NSW Fire Brigades

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Fast response the key for NSW Fire Brigades

The entire call centre system at the NSW Fire Brigades deals with more than 200,000 incoming calls (incidents) each year. Sydney accounts for 160,000 incidents, while Newcastle handles around 35,000. Katoomba and Wollongong deal with 20,000 each.

Arriving a few seconds earlier at a major fire can quite literally be the difference between life and death. If it's a commercial building a fast response can save millions of dollars. Thus when Fujitsu supplied the Fire Brigades' new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, there was little room for error. The CAD system kicks in the moment a Telstra operator routes a 000 emergency call to one of the Fire Brigades' control centres. Five regional centres cover the entire state. Katoomba in the Blue Mountains manages western NSW, while centres at Newcastle and Wollongong oversee the north and south regions respectively. There's a centre in Alexandria to cover Sydney and a back-up site at Greenacre.

Trained firefighters operate each call centre. This means that the people taking incoming calls have specialist knowledge of both their region and of local fire-fighting conditions. Call centre operators work in shifts to provide round-the-clock cover, seven days a week. At any one time there would be 20 or so operators on shift across the state. Back-up staff members at Greenacre are always on duty and are ready to take over immediately in the event of a problem at any other centre. If there's a major emergency they can provide extra cover.

Customer line identification

As soon as an incoming message arrives, the system automatically displays the address of the caller using customer line identification (CLI). In some cases, incoming messages are automatic notifications from unattended fire alarms. Whatever the source, the information is fed directly to the CAD system, which starts to calculate the location and availability of the nearest fire appliances, the potential routes to the incident and the travelling times along the alternative routes to the incident.

As the operator gathers more information, it is also fed into the system. For example, the operator will determine whether or not specialist fire fighting equipment is needed, whether it is a major incident or if the calling location is not the actual place where the fire is burning. The operator will also check if a rescue team or an ambulance is required.

Meanwhile the system will choose the most appropriate appliances and the quickest routes to the location of the incident. This information is displayed on screen and the operator makes the decision to issue the dispatch instructions. In some cases a firefighter might use personal experience and knowledge to override the system.

Once the dispatch command is issued, the system sends a message to the appropriate fire station(s). It can ring the alarm bells, turn on the lights and even open the fire station doors. More importantly, it sends a printed copy of the incident details to the fire station, which the firefighters can rip off the printer as they race for the appliance. The firefighters punch a button to send back a message to the control centre acknowledging their receipt of the information and that they are on their way. This whole process can take as little as five to 10 seconds.

Retained stations

Many of the NSW Fire Brigades stations are in remote locations and are generally left unmanned - these are known as 'retained' stations. In these locations firefighters are equipped with pagers. At retained stations, an unattended customised computer automatically takes the incoming messages, then it pages the firefighters. It also checks that the paging signals get through.

John Shenstone, NSW Fire Brigades' Communications Manager Operations Support, says that the system has delivered noticeable speed improvements, although that isn't the only important advantage it offers.

"Now that every one of the 335 stations across the state is connected to the system we have more information management about our communications network. This means we have far more confidence in the system and are able to find out quickly if something is wrong.

"In practice, the system passed its first major test with flying colours during last autumn's freak hailstorm in Sydney that shattered roofs and cars. The storm generated a record number of calls in a short period of time. Extra people were used to cope with the additional call traffic and the back-up site at Greenacre was brought online.

The system is built around Fujitsu's Teamserver hardware and the special ruggedised PCs, from MultiTone, which are located in the fire stations. There's a lot of redundancy built into the system so that it won't fail. The site at Greenacre is on hot standby, so it can take over in the event of a failure. The communications lines throughout the network are doubled-up so there isn't a single point of failure.

The CAD software running the system is from Fortek, a specialist UK developer of real-time systems for emergency services. The system makes use of the GD92 communications protocol developed by the UK Home Office, which provides reliable signal transport over a number of mediums. In the case of the NSW Fire Brigades, two bearers carry each communications link.

Support

Fujitsu Services is responsible for the maintenance of equipment and system support. The maintenance service covers CAD system equipment located in the four communications centres, the back-up site and 335 fire stations throughout NSW. Critical components of the system are monitored using CA's Unicenter TNG infrastructure management package, and support staff are contacted automatically by pager if any of the pre-defined performance thresholds are reached.

The reliability of the system has been outstanding, exceeding the target system availability of 99.97 per cent during every year of operation.

Data collected from the system is extracted and processed by graphical analysis software to provide information to management on response times, resource usage and trends. These software tools assist with the process of planning for new stations and optimising the location of resources. They can also highlight areas that are difficult to access due to changes in the road network or unusual traffic conditions at certain times of day.

A subset of the CAD system is used in the two NSWFB command vehicles that are dispatched to major incidents. These ICVs (Incident Command Vehicles), as they are known, are used to establish a remote command post which control significant resources in situations such as large bush fires or building structure fires. The software in the ICVs works in tandem with the CAD system to control and manage resources assigned to a major incident. The CAD system also offers a Web interface for office and mobile staff. Office staff can browse details on the current status of NSWFB resources and the incidents they are attending. Mobile staff can access this information using their mobile telephones and WAP.