Backcountry Access signs agreement with fire equipment giant

Boulder, CO (January 17, 2008) – Backcountry Access, Inc. (BCA) signed an exclusive supply agreement this week with Draeger Safety, a leading international manufacturer and distributor of fire safety equipment.

BCA is well-known for pioneering digital avalanche transceivers in 1997 with their groundbreaking Tracker DTS (Digital Transceiving System), now the world’s best-selling avalanche beacon. In 2004, the company developed the Tracker FRT (Firefighter Rescue Transceiver) and ET (Egress Transmitter). These products are used for locating firefighters inside buildings and for marking and locating exits and other points of safety. They will continue to be designed and manufactured by BCA, but will be marketed under the names Draeger FRT 1000 and ETR 1000. Draeger will take over all marketing and distribution worldwide.

Nearly 40 fire departments have installed Tracker fleets across the U.S. This is expected to grow significantly under Draeger’s extensive marketing and distribution network.

“We’re incredibly honored and excited to have the number one player in the fire industry behind this technology,” said BCA co-owner and marketing vice president Bruce Edgerly. “In their hands, Tracker technology will become a standard in this industry. We can’t wait for the day that it saves a firefighter’s life.”  He estimated the Tracker DTS has saved approximately 100 lives in avalanche incidents over the past ten years, including two live recoveries just last week.

Edgerly called the new relationship a perfect match, as BCA’s existing sales and marketing network is targeted at the outdoor industry, not the fire equipment industry. To further penetrate the multi-billion dollar international fire equipment industry, he said, would have required an enormous investment and created a potential distraction from BCA’s core business. “We don’t want to lose focus on what  we do best,” he said, “We’re skiers, not firefighters: our biggest passion is snow safety and backcountry skiing. We want to focus on that and let Draeger take this technology to the next level in the fire industry.”

“Every year, an average of 100 U.S. firefighters die in the line of duty,” said Draeger Responder Focus Group Manager, Rainer Westphal. “Many of these are caused from being lost, trapped, or disoriented. We believe that the Draeger FRT 1000 will complement our existing product line and can save as many—or more—lives in the fire service as it has saved in the mountains.” He said the main selling feature of the Tracker is its ease of use under stress.

The FRT 1000 and ETR 1000 differ from BCA’s Tracker DTS in that the units only transmit when the firefighter stops moving for 60 seconds. This is accomplished using a motion-sensing accelerometer. The firefighting version also has an auto-on function which switches the unit from off into standby mode when the firefighter leaves the fire engine. And instead of Tracker DTS’s Special Mode button, the FRT 1000 has an “ET search” button which leads a distressed firefighter to exits or other points of safety that have been marked with ETR’s, small transmitters with LED strobes. The FRT 1000 units are carried on the firefighter’s SCBA waist belt in a fire resistant Nomex holster.

Draeger Safety, based in Luebeck, Germany, is the world’s leading manufacturer of Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), gas monitoring equipment, thermal imaging cameras, and other fire safety equipment, with annual sales exceeding $2 billion.

Backcountry Access is a leading manufacturer and distributor of ski touring and snow safety equipment, including the Tracker DTS, shovels, probes, Stash packs and snow study kits. The company will show its new avalanche beacon, the Tracker2, this month at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City, Snowsports Industries America show in Las Vegas, and ISPO trade fair in Munich, Germany. For more information, contact BCA at (303)417-1345 or info@backcountryaccess.com.