Barcelona-based startup Prometeo has developed an AI-based cognitive health monitoring platform in hope that one day it will be used to monitor the health of firefighters while they are out battling brutal wildfires. Co-founder Salome Valero explained the development of the platform came about following concerns that were raised by one of their own team members who is a veteran firefighter. "When the firefighters are fighting against fire, they are breathing in a lot of toxins which can be dangerous for their health … and some of the immediate effects they feel from breathing in smoke is getting headaches. But there is evidence they can suffer respiratory diseases, cancer, and stress disorders," she told ZDNet, during IBM Cloud Innovation Exchange in Sydney last week. "The problem is there currently isn't a lot of data about firefighters' vitals, but because we have this real-time capability, we are will be able to monitor them." Working primarily with firefighters from Catalonia, Prometeo, which was recently announced as the winner of IBM's Call for Code 2019 competition, has developed a smartphone-sized device that straps on a firefighter's arm.