Firefighting involves risks far beyond the immediate dangers of spreading flames. Many firefighters also deal with invisible occupational hazards, such as exposure to toxic chemicals and carcinogens. Similarly, industrial workers who work with hazardous compounds could be exposed to dangerous chemicals.  

Faced regularly with dangerous situations, fire departments and industrial organizations have long worked to address health and safety risks.

Why is technology so important for emergency responders such as firefighters?

Valero: Firefighters play a crucial role in protecting people and the planet — especially as climate change’s warmer, drier effects fuel more intense fire seasons that threaten the environment and densely populated areas. Because firefighting inevitably involves life-threatening situations, fire departments have tried to better protect firefighters by using centralized devices to estimate gas and toxin exposure or sending a nurse into the field to collect health measurements. 

At Kyndryl, we’re working on technology that can provide more real-time information from sensors so fire departments can make better decisions — on the job and as they plan for future scenarios. We’ve tested a prototype with firefighters in Spain that uses Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, a mobile device, cloud technology and AI-powered analytics to distill data into a health status that can be monitored with a dashboard, showing data collected during wildfires, urban fires and in industrial environments.

Kyndryl Vital played an essential role in developing this prototype. Why was co-creation key to development?

Nelson: Kyndryl Vital tackles challenges with a human-centered design approach. Starting with our customer’s needs, understanding the business and environmental context, and then identifying the technical enablers will help us do what Kyndryl does best. We can then bring Kyndryl’s technical expertise — cloud, networking, data and AI — to create a truly integrated solution and solve real-world challenges. Bringing this expertise together alongside that of our customers and partners, Kyndryl Vital can unlock the power of our collective creativity and help ensure we solve the right problem the right way.

Has the prototype been tested in real situations?

Valero: Yes, the prototype testing we’ve done to date in Spain is a direct example of how technology can drive progress. We are helping to solve a long-standing challenge through a solution that relays environmental sensor data such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, temperature, humidity, firefighter’s heart rate and smoke density to mission-critical industries and workers so they can make informed decisions to manage and assess the health of the essential workers we rely on every day.

And how will Kyndryl Vital continue to support this work?

Nelson: Kyndryl Vital will be key to help ensure that we’re meeting the technological and data requirements of our customers. A human-centered design approach that emphasizes co-creation will continue to be essential to our ability to create customizable assets that provide actionable data to meet the needs of our customers.

Valero: We’ll continue to refine the prototype and explore additional applications supported by our open integration platform, Kyndryl Bridge. We’re committed to using all the tools available to help our customers deal with the complex problems they face and make a difference in how they operate and manage their personnel.