There is something about little boys and fire trucks that get the imagination working in overdrive. Those big red trucks create a sense of wonder and growing up doesn’t end that wonder. A friend of the family, who I won’t name so he won’t get in trouble, offered to meet me at the local fire station to give a tour of the equipment. My grandkids are in town visiting me and it was the perfect opportunity to give them a thrill of a lifetime, so off we went recently to the firehouse. I did it for the kids — sure I did. I was thrilled to get a firsthand look at the mobile technology that firemen use to help fight fires.
The Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department is not the typical volunteer fire department. It is one of the largest volunteer fire companies in the America with over 300 members, and it covers a huge geographical area with a high population just outside of Houston. It is considered one of the premier volunteer organizations in the country and are frequently called in by the surrounding fire departments to help out in times of need. They have 12 fire stations that cover their area of responsibility, which they aptly do with state-of-the-art equipment.
It was a lot of fun crawling all over that equipment. Seeing the fire trucks up close and personal was a thrill for all of us. I had the chance to get a hands-on look at the mobile technology that is deployed in the trucks to help the brave men and women fight fires.
Since our focus is on mobile technology I will concentrate on that aspect of the equipment they use. Each fire truck has a Panasonic Toughbook laptop mounted in the cab that plays a big role in emergency response. Everything a fire department does is predicated on fast response, and these laptops play a huge role toward that goal.
There is a Toughbook mounted on a special rack in every fire truck in operation. These are fully ruggedized as you would expect and are designed from the ground up for the special requirements. They run Windows XP in a kiosk configuration, so they are locked down to running only the special software used by the fire department.
This software is the heart of the system — it is a specialized system that plays an important role in emergency situations. The laptops are always running navigation software that is tailored for firefighters. It displays a constant 2D map view of the area around the fire truck, aided by the GPS system in all trucks.
When an emergency call is received, the first thing the firemen do in the truck is open the lid of the Toughbook. The laptops are always on thanks to the sophisticated and powerful electrical generators in the trucks. There is no sleep or standby. Instead, the Toughbooks are simply always on. Fast response means you must be able to open the lid and see the map instantly. This mapping software will show the best route to the scene, much like standard car navigation systems. The resemblance ends there however.
In addition to the street maps used to navigate to the fire, this software also shows the location of every other truck in the department. This allows the firefighters to determine at a glance how many trucks are en route to the fire, how many are already on the scene and which trucks are not available. The latter group might be trucks on other calls or out of service. The result is that every truck crew knows what it going on from the moment they pull out of the fire house on a response.
The dispatch office can interact with the Toughbook in all the trucks from the central command center. This insures that every truck has the latest information about the emergency in real-time. The communication is done via radio; each laptop is always connected to the dispatch office while it is on. The entire system is designed to provide the maximum amount of information to every firefighting crew on a response, in real time. The firefighters are trained heavily on this equipment and can get a lot of information about any situation at a glance.
The Toughbooks in the trucks have touch screens for easy interaction, and the entire software system is optimized for touch. Maps can be moved and zoomed by a simple tap on the screen. The firefighter can tap on any truck that shows up on the map and get detailed information about the equipment installed, the crew on the truck and lots of other information. It was stressed to me how important firefighters consider this software. They can do everything they need to do with no lag by simply touching the screen. It has become a vital part of the firefighting process, and my guide got very uneasy with the thought of fighting fires without it.
One of the key needs of firefighters on a response is situational awareness. They need to know as much about the building on fire, sources of water to fight the fire and exactly where their compatriots are located. The special maps the laptops access can show them where all the sources of water are located, fire hydrants for instance, and just as importantly make the crew on the scene aware if there is no water available. This fire department serves a large area outside of the city and there are many areas not served with adequate fire hydrants. These are called dry subdivisions, and the fire crew must be aware of this to make sure the water tanks on the trucks will be adequate to fight the fire depending on its size and weather conditions.
These maps can also show building diagrams that the firefighters can use to understand the scope of the problem they face in a fire. This is essential in fires of larger structures, as the firefighters can come up with a plan of attack to address the emergency. It is especially vital to minimize the danger that the firefighters always face in such a situation.
This look into the technology used by the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department was a great opportunity for me. Mobile technology has become a vital part of the fire fighting process, and it is rare for us civilians to get a glimpse of that technology. I want to thank the brave men and women of the fire departments world-wide for the dangerous jobs they perform to keep us safe.




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