Lieutenant Bill Finegan, an experienced firefighter from Philadelphia, has launched a campaign and a product for incorporating LED lights on to fire fighting ladders which will illuminate the area underneath the ladder, revealing areas where a fire may spread to or hazardous items that could explode, as well as casualties who may have fallen from the burning building or who jumped out to escape the flames.

In 1994, Finegan attended a night-time domestic blaze which killed three members of the same family.  The youngest's death was the hardest hitting, as the four-year-old girl had fallen from the building and was found dead underneath debris hours after the fire was put out, when daylight started to reveal the scene.  Finegan believes that if their aerial ladder had light underneath it, she would have been found and potentially been saved had she been noticed in time.  The combination of a dark night, thick smoke and a lack of lighting all contributed to the girl's unfortunate death.

Lt. Finegan and business partner, Pat Creed, have raised funds to start a business selling lighting kits that can be retrofitted to the ground ladders that firefighters use, and also eventually to aerial ladders as well.  The lights have been tuned not to cause any glare, so they also help illuminate the ladder for anyone descending it making a rescue much safer.  During their product research Creed and Finegan found that 11% of all firefighter injuries were the result of falls from a ladder, so one with lights on would help lower this number and make them safer for everyone during the chaotic event of a major fire.  They say the use of their kit is limited only by one's imagination, citing using four such ladders to create a lit up temporary helipad for air ambulances as one potential use.

This idea could be very valuable for other applications as well.  Hanging Christmas lights is one dangerous job that might be safer with a lit up ladder.  The lights would show up any pets wandering near the ladder, which could be a risk, as well as making the rungs clear against snowy ground when the light is starting to fade, which can help reduce the number of falls.  A ladder with attached lighting could be used as a feature for an evening garden party, providing extra light in a dark corner without lots of trailing cables which could be a trip hazard.  They would also be useful for working in dark areas such as alleyways, tight corners in the home or inside a porch as they provide extra light for the whole area.

Until Finegan and Creed get their product to market homeowners can improvise with LED rope lights or stick-on LED units that are sold for lighting up cupboards and dark areas of the house, such as a garage or shed.  Always make sure that anything you attach to a ladder does not interfere with the structural integrity of it, so don't cut holes to fit lighting units in, use an adhesive or tied on solution instead.  We can't wait to see these illuminated ladders, and we hope that they can save more lives in emergency situations so no more avoidable deaths occur at fire scenes.