DKL Demonstrates LifeGuard at Colorado Snow and Avalanche Workshop
Colorado Avalanche Information Center Hosts the 5th Annual Workshop
Vienna, VA, October 30, 2006 - DKL International, Inc., a leading provider of passive human detection technology, demonstrated its DKL LifeGuard™ to attendees of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s (CAIC) 5th annual Colorado Snow and Avalanche Workshop (CSAW). The demonstration took place on October 25 at Copper Mountain. CSAW is a one-day workshop of presentations for professional development of avalanche professionals and practitioners in Colorado.
Jim Bryant, VP Training, and Steve Dabbs, CFO, gave a presentation of the DKL LifeGuard to 175 participants at the facility followed by a demonstration on the grounds of Copper Mountain to approximately 60 participants. Jim Bryant commented, “This demonstration generated among the strongest and most favorable responses we’ve received from a presentation. A person was hidden and ‘found’ approximately 200 yards away in a tree line behind a snow making barrier in less than a minute. Following the demonstration, a number of participants were able to participate in preliminary training of the LifeGuard, and remarked at the ease of using the LifeGuard.”
The presentation highlighted the benefits of including a LifeGuard as a standard procedure in searches where there is a risk to human life from avalanches. These benefits include:
- Finding survivors sooner will save lives
- Significant savings in man hours
- Increased safety for searchers by providing standoff detection
- Improve the effectiveness of conventional search and rescue tools
- Effectiveness of technology not affected by environmental factors
Scott Toepfer, Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), commented, “The LifeGuard was very impressive. I can see where this could make a critical difference in rescue operations.”
The participants included ski patrollers, avalanche forecasters, CDOT and county road maintenance personnel, ski guides, search and rescue teams, avalanche instructors, undergraduate and graduate students in snow science programs, applied researchers, and others who take winter sports seriously.
About Colorado Avalanche Information Center
The CAIC is in its 23rd year of operation, and is headquartered at the National Weather Service office in Boulder. The CAIC is the oldest avalanche forecast program in the United States. Their roots were with the US Forest Service when the Colorado Avalanche Warning Center was started in 1973. The purpose of the CAIC is to minimize the economic and human impact of snow avalanches on recreation, tourism, commerce, industry and the citizens of Colorado. Since 1950 avalanches have killed more people in Colorado than any other natural hazard, and in the US, Colorado accounts for one-third of all avalanche deaths.
About DKL International, Inc.
DKL International, Inc. is a provider of passive human detection technology and related products to homeland security, defense, military, law enforcement, security, safety, and rescue markets. Patented in eighteen countries, DKL will add the SilentGuard Perimeter Security System to its initial product, the DKL LifeGuard, in 2007. The DKL LifeGuard can locate and track a standing adult at a distance of 500 meters in the open, and at shorter ranges through concrete walls, steel bulkheads, brick, earthworks, plastics, heavy foliage, water, and other barriers. The DKL LifeGuard is used in Asia and Europe for port security, mine safety, and by law enforcement and search and rescue groups. The DKL SilentGuard Perimeter Security System is autonomous and detects only living humans. It will provide a silent, passiveelectronic tripwire around prisons or secure facilities and at borders.
