Upon interviewing the Training and Operations Chiefs from fire departments within San Francisco Bay Area an important theme emerged from the research: Integrating a
coordinated systems approach, and sharing regional resources, will become increasingly important as resources are stretched and cities rely on their neighbors for aide.
Based on the interviews conducted, it appears as though a trend in updating map technology is already taking place. GIS will continue to serve as the foundation with which other technologies will be integrated, but the information it disperses can be built to suit each department. Map layers can readily provide any information a responding fire company may need, however, the level of detail will be determined by the motivation and funding of the department, as well as the department’s access to a GIS analyst.
Fire departments in Santa Clara County may benefit from implementing one cohesive system that integrates GIS information with AVL, and traffic sensing
technology. Departments might consider identifying which parts of their navigation and communication systems are not synchronized with other departments, then bringing them into alignment so that interagency operations are as close to seamless as they can be.
SJFD Chief Sapien stated that a study is being conducted that is evaluating the feasibility of a countywide combined communication system, including maps (Sapien, Phone Interview, 4/5/16). Agencies included in the study are SCCFD, MVFD, PAFD, and SJFD (Santa Clara County, 2014).
This study is raising the following questions:
2. How would it be paid for? 3. What would it look like?
The results of the study were not available at the time of publishing.
Paper maps will continue to serve as a crucial asset and departments would benefit from maintaining a rigid update schedule. Electronic sources may be easier to update and offer the most recent maps, but a power or internet failure in the system would neutralize that benefit. An earthquake event, a known threat to Santa Clara and surrounding counties, could shut down power and rupture water lines. CAD repeaters are especially vulnerable during earthquakes and can be easily damaged or lose power, forcing emergency responders to rely on paper maps. Outdated maps will hinder response efforts during a catastrophic event. Therefore, fire departments would greatly benefit from instituting a rigid update schedule for paper maps and assigning fire personnel the responsibility. Update frequency may vary based on the rate of growth in each
department’s jurisdiction.
Traffic signal preemption is another area in which improvement in technology could positively affect response times. Equipping main city intersections with signal preemption technology could allow agencies to maintain or improve response times, even as cities become more densely populated and traffic more congested.
Google Maps and Waze are available as supplemental sources of route-finding information, but neither should serve as the sole source of route-finding technology due to their vulnerabilities. Waze has potential to offer faster or alternative routes, but the technology is vulnerable: It may not be completely reliable and it can be manipulated and may be susceptible to individuals or groups with bad intentions.
Areas for Future Study
The interviews conducted generated interesting questions about issues that lay outside of the scope of this research. One such issue discussed involved the lack of uniform map symbols among all departments. Respondents explained that symbols standardized by the NFPA would benefit both the fire service and the communities they serve by alleviating guesswork involved when departments respond to automatic aid calls outside their primary jurisdictions. In a disaster situation, where many agencies and groups arrive to provide aid to those in need, having standardized symbols would allow workers immediate reference of their geographic surroundings. Referencing a map key to decipher signals takes a captain’s focus away from the task at hand: getting to the call quickly and preparing for the event en route.
Another issue that surfaced during interviews was the availability, or lack thereof, of digital preplans for buildings. Having preplans available for fire personnel to pull up enroute offers them an overview of the building before they arrive. This enhances their ability to plan the most effective attack, and to avoid dangerous areas.
The role of traffic congestion and street design also deserves more study. Research focusing on San Jose’s response time problems could include time of day, distance, whether the responding company was first due for that address and similar travel-‐related impediments to successful response times.
Finally, the role of fire station placement should be studied. It is notable that San Francisco, a more congested city, has a response time performance that is far below the required maximum times. Even Oakland, with a similar number of calls
for service and urban density, has a far better response time. Perhaps travel
distance is a factor in longer response times. Research could examine the placement of fire stations in relation to population centers, stations per 100,000 population, companies per 100,000 population and other measures of resource dispersal throughout the community. The best technology and maps cannot make up for travel distances in reducing response times.
At this point in time there is no perfect system. The research showed that the majority of the fire departments surveyed for this research are already meeting response time standards as set by the NFPA 1710 and Santa Clara County EMS, and in many cases were far exceeding them. Since these goals are already being met, departments may benefit from identifying possible large-scale threats and determining which navigation tools would aid them best during catastrophic events.