As technology evolves, firefighting could become safer and more effective. The National Fire Protection Association reported that in 2013 there were 1,240,00 fires in the U.S., which caused about $11.5 billion in property damage. The implementation of drones and the increased movement towards an Internet of Things are just several ideas fire departments across the country have considered to increase their firefighting capabilities. 

By combining current practices with the connectivity of the IoT, firefighters believe they could create smarter firefighting. Real-time information gathered by sensors deployed at the scene of a fire could allow firefighters to go into buildings prepared with the knowledge of how many people are inside and their locations. Drones are currently used to scout areas in a wildfire, but technological advancement have made it possible for the un-manned aircraft to be used indoors. The drones could be fixed with sensors and cameras to assess the danger of certain areas in a burning building. They could also collect chemical and smoke readings as well as report on the internal temperature. 

The more situational awareness firefighters have before entering a fire, the safer they are. The increased knowledge also helps them fight the fires quicker and save lives with less risk to themselves. 

From July 11 to 12, firefighters from across the country gathered in Bellevue, Washington, and pitted their skills against one another. The Bellevue competition is one of many Scott Safety Firefighter Combat Challenges across the U.S. During these events, fire departments compete for the best time in events like "rescuing" a 175-pound dummy, hoisting a 42-pound rope up a platform, and running up flights of stairs all while dressed in layers of heavy fire gear. It is a physically demanding competition that displays the skills of the nation's best fire departments and takes months of training to prepare. In fact, there is even a detailed training video on YouTube. 

Dr. Paul Davis Scott, the coordinator for the Bellevue competition, told Q13 Fox, "What makes [the event] a game is to do it some insane amount of time and that's the challenge."

Dr. Davis introduced The Scott Safety Firefighter Challenge began in 1991, and participation has been improving ever since. Some Canadian and other international fire departments have joined in the challenge. The regional winners will advance to the 24th World Championships, which will be held in Montgomery, Alabama, this October. 

T.J. Booms and the rest of the Meridian Township Fire Department are valuable assets to their community. However, the firefighter/paramedic wanted to do more. After receiving several calls to assist Neal Langford, a 52-year-old resident of East Lansing, Michigan, Booms found a project to give back to his community. Booms decided to build a new, more accessible garage for Langford. Swimming injuries Langford sustained at the age of 26 left him a quadriplegic. Langford's injuries require him to have a special van to get around, but the house in which he has lived for 19 years can't accommodate it. 

Booms told the Lansing State Journal that Langford's van would frequently get stuck in the driveway during the winter, and he worried what would happen if Langford was stuck in the cold overnight. Booms and his captain got the idea to start a departmental initiative called the Meridian Fire Community Outreach Fund. Their first project was building a 24- by 30-foot garage that is large enough to accommodate Langford's van and keep it sheltered during poor weather. Booms' project brought the whole community together in the spirit of giving. Numerous local business helped the firefighters and paramedics complete the garage, and the township even waived the permit fees for the building. Booms plans to donate the leftover money from this project to fund future endeavors. 

The 86th Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 14 brought thousands of baseball fans from around the country to Cincinnati, Ohio. From Friday, July 10, until the game on Sunday night, people gathered at Fan Fest, enjoyed the typical ballpark foods and waited for a glimpse of their favorite players. The excitement and energy in the city was palpable, but few were as excited as the members of the Cincinnati Fire Department. A week before the events surrounding the big game kicked off, 120 of Cincinnati's distinguished firefighters were asked to unfurl the American flag during the National Anthem at the Great American Ballpark. 

One of the firefighters, Marc Monahan, told WLWT News that he and his fellow first responders were used to holding the flag during the Reds Opening Day game. However, Monahan continued by saying that the atmosphere surrounding the All-Star Game was much more spirited. Because the game was broadcast to over 200 countries, Monahan and the other Cincinnati firefighters practiced the unfurling several times before the big day to ensure relative perfection. The 120 men and women from the CFD did their city proud as they effortlessly displayed the nation's flag while dressed in their finest blues. 

