Case Study

iXP Enables Better On-Scene Tracking of FDNY Fire Companies

FDNY

Sector: Government
Focus: Technology Deployment

Situation

The Fire Department of New York City (FDNY) learned several grave lessons when many of its bravest perished on September 11th, 2001. One of the well-documented problems that the FDNY encountered on that day involved keeping track of the whereabouts of firefighters on the scene at the World Trade Center.

Critical Issue

The FDNY needed a repeatable and reliable way of tracking fire fighters within a building that was transparent to those managing a catastrophe from afar and could be transported to a different location if the need arose. The FDNY put this need for an updated Command Board system at the top of its list of priorities.

Reasons

The key report coming out of September 11, authored by McKinsey & Co., recommended, among many things, a revamped Command Board that would replace the outdated, magnetic grease boards, which to date have been used by fire commanders to manage an emergency scene and provide a general sense of where firefighters are dispersed. These grease boards, however, are only visible to the person manning them, resulting in a complete loss of information if a catastrophe spreads to the point where the command board resides.

Vision

Bringing to bear its intimate knowledge of the FDNY and expertise in emergency communication planning, operations and technology, iXP designed a solution for the FDNY that promotes transparency and teamwork between multiple companies and central headquarters at the scene of an emergency. Utilizing subcontractor Raytheon, iXP designed a solution that allows the FDNY to electronically track radio IDs on the scene, replacing the guess work of the archaic magnetic grease boards.

Results

The new Electronic Command Board system automatically transmits location information of a fire company to a central, safe site and shares information with other boards dealing with the same incident, eliminating the chance that all critical information could be permanently destroyed should something happen to the command board at the scene of an emergency. The new system also provides a cohesive management tool for designating leadership roles to personnel on the scene. In addition, building plans may be stored or downloaded to the ECB, replacing the need to manually obtain a blueprint of a building during an emergency. In short, the same information is now available to commanders both on the scene at multiple points and off the scene, and can be transported from one place to another during an emergency.