxa said.
The clothes, gloves and boots include electronic sensors thanks to which the commander knows what is going on with the intervening firefighters at a given moment.
The system is able to depict up to 12 firefighters.
The sensors measure humidity, temperature and basic life functions and watch the surrounding area, such as explosive gases, Baxa said.
The tenders will be put up by Manchester, Dortmund, Marseilles, Ghent and Brussels, Baxa said.
“It will be a joint project. The tender may be put up at the close of the first quarter of 2017,” Baxa said.
At first, European norms for electronic firefighting clothes must be approved.
The price is 2.5 to 3 times higher than for the usual three-layer firefighting clothes, Baxa said.
“According to the public sources, there is nothing similar anywhere in the world, including the USA or Australia, where the technologies are quite sophisticated, when it comes to complexity and functions,” Baxa said.
The intensive development lasted 2.5 years, he added.
($1=25.882 crowns)