In Nelsonville, Ohio, 52 teenagers got to live the life of a firefighter for a week. The teens, all between ages 14-18, traveled to Hocking College for the Ohio Youth Fire and EMS Training Academy. This year, 19 of the camp's participants are returnees. For seven days, the young men and women pushed themselves to their physical limits as they handled the fire hose and practiced search and rescue missions. They also ran drills in full fire gear, which can add up to 50 pounds to a person's body.

The camp is not just about fighting fire, however. It is a place where young adults can learn teamwork and service.

"What we do on fire grounds, and EMS too, is collaboration communication. We're working together as a team and functioning as one," said April McComb, the camp's registered nurse.

Many of the campers have plans to pursue careers as first responders and serve their communities. In fact, Jacob Brammer, one of the camp's veterans, was recently certified to be a volunteer firefighter in his community. Ohio Youth Fire and EMS Training Academy offers scholarships to any interested prospective campers and is only one of many youth-geared first responder training camps in the country. 

In the vast majority of emergency situations, first responders are called on to do everything in their power to keep people alive. However, complications arise when paramedics respond to a situation where the person is dying and has very specific end-of-life wishes, such as a "do not resuscitate" order. 

This professional conflict is the focus of a recent study led by Deborah Waldrop, a professor at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. Waldrop examined the role of first responders who answer end-of-life calls. 

Emergency response at end-of-life
According to a press release, Waldrop interviewed paramedics and emergency medical technicians in Western New York to gain perspective on the largely unknown intersection between emergency care and end-of-life care. She reported that while most responders are not trained in end-of-life care, they do more of it than they are given credit for. 

Though they have not received training, the study found that most responders have found ways to navigate the situations, including verbally walking the family through the process during their loved one's last moments. However, a major problem arises when there are no medical orders or the orders cannot be found. Without an official document, the responders are obligated to take life-saving measures and transport the patient to a hospital, even if the family says otherwise. 

"It's why the end-of-life conversation needs to happen at the time of a life-limiting diagnosis or when something changes on the trajectory of that illness and why those documents have to be in a prominent place," Waldrop said in a statement. "In the heat of the moment, families don't want to be shuffling through files." 

The study reported that in general, first responders expressed the desire for more training in how to handle these situations. 

Steps to aid the process
​Waldrop recommended that families make sure to openly discuss a terminal loved one's wishes with medical professionals and caretakers and place any official medical orders in a prominent location such as on the refrigerator door so that it can be easily given to emergency responders. 

"It's someone's life that may end differently than they intended if we fail to take these steps," Waldrop said. "Those memories don't easily go away." 

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, patients can request a DNR order from their doctor, who must either honor the request or refer the recipient to a doctor who will. Standard forms may also be found at the state Department of Health. Family cannot override a DNR order once it is written by the physician, but if a person has not made an order and is no longer able to communicate the desire, a family member can make the decision in certain situations.   

The California Emergency Medical Services Authority recommended that people wear a DNR medallion if they are worried that responders will not see the authorized form. 

On June 30, 2013, America saw its biggest loss of first responder lives since the 9/11 attacks. The wildfires that had been scorching across the Yarnell Hill area in Arizona took a vicious turn and claimed the lives of 19 members of the Prescott Fire Department's Granite Mountain Hotshots.

Two years later, the sacrifice of those elite first responders has been honored in the Gulf Coast town of Naples, Florida. Eagle Scout Max Goin and Troop 2001 unveiled a memorial outside North Collier Fire and Rescue Station 45, which also serves as the troop's headquarters. Encased in the red brick square are 19 shovels to symbolize the lives of each firefighter lost in Arizona. The inscription on each shovel reads, "In memory of Granite Mountain Hotshots," and has the date of the tragedy.

Goin and Troop 2001 were at a scout camp in New Mexico the day the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed. Part of their camp was closed because of brush fires, and the devastation of the wildfires stuck with them. In addition to honoring the memory of the fallen Arizona firefighters, they want their project to remind people to appreciate the service of first responders. Goin wants people to recognize the bravery, commitment and sacrifice of these individuals everywhere.

In an emergency situation, every second counts. That is why a new app wants to get emergency responders to the scene faster than ever, even if they are not professionals. 

