Using iPads To Fight Fire, AFD New Tool Aims to Pre-Plan
By: Katie Thompson
Updated: February 21, 2012
"A fire being such a dynamic event, you cannot plan for everything, but the more information going in the safer your people are," Explains Deputy Chief Jim Frazier.
Frazier says there wasn't much they could have done to prepare for last night's fire at the Matera paper company, but in the coming months they will have a tool that will allow for accurate, up to date and electronic pre-fire planning.
"They would know while they're in route where the sprinkler connection is, what hazardous materials are in there, the type of roof that the building may have," Said Frazier.
Beginning next month, the department will begin using i-pads to record and store useful information on each of the thousands of building inspections they do each year.
"They will enter their pre-fire plans into our system to where they can actually receive those onto their monitors and on the equipment," Says Frazier.
Every commercial building in Abilene receives an inspection, and the i-pads will allow firefighters to store maps, pictures, even video that could be useful if a fire breaks out.
"It Helps them to know those dangers are there before they ever arrive on the scene so there's less surprises," Said Frazier.
Pre-fire planning may not have prevented last nights building fire, but it would have let them in on one important fact.
"The pre-fire plan would also have told us, if we had more to work with, that there was a basement in the building," Said Frazier.
"That is very important for us to know going in, because not many buildings have that in the city of Abilene."
The department hopes to have fifteen of these i-pads eventually, to utilize for their pre-fire planning program.
Frazier says there wasn't much they could have done to prepare for last night's fire at the Matera paper company, but in the coming months they will have a tool that will allow for accurate, up to date and electronic pre-fire planning.
"They would know while they're in route where the sprinkler connection is, what hazardous materials are in there, the type of roof that the building may have," Said Frazier.
Beginning next month, the department will begin using i-pads to record and store useful information on each of the thousands of building inspections they do each year.
"They will enter their pre-fire plans into our system to where they can actually receive those onto their monitors and on the equipment," Says Frazier.
Every commercial building in Abilene receives an inspection, and the i-pads will allow firefighters to store maps, pictures, even video that could be useful if a fire breaks out.
"It Helps them to know those dangers are there before they ever arrive on the scene so there's less surprises," Said Frazier.
Pre-fire planning may not have prevented last nights building fire, but it would have let them in on one important fact.
"The pre-fire plan would also have told us, if we had more to work with, that there was a basement in the building," Said Frazier.
"That is very important for us to know going in, because not many buildings have that in the city of Abilene."
The department hopes to have fifteen of these i-pads eventually, to utilize for their pre-fire planning program.
