New report system to improve firefighter communication
In order to efficiently record and store information about fire emergencies, Pennsylvania fire departments have implemented a new, computerized program called Emergency Reporting.
Whenever a fire department has an incident, it must file a report detailing the events that occurred, who responded to the call, what equipment was used and how the incident was handled.
These filings are integral to a company’s communication with surrounding departments as well as communicating to the state about the happenings in its neighborhoods, according to Tim Solobay, the first assistant chief with the Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department.
Solobay said that until a few years ago, these reports were handwritten. Then a federal grant allowed for a computerized format to introduce a more efficient way of handling calls and reporting information.
“The problem is that we had trouble getting the kinks out, but it allowed flexibility and portability,” Solobay said.
These technological mishaps disgruntled fire departments until only 20 percent were reporting through the program, Solobay said. During this time, departments were still filing their handwritten copies.
When the web-based program continued to struggle through technological faults, local stations came up with Emergency Reporting.
Since the new system has been installed, there has been a strong push to encourage companies to use it. Now, about half of local fire stations are filing electronically, but the goal is to get 100 percent participation.
“We’ll know what’s going on in the state of Pennsylvania,” Solobay said. “With electronics capability, it makes all the sense in the world [to make the switch].”
The new program, Emergency Reporting, offers firefighters flexibility in their record keeping.
Instead of having to return to the station after a late night call, firefighters can go home and upload that report online through any mobile device.
“The change is about efficiency and what’s going on in the firefighting world,” Solobay said.
This new electronic format is an online catalog of information, including training records, membership and equipment listings.
Filings offer specifics of each answered call and answer questions the fire department might have, such as if the departments need to expand their training.
A critical area where this record keeping comes into place is in cancer presumption legislation, according to Solobay.
When a firefighter is diagnosed with cancer, the law requires insurance companies to disprove that his/her cancer was caused by their job.
If an insurance company can’t look into a firefighter’s records and view the different calls that the firefighter answered, they aren’t required to pay out. This web-based format segments information so that it is easily accessible.
“Flexibility is huge and it might be the difference in someone keeping in and someone leaving,” Solobay said. “It can identify patterns and raise red flags to companies in the area. It may indirectly affect the way they provide fire services in the community.”
The hope for the future, aside from universal participation in the new program, is for police dispatchers to fill out some of the blanks in the paperwork, making the lives of firefighters a little bit easier.