East Midlands Airport’s fire service is the first at a UK mainland airport to adopt telemetric breathing apparatus, providing real-time monitoring as firefighters attend incidents.
The equipment gives fire personnel overseeing incidents instant access to accurate information about the crew’s status, enabling them to make timely decisions about removing and deploying firefighters to the scene.
The airport moved from an old-style system using whiteboards which required firefighters to provide ongoing verbal updates about the oxygen levels in their breathing apparatus, while dealing with incidents.
The new system supplied by Dräger means the breathing apparatus is linked to a smart control board overseen by entry control operators and incident commanders. It takes into account in real-time the level of oxygen depletion as firefighters exert themselves during incidents, and sounds an alarm for the firefighter and officers in charge as levels start to get too low. It also sounds an alarm if there is no movement from the user.
East Midlands Airport Fire Station Manager Jez Paget said: “The new system has been a gamechanger for us, and has proved to be very straightforward and intuitive to use.
“It means there’s less pressure on our firefighters to monitor themselves and provide updates while they are dealing with an incident, as the system does it for them. It reduces risk, promotes safer monitoring of the breathing apparatus, and the crews have faith in the system, which is a huge thing for us.”
Elizabeth Milward, Marketing Manager Emergency and Rescue Services at Dräger Safety UK, said: “East Midlands Airport has taken an important step forward by becoming the first mainland airport in the UK to introduce telemetry into its firefighting operations.
“The unique challenges faced by airport firefighters require technology that is simple to use, supports rapid deployment and strengthens situational awareness, helping crews and commanders respond with greater confidence in time-critical environments.”
Posted on 21 August 2026