The PulsePoint mobile app notifies CPR-trained bystanders when a sudden cardiac arrest event occurs in their immediate vicinity. The alert allows for a civilian to start life-saving CPR or defibrillation until emergency responders are able to arrive.

According to the PulsePoint website, 57 percent of adults in the U.S. report that they have had CPR training, but only 11 percent have used it in an actual emergency situation. The creators want to increase that number through their free app.

Northwest Public Radio reported that the app played a role in saving the life of a baby in Spokane, Washington, last September. When the child stopped breathing at a store, a local mechanic working nearby was notified. He ran over and was able to start performing rescue breaths. Because the nearest fire engine was on another call, it took more than five minutes for medics to arrive.

"The more responders we can get there that can switch out [doing] CPR and keep that person's blood pumping until we have professional responders there, the more likely that person is going to survive," Spokane Fire Department Assistant Chief Brian Schaeffer told Northwest Public Radio. 

The app is tied to participating 911 dispatch centers and only available in limited areas at this time. Most recently, the app became available to users in Santa Barbara County. Civilians in the area can download it to an iPhone or Android phone, PulsePoint announced in a press release. 

Emergency responders may not be fighting another person, but they are engaged in a battle nonetheless. That may be one of the reasons why organizations are finding that veterans are well-equipped for work in disaster relief in their life after the military. 

Veterans on a mission
This month, about a dozen veterans were deployed from Colorado to Alaska to help fight fires that have broken out in the state, Colorado's 9 News reported. Their training is the result of a new partnership announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture between the Bureau of Land Management and Team Rubicon.

Team Rubicon is a veteran organization that takes advantage of the skills of former military members and trains them as first responders for emergency situations across the country.

According to the Team Rubicon website, the organization was born when two marines, Jake Wood and William McNulty, and six other veterans and first responders flew to Haiti in the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake to help provide aid in areas that traditional organizations deemed too dangerous. The two realized that the skills they had learned in the military translated well to disaster relief. After they returned to Haiti they started Team Rubicon. Today the organization gives veterans purpose, community and self-worth as they bridge the gap between when a disaster occurs and the time that more conventional aid can arrive.   

Building on military skills
Multiple organizations are eager to work with the nonprofit to bolster wildfire fighting capacity nationwide. The National Park Service announced that the Point Reyes National Seashore is partnering with Team Rubicon to host firefighter training for 75 to 80 veterans during the end of June. Successful completion of the training will allow the veterans to be deployed to fight wildfires during the critical summer season. 

"It has always been a bucket list thing for me, since I was young, I have always loved the outdoors and taking care of the environment," Veteran Marc Gonzalez of Colorado Springs told 9 News. "Fighting wild land fires is just something I have always wanted to do. This opportunity came up with Rubicon and I could not say no."

 To date, nearly 28,000 members of Team Rubicon have been deployed nationwide in response to floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons and other disasters, the Department of Agriculture reported. 

Firefighters in an Illinois station will hit the streets this week with yellow and black boots in hand to raise funds for a good cause.

Members of the Waukegan Firefighters Union 473 are raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Chicago Tribune reported. Their "Fill the Boot" drive is an annual event where the firefighters walk around town trying to fill their iconic boots with donations from the public. 

The Muscular Dystrophy Association is a national nonprofit that aids individuals and families affected by neuromuscular diseases like muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS. According to the organization's website, it is the leading nonprofit health agency dedicated to finding treatments and cures for neuromuscular diseases. 

"[MDA has] so many outreach programs that they help with and things like the loan closet or helping contact specialists or giving treatment at one of their Chicago clinics," Jeanette Nieves-Rodriguez told the Tribune. "And it's not just for the patient. It's also for the family members. It's critical."

Nieves-Rodriguez's son Ryan was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of 5 and has since been aided by the MDA. 

According to the Tribune, this year the Waukegan firefighters hope to raise between $6,000 and $7,000 for the organization. They have raised over $100,000 since first becoming involved with the fundraiser in 2002. 

The International Association of Fire Fighters has partnered with the MDA for over 60 years. During this time the IAFF has raised more than $550 million toward finding treatments and cures for neuromuscular diseases, the MDA reported.