Article

Why fire departments need situational awareness systems

Flood and storm events have become more frequent in recent years. But large-scale events such as street festivals are also becoming more popular. More and more people are staying in a given space. Switzerland is one of the most dynamic countries in Europe in terms of population growth. Since 2007, the average increase has been more than 1%. If events and participants increase, it is obvious that corresponding guidelines, for example safety regulations of the cantonal building insurances, also increase. Situation management systems for coordination of resources are therefore also necessary for the fire department, both for exercises and in an emergency.

Damage site organization with Firetab

Firetab helps the incident commander to meet the high expectations that are placed on him in such situations. The operations journal, the situation sketch and the checklists are valuable operational aids. With the Firetab situation sketch, danger and exclusion zones can be quickly marked or important locations, for example the waiting room for rescue vehicles, can be drawn in. Synchronized on all devices, those involved can see on the selected map section the tactical (water transport, chemical fire brigade, etc.) or geographical section separation according to

• Building
• road
• railroad line
• river
• etc.

On this visualized basis, officers are optimally deployed at key locations. All position sketches are stored electronically. Therefore they are ideal for the preparation of major events. However, situation sketches can also be easily printed out during the event or later for the operational report.