Associations work to bring data technologies to firefighters

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Public Safety Communications Research division (PSCR) and the Western Fire Chiefs Association have partnered to bring data analytics to firefighters nationwide.

Fire departments traditionally use one-way systems to maintain incident records, track assets, and manage operations. These systems make it challenging to share and analyze information.

The absence of a centralized set of data means departments cannot exchange data or see regional trends.

“Teams of firefighters often operate like a family unit,” David Van Ballegooijen, the association’s project manager, said. “They live together, they spend a lot of time together, they eat together, and issues in the fire service are often hashed out over food and so forth. So, having data analytics to refer to supplements their discussions and works with their natural flow and processes. And it has a positive effect overall.”

The association gave 29 fire departments a software platform designed by data analytics firm Intterra. Users can interact with a live data pool of millions of calls from across the western United States. Tools included in the platform allow users to see regional trends, community metrics, comparative analytical capabilities, and predictive incident forecasting based on time and location.

The association aims to eventually create a system based on First Responder Network Authority, which was authorized by Congress in 2012, and PSCR’s Public Safety Analytics R&D Roadmap, which was published in 2016.