UCI receives FEMA grant to boost fire-related safety

With the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency’s help, UCI is working to increase safety measures for firefighters and those they protect.

FEMA gave university researchers a $1 million Fire Prevention and Safety grant Tuesday to work toward the goal of bettering firefighter awareness.

Sharad Mehrotra, professor of computer sciences, and Nalini Venkatasubramanian, associate professor of computer sciences, will team up with Long Beach disaster response technology company ImageCat to develop tools for firefighters that relay information to them faster to improve decision-making and reaction time.

The grant will pay for a two-year project known as SAFIRE, or Situational Awareness for Firefighters.

This is the first major grant to the Center for Emergency Response Technologies at UCI, which is directed by Mehrotra.

— Daniel Tedford