Information Systems for Supporting Fire Emergency Response

Despite recent work on information systems, many first responders in emergency situations are unable to develop sufficient understanding of the situation to enable them to make good decisions. The record of the UK Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) has been particularly poor in terms of providing the information systems support to the fire fighters decision-making during their work. There is very little work on identifying the specific information needs of different types of fire fighters. Consequently, this study has two main aims. The first is to identify the information requirements of several specific members of the FRS hierarchy that lead to better Situation Awareness. The second is to identify how such information should be presented. This study was based on extensive data collected in the FRS brigades of three counties and focused on large buildings having a high-risk of fire and four key fire fighter job roles: Incident Commander, Sector Commander, Breathing Apparatus Entry Control Officer and Breathing Apparatus Wearers. The requirements elicitation process was guided by a Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) tool: Goal Directed Information Analysis (GDIA), which was developed specifically for this study. Initially appropriate scenarios were developed. Based on the scenarios, 44 semi-structured interviews were carried out in three different elicitation phases with both novice and experienced fire fighters. Together with field observations of fire simulation and training exercises, fire and rescue related documentation; a comprehensive set of information needs of fire fighters was identified. These were validated through two different stages via 34 brainstorming sessions with the participation of a number of subject-matter experts. To explore appropriate presentation methods of information, software mock-up was developed. This mock-up is made up of several human computer interfaces, which were evaluated via 19 walkthrough and workshop sessions, involving 22 potential end-users and 14 other related experts. As a result, many of the methods used in the mock-up were confirmed as useful and appropriate and several refinements proposed. The outcomes of this study include: 1) A set of GDI Diagrams showing goal related information needs for each of the job roles with the link to their decision-making needs, 2) A series of practical recommendations suitable for designing of human computer interfaces of fire emergency response information system, 3) Human computer interface mock-ups for an information system to enhance Situation Awareness of fire fighters and 4) A conceptual architecture for the underlying information system. In addition, this study also developed an enhanced cognitive task analysis tool capable of exploring the needs of emergency first responders. This thesis contributes to our understanding of how information systems could be designed to enhance the Situation Awareness of first responders in a fire emergency. These results will be of particular interest to practicing information systems designers and developers in the FRS in the UK and to the wider academic community

Information systems architecture for fire emergency response

Purpose There has been a lack of meaningful information systems architecture, which comprehensively conceptualise the essential components and functionality of an information system for fire emergency response addressing needs of different job roles. This study proposes a comprehensive information systems architecture which would best support four of the key fire-fighter job roles. Design The study has built on the outcomes of two previous preliminary studies on information and human-computer interaction needs of core fire fighter job roles. Scenario based action research was conducted with fire fighters in a range of roles, to evaluate human computer interaction needs while using various technology platforms. Findings Several key themes were identified and led us to propose several layers of an integrated architecture, their composition and interactions. Research limitations The selected fire scenarios may not represent every type of fire expected in high risk built environments. Practical implications The current paper represents a shared discussion among end users, system architects and designers, to understand and improve essential components. It, therefore, provides a reference point for the development of an information system architecture for fire emergency response. Originality The proposed information system architecture is novel because it outlines specific architectural elements required to meet the specific situation awareness needs of four of the key firefighters job roles

A handbook of wildfire engineering: Guidance for wildfire suppression and resilient urban design

A Handbook of Wildfire Engineering (the Handbook) provides firefighters, engineers and town planners with detailed technical approaches and analysis to enhance the resilience of communities in areas prone to wildfire impacts, and enhance the safety and effectiveness of wildfire suppression at the urban interface during catastrophic wildfire condition

Wildfire suppression – an international analysis of operations, strategy and firefighter safety

Wildfire suppression remains an inherently dangerous yet increasingly frequent task for fire services throughout Australia and the world. Each year firefighters from career and volunteer agencies respond to wildfires that impact the urban interface. When such an event occurs during a period of intense fire behaviour the conditions are often incompatible with life for persons either caught in the open or those seeking refuge in a vehicle. In order to improve firefighter safety and operational effectiveness at the rural urban interface (RUI) during landscape scale wildfires, this dissertation serves to examine critical components of wildfire response, most notably wildfire suppression strategies and tactics applied during a landscape scale wildfire event and the procedures and protective systems utilised in the event of firefighter entrapment and burnover. The theme of the research is firefighter safety and suppression effectiveness during mega-wildfire response at the rural urban interface (RUI), also known as the wildland urban interface (WUI). Mega-wildfires are those landscape wildfires that overwhelm firefighting resources, typically generate their own localized weather systems, and require campaign style efforts lasting extended durations. Wildfire events including Margaret River (2011), and Yarloop (2016) in Western Australia, the devastating Californian and Greece wildfires (2018) and the unprecedented wildfires throughout eastern Australia in late 2019 / early 2020 meet this category. The RUI is the land where towns and cities exist alongside forest and other vegetation that supports the development of an established headfire with a quasi-steady rate of spread (RoS) across the landscape. In such instances, firefighters are called on to protect vulnerable communities and critical infrastructure from the ember storms, radiant heat and flames that accompany the head fire. In doing so, firefighters face great personal peril. If the incorrect suppression tactics or strategies are applied, or if wildfire behaviour suddenly changes, firefighter entrapment and burnover resulting in significant injury or fatality remains an all too common consequence. The studies not only quantify the severity of the conditions firefighters encounter when attempting to protect life, property and the environment at the RUI, but also find traditional wildfire suppression strategies and tactics at the RUI need to be reexamined. Whilst the field of wildfire engineering is in its infancy, the studies suggest its development and adoption into wildfire suppression operations has the potential to improve both operational effectiveness and firefighter safety

