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What crews are available in rehab? Are they rehabbing on schedule? That will help ICs determine whether to expand rehab (to process more people), or go to more alarms (to get more people on scene to handle the workload).
#ELECTRONIC FIRE COMMANDER SOFTWARE#
I believe command software will be used to allow ICs to look at the rehab sector and see the status of each crew. We have new rehab recommendations coming down from the NFPA, calling on fire departments to have an active rehab policy. RI: I believe the next integration in decision-making for electronic command systems will have to do with rehab. These little reminders really enhance scene safety.įR: How do such tools change decision-making on the fireground? The timer goes off, prompting you to decide whether it’s time to change the operational mode and get personnel out. The electronic system also reminds you periodically to check your operational mode–offensive, defensive or in between. I don’t lose anyone on the scene, no matter what they’re doing. If I haven’t heard from them within the 5 minutes, the timer goes off, and I know to check on them immediately. I don’t expect it to take more than 5-10 minutes for a crew to turn off the utilities, so I’ll put a 5-minute timer on that. RI: Each one of our tasks is tracked electronically.
#ELECTRONIC FIRE COMMANDER MANUAL#
It’s very quick operational awareness, and that would take a little longer in the manual system.įR: How might these tools increase safety on the fireground? That said, electronic accountability provides the IC an advantage in that they can easily and quickly thumb through the system and see who’s where, all the way down to individual personnel. The metal tag is their buy-in to that system they own a piece of accountability. Our passport system is easy to use, and it allows accountability to be pushed down to the company level. This is only if it takes more than a few minutes to get the program back up.Īll systems, manual or electronic, should have some form of redundancy to enhance personnel safety. If the system does go down, we conduct a PAR if it is near time to do so otherwise we do a “roll call” to request location and assignment. That said, the electronic command systems are built so all you have to do is restart the computer it auto-saves where it’s at and no information is lost. But the electronic system allows us to know specifically which crew is with that apparatus.įR: Why do you place so much focus on redundancy? As we move pieces of apparatus on our command board electronically, we’re also moving those accountability tags manually through the different sectors/groups/divisions. We also still use passports and accountability tags.
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At the scene, we have instant accountability of each person on that apparatus. In addition, every morning each of our stations enters a personnel roster into the accountability system, so everyone on duty is logged into the system for the piece of apparatus they respond on. The electronic system gives us redundancy with the dispatch reminders. And at the beginning of the incident, when the action is intense, we can shorten it. As an incident grows, we can lengthen the time interval for the PAR. The electronic command system we use at the EFD enhances that by providing a personnel accountability report (PAR) for which we set the time intervals. FireRescue interviewed EFD Chief Robert Isbell to get a closer look at how such programs are integrated into the fireground.įireRescue magazine: Explain some of the features of electronic command tools.Ĭhief Robert Isbell: Like most departments, our dispatch center has benchmarks that they use to remind the incident commander (IC) that they’re 10, 15, etc., minutes into the fire. Editor’s note: The Euless (Texas) Fire Department (EFD) has been using electronic command programs since 2004.