Download PDF: Issue 9 - New Zealand Fire Service

Hi-tech boost for smart
disaster management
Emergency services personnel did not have
to be in Bay of Plenty to keep a close eye
on the fl oods of May.
In fact members of the Fire Service
Commission, during a meeting in
their Wellington board-room,
watched as the incident unfolded and
calls for help defi ned the path of the
fl oods and landslides.
New technology developed by the
Fire Service meant that the national
crisis management centre in the Beehive
had a clear picture of what was
happening, virtually as it happened.
The technology is called SMART
Map and was developed by our
engineering, information, research
and strategic analysis (EIRSA) team.
Data and applications support
manager Malcolm MacFarlane says
it went live six weeks before the
fl oods and was used “in anger” for
the fi rst time for the Bay of Plenty
incident.
SMART Map is the next generation
of MapViewer, fl owing from the old
BOB application with a station
management system (SMS) look and
feel.
“It offers additional functionality in
that it can view incidents as they are
happening, as well as those already in
the reporting database.”
“It shows what’s happening right
now. We could see the extent of all
the calls people put in, when and
where, for the whole of Tauranga.”
Calls are shown as dots on the map.
The dots graphically illustrated how
the incident was progressing and
moving, with just a six to 10 minute
lag from when a call was logged
at the comcen, to it appearing on
SMART Map.
“It gives a much better picture of
what is developing and helps with the
planning.”
Malcolm says SMART Map has had
“great feedback” since its fi rst real
incident. Fire Service director of
operations and training Steve Turek
worked from the Beehive operations
centre during the floods. SMART
Map was impressive, he said.
Historical incident information is
also available on SMART Map.
Malcolm says Invercargill was the
fi rst to try it out - to map where the
city’s chimney fi res tend to happen.
Malcolm and his team are now working
to build on SMART Map by giving it
the ability to extract ICAD reports of
any incident, as they are happening.
SMART Map views incidents as
they are happening.
Bay of Plenty fl oods
SMART Map at work in the national crisis
management centre in the Beehive during
the Bay of Plenty disaster.
“Currently with SMS you can only
do this once the incident has closed
off.”
SMART Map is available to the
Department of Conservation, rural
fire authorities and Ministry of
Defence, as well as all Fire Service
personnel.
The New Zealand Fire Service Magazine May/June 2005
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