“Sizing Up” Emerging Technology for Firefighting: Augmented Reality for Incident Assessment

Abstract

Every year, structure fires account for billions of dollars in property damage and injuries to firefighters and civilians. Emerging technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) have been identified to assist in mitigating the loss of life and property, but they have not been fully evaluated. The goal of this work is to clearly identify how AR can enhance fire suppression operations by mapping feedback from a needs assessment conducted with firefighters to the areas where technology could be leveraged to support an initial incident assessment (size up), demonstrating the practical use of AR for the fire service.