Creating a New VISION for the Future of the Fire Service Fire Act Funds a Multi-Organization Study Aimed at Helping Fire Departments Assess and Respond to Risks With a major grant of nearly $1 million from the research section of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (the Fire Act), five top fire research organizations are collaborating to develop tools that will help local fire departments better asses the risks in their local communities and plan to respond to them more effectively and efficiently. The three-year project, being conducted jointly by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI), the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), will establish a technical basis for risk evaluation and deployment of resources by local fire departments and create tools the departments can use to better assess the risks and hazards in their communities; plan adequate resource deployment to respond to and mitigate emergency events; and measure their effectiveness in responding to and handling events. “This is a study many fire industry leaders have dreamed of for several years,” said IAFC President Bill Killen. “Until now, it has simply not been possible, due to the complexity of the tasks proposed and the costs involved. “By bringing together recognized experts in the fields of fire and EMS industry, economics, statistics, model evaluation, standards of cover, geographical information systems, and fire protection engineering, we will ensure that the result will be a comprehensive, validated assessment model that will serve the fire service for many years,” added Harold Schaitberger, IAFF General President. In Phase I of the three-phase project, experts are bringing together project technical advisors and a stakeholder group to identify and quantify community risks and necessary resource deployment. In addition, one of the principal tasks of Phase 1 is to evaluate the technical foundation of VISION, a web-based software tool developed by Emergency Reporting in Bellingham, Wash., that enables fire and emergency service agencies to analyze and categorize the risks in their communities. The software was created on behalf of CFAI, now the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE). As part of the study, fire scientist are developing and testing mathematic models representing risks, fire movement, and various interventions for mitigating a fire event. In Phase II, they will collect hazard and response measurements that will form the technical basis for the model. Phase III will be devoted to validating and beta-testing the software for accuracy and ease-of-use. Once complete in 2008, the VISION software will be re-released through CFAI. All purchasers of the original version of VISION, available from CPSE for a nominal fee, will receive updated versions as they become available. Questions regarding the study may be directed to Dr. Lori Moore at 202-824-1594 or Lmoore@iaff.org.

Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007

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