A review of the standard of care owed to Australian firefighters from a safety perspective—The differences between academic theory and legal obligations

Working in high consequence yet low frequency, events Australian fire service Incident Controllers are required to make critical decisions with limited information in time-poor environments, whilst balancing competing priorities and pressures, to successfully solve dynamic large-scale disaster situations involving dozens of personnel within the Incident Management Team, including of front-line responders from multiple jurisdictions. They must also do this within the boundaries of public and political expectations, industrial agreements, and the legal requirement to maintain a safe workplace for all workers, inclusive of volunteers. In addition to these operational objectives, fire services must also provide realistic training to prepare frontline staff, whilst satisfying legislative requirements to provide a safe workplace under legislation that does not distinguish between emergency services and routine business contexts. In order to explore this challenge, in this article we review the different safety standards expected through industrial and legal lenses, and contextualize the results to the firefighting environment in Australia. Whilst an academic argument may be presented that firefighting is a reasonably unique workplace which exposes workers to a higher level of harm than many other workplaces, and that certain levels of firefighter injury and even fatality are acceptable, no exception or distinction is provided for the firefighting context within the relevant safety legislation. Until such time that fire services adopt the legal interpretations and applications and develop true safety management systems as opposed to relying on “dynamic risk assessment” as a defendable position, the ability of fire services and individual Incident Controllers to demonstrate they have managed risk as so far as reasonably practicable will remain ultimately problematic from a legal perspective

LEAN FIRE MANAGEMENT: A FOCUSED ANALYSIS OF THE INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM BASED ON TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM PRINCIPLES

A primary role of the Incident Command System is to learn from past incidents, as illustrated by its origins in the wildland firefighting community. Successful emergency response operations under the Incident Command System has prompted its nationwide spread, this promulgation critically relies on the system’s capability to stabilize and continuously improve various aspects of emergency response through effective organizational learning. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential to apply fundamental principles of the Toyota Production System (Lean manufacturing) to improve learning effectiveness within the Incident Command System. An in-depth review of literature and training documents regarding both systems revealed common goals and functional similarities, including the importance of continuous improvement. While these similarities point to the validity of applying Lean principles to the Incident Command System, a focus on the systematic learning function of the Incident Command System culminated in the discovery of gaps in approaches proposed by the Incident Command System framework. As a result, recommendations are made for adjustments in systematic problem solving to adapt Lean principles of root cause analysis and emphasis on standardization of successful countermeasures to benefit the system. Future recommendations are also proposed based on the author’s understanding of the system

Flourishing Firefighters: A plan for optimal organizational deviance using healthy human systems

The purpose of this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is to offer the potential groundwork to enhance the current support services of a union representing firefighters in Canada. The hope is to address the growing number of firefighters that are afflicted with Occupational Stress Injuries (OSI) and to provide a more comprehensive positive approach to mitigate the psychological effects and professional ramifications of the consistent exposure to traumatic events and other associated occupational stressors. The aim is to leverage the existing structure and resources to address the Problem of Practice (PoP): How can union leaders effectively address the increasing prevalence of occupational stress injuries impacting their members? Traditionally, the focus of helping first responders has been very retroactive and about treating psychological injuries after they have occurred. More recently, resources are being shifted to deliver some preventative measures. This OIP offers a new context for this problem. Through the use and establishment of a variation of the Networked Improvement Communities (NIC) model, the union will be able to better respond to this problem by supporting their members to perform at their psychological best, rather than trying to prevent the worst outcomes. This OIP uses the concepts and frameworks from positive psychology and appreciative inquiry as a means of organizational cultural transformation and the elevation of mental wellness within the workplace

Which Factors Govern the Use of Emergency Response Information Systems? Insights from an Ethnographical Study of a Voluntary Fire Department

To realize the digitalization potential of emergency response processes, several information technologies have been proposed that shall support firefighters in their operations. In the incident command process, especially emergency response information systems (ERIS) are supposed to raise the situation awareness and overall efficacy. Despite their theoretical potential, these technologies only slowly disseminate in practice, however. While extant acceptance models can basically explain firefighters’ intention to use them, the actual usage so far remained unexplored. To gain an in-depth understanding of the specific domain and its influence on the usage of technologies, we ethnographically observed a voluntary fire department over several years. During its digitalization of command processes, we identified operational specialties like flexibility, organizational requirements like error culture, and social aspects like perceived importance that influence the introduction of an ERIS. These factors shall enrich existing acceptance models and help to better consider the special characteristics of the firefighter domain

THE NEXT GENERATION OF WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING TOOLS: USING UAV SWARMS FOR FIRE ATTACK

Wildland fires pose a direct threat to homeland security because of the severe personal, economic, and social stress they cause to those affected. As unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms become more ubiquitous in use, they will likely find a place as a frontline firefighting aerial asset, increasing the operational pace of aerial suppression flights and consequently increasing the safety of firefighters. This thesis explored the concept of using UAV swarms as a method for fire attack by comparing theoretical swarms to a conventional aerial asset within a realistic fire scenario and then using a systems engineering approach to define pressure points for implementing UAV swarms in the wildland space. The findings of this research support continued development of UAV swarms and clearly define areas that must be addressed before implementing large-scale UAV swarm flights. The firefighting UAV swarm system shows great promise due to its relative portability and ability to provide an aerial firefighting option to areas without ready access to conventional firefighting aircraft. It will be critical, however, to address logistical and communications constraints of UAV swarm systems before implementation to ensure positive outcomes.Civilian, Portland Fire and RescueApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited