I seem to dimly remember watching some footage of some firefighters standing around with strobe beacons activated, but there was a definate chirping accompanied with the strobing. Is this the sound of the charging capacitor, some alarm not related to the beacon (maybe they had CO2 sniffers activated), or an actually feature of some beacon? I think it is rather smart to have both audible and visual cues to locate you, especially in something like a burning building at night where line of sight maybe obscured. I have looked at the features of some beacons, but I haven't seen any advertising an audible component. Any ideas?

Thanks,

C. Rowe

IIRC, the beacons activate when a firefighter doesn't move for a certain period of time. The chirping is intentional, it's to help locate a downed firefighter.

I'd go with google to see if they are available to the general public.

If you're taking about what I think you're talking about, it's called a PASS device.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PASS_device

Thanks guys, you nailed it.