to view - NSW Rural Fire Service

10
RFS ONLINE
ONE-STOP SHOP
FOR OPERATIONAL
INFORMATION
A computer system for managing incidents where
RFS brigades are in attendance is being developed
– the Operational Management System (OMS).
The web-based, electronic system will enable
Incident Management Teams (IMT) to directly input
situation reports (SitReps) into the RFS Incident
Database – providing ‘real-time’ information for the
Service and the people of NSW.
The OMS helps to coordinate incidents of all
sizes by enabling incident managers to do such
things as online submission of SitReps to RFS
Headquarters, draw maps and create and attach
Incident Action Plans (IAP).
Online situation reporting will reduce staff
time and effort required with reporting. Sitreps to
RFS Headquarters were previously faxed and the
information was re-entered by customer service
staff in order for the central Incident Database to
be updated. By the next fire season this can be
done electronically.
Volunteers will continue to follow normal
procedures to provide SitReps to FireCom. While
OMS is not an in-field reporting system for
volunteers to use for every incident, it will be a
system that volunteers can use during incidents
requiring situation reporting to RFS Headquarters
– from Fire Control Centres and in the future from
laptops on the fireground.
The online SitReps will also be integrated with the
total incident management system and the Geographic
Information System database. Under OMS one set of
information will be entered and captured and there
is the facility to attach a map to each SitRep. These
SitReps will be created by the local officer and cleared
by the local incident controller.
The report and map will be posted to a central
database via the web where it will be collated with
other information about that incident, thus giving
the RFS one set of data that can be validated for
accuracy and currency.
This will provide many benefits across the
Service, such as:
> More timely information on the central Incident
Database by removing the need to re-enter
faxed data
> Better information for the public on bushfires
and other emergencies via the RFS website which
will display the Incident Database
> Lessen the need for other staff to intrude upon
the IMT for status reports
> Ensure that previous SitReps are not lost and can
be retrieved easily by following shifts, or anyone
else with authorised access
> Allow for queries to be written across a range of
reports on the same incident
> Over time this data will permit better analysis
of incidents for research, training or coronial
purposes
> Less time and effort faxing and re-entering data
> Time and money saved on administration
Fifteen districts as well as National Parks have
been user-testing the program since February.
NSW Fire Brigades and SES are aware of the
project and NSW Fire Brigades have access to the
demonstration environment to test the system.
Changes and improvements to SitReps were being
made over March with the component going live
from late May 2005. It is anticipated that all three
components will be available by the next fire season.
In March, staff from Information Services
travelled to the RFS Region North Exercise in Glen
Innes to conduct a controlled trial of the electronic
SitRep tool within an IMT exercise. The electronic
SitReps were loaded up in the Glen Innes Fire
Control Centre and tested on 16 different scenarios.
Staff reported that the link to the Internet
worked well and that the tool was well received. It
was then used on a laptop at a forward command
location. The laptop was connected to the Internet
using a CDMA card and the results were again
pleasing. Once final testing of the fire mapping
tool and the IAP screens are completed, it is also
intended to use these tools in a controlled trial.
The first stage of OMS is
web-based and will provide
district staff with a streamlined
process for completing and
submitting SitReps
RFS Headquarters Information Services and
Operations groups have been testing the first
component of OMS this year. The concept for this
system has around for a long time, but the past
nine months has seen considerable planning,
design and development.
OMS has the potential of being an interagency
system that may eventually encompass many of
the aspects of running and controlling an incident,
whether the incident is a small one tanker response
to a multiagency, large scale section 44 incident.
The first stage of OMS is web-based and will
provide district staff with a streamlined process
for completing and submitting SitReps, attached
fire maps, and IAPs. All of this information will be
transferred back to Headquarters via either the RFS
network or the Web.
RFS Operations and
Information Services officers
tested the OMS in the field at
the Northern Five exercise in
Glen Innes.
BUSHFIREBULLETINVOL27#02