Since the 1970s, the portable radio has been a vital tool on incident scenes. Unfortunately, the extreme physical environment that’s encountered by firefighting, hazmat and technical rescue punishes these devices.
Furthermore, the hazard profile of residential structures dramatically increased because of furnishings that burn faster and hotter, engineered building materials that can fail and open space architecture that requires longer supports.
In June 2011, two San Francisco Fire Department firefighters tragically perished in a residential fire. The investigation revealed that both firefighters’ remote speaker microphones (RSMs) failed because of high heat. Therefore, they couldn’t transmit a mayday that they were trapped. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated incident. Communications are one of the five most frequent contributing factors in National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports. As a result, there were calls for a new standard to define radios that are better suited for the hazard zone.
The NFPA established a committee in March of 2013 to define a more rugged portable radio. This new standard, NFPA 1802: Standard on Two-Way, Portable RF Voice Communications Devices for Use by Emergency Services Personnel in the Hazard Zone (2021 edition), defines for the first time a radio and speaker microphone that are designed for the inherently hostile environment in which firefighters, hazmat teams and other agencies operate.
Thirty-five Technical Committee members worked on this effort, along with another 21 committee alternates and several other noncommittee observers. The group classifications on this Technical Committee included users, enforcement, manufacturers, labor, testing laboratories, consumers and special experts. Fire departments represented major areas and suburban/rural departments. The committee was led by Robert Athanas, who served on the FDNY for 36 years. He was assisted by NFPA Staff Liaison David Trebisacci.
Overview
The technical committee worked on three major areas to define these new devices: ergonomics, feature set and environment. Decisions were made at the beginning:
- The standard would encompass both the radio and the RSM, because the RSM often is the most exposed item to the fire environment
- The standard only would concern two-way voice devices
- The standard would be agnostic to the specific technologies that are used, such as radio frequencies and communications technologies (analog vs. digital modulation; trunking vs. nontrunking; LTE 4G as found in broadband devices); the result is that this standard will be useful even as voice communications advance
Author’s note: The standard is very wide-ranging. Therefore, the summaries that are below are highlights and not all-inclusive. For specific details refer to the standard, which can be found at nfpa.org.
Ergonomics
Emergency incident scenes are stressful and distracting. Multiple researchers have discovered first responder “tunnel vision” when a situation deteriorates. Thus, every first responder’s wireless lifeline device must be simple to use, to reduce the chances for error. Some of the key issues addressed:
- Radio control knobs and cable connectors must be able to be manipulated by responders who have large hands and/or who are wearing structural firefighting gloves
- The emergency alert (mayday) button must be easy to find
- Manipulation of the radio’s controls is difficult or impossible if a member is trapped or injured or the radio is worn under the turnout coat or in the coat radio pocket; therefore, some important controls must be available from the RSM, which typically is worn on the outside of the turnout coat: the RSM is required to have an emergency alert button, and it can have at least one programmable button, which can be used for various purposes, such as reverting back to a home channel/talkgroup; the cable that’s between the radio and the RSM is monitored; problems create an alert
- NFPA 1802 radios and RSMs will include voice announcements of various actions, including channel/talkgroup changes: if there is radio traffic, the voice announcement is delayed and then played when the radio traffic ceases; announcements while the radio is operated in the hazard-zone mode are louder
- The radio must provide clear voice transmission and reception; speech intelligibility is objectively measured with an internationally recognized test method that’s used by cellular telephone carriers, called POLQA
Feature set
At minimum, every radio must allow for analog conventional (nontrunked) transmission. This requirement provides for lowest-common-denominator communications among all emergency scene radios, even if all of the supporting radio infrastructure should fail.
Interoperability is guaranteed among all NFPA 1802-certified radios and all NFPA 1802-certified RSMs by means of the inclusion of a universal connector.
Visual and audible indicators of battery status are displayed.
Hazard-zone operation is different from the nonhazard zone, and the radio defaults to the hazard-zone mode when it is powered on initially. In the hazard zone, the radio’s volume is louder. Radios can be programmed so that inadvertent powering off of the radio can be reduced when in the hazard zone.
Bluetooth technology allows the use of wireless SCBA microphones/speakers, RSMs, etc. As well, the radio periodically self-checks, and it must have a data logger that stores recent events, such as mayday activation. The purpose is to provide information for both the fire service and its vendors regarding proper performance of this equipment under stress.
Environmental & testing
Overtemperature events are detected, recorded and alerted, and the radio and RSM must be rated nonincendive (Class I Division 2). Optionally, the radio and RSM can be certified as intrinsically safe-rated (Class I Division 1).
Radios and RSMs must undergo very extensive environmental testing. After most tests, the radio and/or RSM must undergo successful voice quality and operational checks. Here are a few highlights:
- Six complete cycles of 15 minutes of baking at 350 degrees F (177 degrees C), followed by immediate immersion in water for 15 minutes
- A three-hour vibration test
- Impact tests are performed on three devices by dropping on a concrete floor from 9.8 feet (3 meters), as if dropped from the bed of a ladder truck or engine
- Corrosion test includes high humidity and a salt spray
- A high-temperature test exposes the device to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) for five minutes
- Heat and flame test first exposes the device for 15 minutes to a temperature of 203 degrees F (95 degrees C), after which the device is subjected to a 1,742 degrees F (950 degrees C) flame for 10 seconds
- A temperature stress test exposes the device to multiple cycles of warm-hot-warm-cold temperatures
Now what?
The committee didn’t address the provision of SCBA audio devices (microphones and earpieces). This will be the responsibility of the committee for NFPA 1981: Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) for Emergency Services. When NFPA 1981 includes this, voice intelligibility will improve significantly.
Radios and RSMs that meet this standard will have new levels of ruggedness and ease of use and improved voice quality and functionality, which will result in improved safety for firefighters and others who work in the hazard zone.
Although the standard only recently was issued, several manufacturers plan to introduce NFPA 1802 radios and RSMs.
