Firefighters have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world at the best of times and they have to wear bulky equipment when they do it, making things all the more dangerous for them. It’s one thing to fight a fire, it’s another to have to do so while being barely able to see.

One possible solution, for firefighters’ headgear at least, is the C-Thru, an updated helmet concept which would allow firefighters to receive large amounts of very necessary data in one place through an integrated heads-up display that also acts as a respirator.

The helmet is designed to to act like something out of a video game, specifically the Ghost Recon series of games, by sharing data between firefighters and presenting them with a wire-frame overlay on their face-plates that is formed by a collection of data that is collected by each helmet and crunched in the cloud. Wirelessly, of course, and it involves having a wearable computer of sorts joining in on the rescue mission.

The helmet will also be able to record video for training and legal uses, feature noise cancellation which will filter out unnecessary sounds, and have features that will permit firefighters to communicate more effectively in an inferno.

Ultimately the C-Thru’s aim is to make life easier for firefighters, enabling them to focus more on saving lives and, presumably, look awesome while doing so. It’s as if Tony Stark designed them their very own Iron Man headgear. Instead, the C-Thru is currently being tested by the Umea Fire Department in Sweden so it’s on its way to becoming a reality elsewhere in the world.

Source: Gizmodo