Structural Fire Protection

The mission of the fire service is to protect life, property, and natural resources from fire and other emergencies. With increasing demands and finite resources, the fire service must utilize the best tools, techniques, and training methods to meet public expectations.

GIS improves the efficiency of planning, preparedness, mitigation, response, and incident management. GIS extends the capability of maps to access all types of information analysis. When a fire occurs, any delay of responding fire companies can make the difference between the rescue of occupants versus serious injury or death. The critical time between fire containment and flashover can be measured in seconds. From the moment an emergency call is received through the deployment of tactical resources, GIS helps reduce critical time loss and increases efficiency. GIS technology brings additional power to fire personnel to evaluate hazards, analyze service demands, and deploy resources [PDF].

Planning

Incident Analysis
GIS can perform complex incident analysis to identify trends, illustrate patterns, and locate areas of high call volume. A GIS display of historical incidents (represented by points or icons on the map where they occurred) includes attribute information for each incident.

Response Analysis
GIS can analyze and display responses to specific locations including apparatus and personnel on a time-arrival sequence, multiple alarms, and travel time to each street segment. The response area for each fire station, based on the travel time specified, can be calculated and displayed on the map.

Risk Assessment
GIS enables rapid and efficient risk assessment by analyzing the probability of an event occurring and its potential consequences. Each creates unique challenges requiring different resource commitments. GIS can quickly sort through the complex data requirements necessary to optimize service delivery based on proven analysis.

Response

GIS is used in CAD systems to rapidly locate and visually display incident locations. CAD selects the closest available response [PDF] unit and, with appropriate data, displays transportation routes for responding equipment. These features become increasingly valuable when multiple incidents begin to occur or when mutual aid units (unfamiliar with the local area) are utilized.

Automated Vehicle Location
AVL tracking allows dispatchers to track the location of apparatus on a GIS map at the dispatch center in real time using GPS transponders attached to vehicles. Fire apparatus operators can also track their locations on mobile computers and chief officers can track the location of resources en route to or at an incident location.

Incident Management

The incident commander requires a diverse array of information to perform the command mission and make the best decisions possible. Having access to GIS data, imagery, school locations, parking lots, adjacent exposures, and hydrant locations provides an accurate picture of the event and supports critical command decisions.

Solutions

ESRI offers software solutions that meet the needs of fire response, fire planning, and fire ground command.

  • ArcInfo
  • ArcView with the ArcView Spatial Analyst and ArcView Network Analyst extensions