Bay Area firefighters develop game-changing wildfire technology

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. – Given that the first key firestorms of 2017, significant technology has been improving tools for firefighters, who continue to generally operate on the ground and normally with very little details about how the general combat is likely.

Two Bay Spot firefighters have developed an general condition awareness application that other firefighters like — and say need to unfold to other departments.

No matter whether on an iPad or other tablet, the Bay-Place-created “Tablet Command” process is practically nothing much less than a technological match changer for firefighters, by firefighters.

Contra Costa County firefighters William Pidgeon, who is also a laptop science skilled, and Andy Bozzo, a performing firefighter, applied their serious planet encounters to arrive up with the Pill Command program.

The computer software is now made use of by 265 fireplace departments throughout North The us, and its person selection is rising daily.

“I was not well prepared to build a mission significant application. So we lifted some money with pals and relatives, designed a firm and partnered with a software package enhancement business to create the initial version of the software,” explained Pidgeon.

The app is all about the situational recognition of the entire fire incident, providing information accessible to all incident commanders and initial responders.

“The great point about this, it’s on an iPad, which, for most departments, they can afford to purchase,” claimed Main Costa.

Ahead of Tablet Command, laptop computer computer system programs that did 50 % as substantially had been, at the very least, 2 times the charge. To this working day, any departments even now have only paper notes, paper maps and a radio, with tiny obtain to the huge picture.

Two Sonoma County firefighters noticed the software operate while they had been on mutual assist incidents, and they fought challenging to bring it to the Bay Place.

“I was blown away. I was like, ‘Wow, we truly have to have to carry this to Sonoma County,’” mentioned Petaluma Fireplace Department Assistant Chief Chad Costa.

“It is, by far, fingers down, 1 of the ideal know-how applications I have ever utilized,” added Sonoma Valley Hearth Battalion Chief Spencer Andreis.

Pill Command consists of any area’s fireplace record, all streets statewide (such as again streets and fire streets), the spot of every piece of products and hundreds of cameras (like distant utility cameras), nearby fireplace temperature and is infinitely expandable.

From the discipline, firefighters can input info in actual time, radically rushing up and enhancing responses.

If you will find any weakness to this program at all, it takes place in remote places where there’s little or no Wi-Fi. But, with business, world wide web satellite Wi-Fi now on the market place, that challenge will very likely be cleared up as nicely.