alt Hacker NewsWho's entering the signal that the runway is locked? What if they screw up?
There are so many failure modes with vehicles and planes using the same tarmac that I fail to see how anything would be worth developing here that doesn't eliminate that requirement altogether.
Currently it’s automated at this airport: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/technology/rwsl
Presumably this is lack of familiarity with this on the part of firefighters.