Personnel accountability on the emergency scene has long posed challenges for the fireground Incident Commander (IC). The fire service has employed a number of low tech solutions in an effort to enhance accountability; T Cards, Personnel Accountability Tags (PAT), Passport Systems, and Accountability Officers to name just a few. None of these solutions have provided the real time accuracy required to achieve any meaningful measure of accountability.

The 2019 wildland season is upon us, and whether you are a firefighter or a chief officer, the mapping features in Tablet Command (iPad) and TC Mobile (iOS/Android) can enhance your situational awareness, safety, and effectiveness while responding to wildland fires.

As crews are dispatched, they can immediately view an incident in Tablet Command with a variety of base maps and map layers in the “Overview” screen or by tapping the “Map” tab within an incident on their iPad or Smartphone.  In these views responders can see the fire ground from an overhead perspective, providing head start on “LCES” (Lookouts, Communications, Escape Routes, Safety Zones) and insight into situational and resource status.

Sometimes a picture is worth much more than a thousand words. Especially when those words are taking up valuable radio bandwidth.

It continues to be VERY busy at work these days. I responded to 7 legitimate working fires for the month of May. And three of those have been two alarm fires. It’s been a really crazy run!

Two things happened last week in my life as a Fire Captain that simply could not have happened a generation ago.

Here’s a funny fact about entrepreneurs: The most common reason people start businesses is to avoid working for others. 

We’re a long way from the black and white images of cops with their feet up on the desk and firemen playing cribbage in Fire Station USA. Since 9/11 and the dawn of the iPad, emergency services is becoming increasingly armed with the latest and most intuitive technological enhancements from the consumer space to track, measure, and analyze.

When I look back on my travels and readings from 2014, I logged a tremendous amount of exposure to several different emergency incident command gurus and methodologies. One of the methodologies that I have become a student of, literally, is Blue Card Command. I’m currently enrolled in the online portion of the command course with the classroom portion soon to follow.