Taking Measure Blog: First responder preparedness

First responder preparedness

Four men are protected by a net structure as they look away from the camera toward a drone flying in a large high-ceilinged room with street signs on the walls.

Drones in Disaster Zones: How Advanced 3D Mapping Technology Can Help First Responders Save Lives

January 29, 2025

NIST is working to help emergency workers have more information in a crisis by encouraging the development of advanced drones at an affordable price.

A person in a baseball cap and face mask stands at a computer surrounded by scientific equipment, including a curving black plastic tube.

NIST Partnership Helps Communities Manage Unknown Dangers in Common Street Drugs

March 16, 2023

When you buy a medication at a pharmacy, you know what’s in it. When someone buys street drugs, they have no idea what they’re really getting.

Team image of ARCC at the NIST PSCR 2021 First Responder UAS 3.1: FastFind Stage 3 Live Demonstration

It Takes a (Worldwide) Village to Improve Drone Technology for First Responders

October 19, 2022

The research continues because the need continues.

How 9/11 Changed Me and First Responder Communications

August 20, 2021

If you remember Sept. 11, 2001, that day is most likely imprinted on your mind like no other day. You remember what you were doing and who you were with. You

20 Years Later: NIST's World Trade Center Investigation and Its Legacy

August 18, 2021

The collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) buildings following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was one of the worst-ever building disasters in

Passing Photons Through Chicken, VR for First Responders, and 3D-Printed Metal: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

June 9, 2021

Sending “spooky” pairs of photons through biological materials, using virtual reality to test emergency communications technology, bolstering confidence in the

Search and Rescue Robotics: A Q&A With NIST's Adam Jacoff

May 7, 2021

Adam Jacoff has been a robotics research engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 1988. His research has focused on

Supporting Mobile Public Safety Broadband Using Drone-Borne Networks

May 13, 2021

Working outside is always a highlight for me at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It happens more often than you might think, and

Safety Standards for Ambulances — STAT

May 9, 2016

For as long as we have had automobiles, we have had traffic accidents. Even the vehicles that we depend on to take care of us in the event of an accident

Chemical Detective Hot on the Vapor Trail

April 20, 2016

Today in Taking Measure we asked Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) recipient Tara Lovestead a few questions about her life

Taking Measure