CAD IN CANADA
COMMUNICATIONS
Add Edmonton, Alberta, to the list of fire departments with computer-assisted dispatch systems. Edmonton’s system also helps with fire alarm record-keeping.
In 1976 the fire department recognized that the city had outgrown the department’s capacity to collect information. The main source of response information was the fire control center, where operators recorded incident information and arrival times as well as they could while simultaneously managing the field resources. This double task became impossible whenever a major incident occurred. As a result, operations analysts frequently found that the data they needed most was missing.
Edmonton’s population had grown from 112,000 in 1964 to 465,000 in 1976 with a land area of over 120 square miles. Added to this was an impending growth and annexation which promised to swell the city to a population of 650,000 and an area of 230 square miles by 1990.
The answer: automation
The answer seemed to be a computerassisted dispatch system that could automate many of the functions previously performed by operators. Such a system would be able to make dispatching recommendations and provide auxiliary information
Tom Podlubny, a communications specialist with some management background, was hired in 1977 to become chief of communications, a new post in the fire department As work progressed on both radio and CAD projects, it became apparent that they could not remain separated.
A design committee was formed using two representatives from the fire department and one each from the telephone and computer departments. Functional design was left completely to the fire department while technical design was handled by the other two representatives.
The City of Edmonton contracted with Wismer & Becker Engineers of Sacramento, Calif., to create and install a system to the city’s specifications.
Getting what you need
While the process of issuing specifications for a system and receiving bids on it may seem cut and dried to many, there are certain cautions to remember.
First, all the participants should be involved throughout the project. Edmonton emphasized this by having its dispatching personnel review and modify the specifications before they were put out for bid. Wismer & Becker personnel made numerous trips to Edmonton during the design phase to get additional input from the dispatchers as well as to review their procedures and incorporate them into the new computer system.
Once the generalities of the system were defined, a close working relationship via telephone, supplemented by periodic meetings, was maintained among the administrative and technical people from both the fire department and Wismer & Becker during development of the system. Podlubny had the last word on everything because he would be the principal user of the system. Close cooperation meant that when the system was installed and commissioned, only a few minor surprises surfaced. They were quickly corrected.
A second caution: Remember that a computer system needs reference data. The service it provides is only as good as the information it has to work with. Gathering this data and entering it into the computer is a task often overlooked or underestimated. It normally must be done locally because that is where the information is.
In this case, by far the largest block of information to be gathered was the geographical data. Since there was no computerized data base to start from, all street names, house numbers, intersections and site names serviced by each fire station had to be gathered by hand.
Edmonton obtained additional manpower for this task by hiring students from the University of Alberta. Probably one man-year was spent on this effort. Even when a current data base is available, it is often so far out of date that much manpower is needed to upgrade it to a usable condition.
Analysis of their operations led the fire department to a system consisting of a radio subsystem, a manual dispatch/status subsystem, and a computer-aided dispatch subsystem. Since having the system available at all times is of primary importance, back-ups were required for all critical items.
The radio system consists of two dispatching channels (one for back-up), four tactical channels and one channel reserved for data transmissions. Canadian requirements for low-power communications led to a cellular system of 16 transmitter/receiver sites throughout the city. The computer suggests which site and channel to use for each incident based on its location.
The manual dispatch system consists of a vehicle status display and a station dispatch/status panel in each dispatching console. To contact stations, the dispatcher presses a button for each station and then a call button. The status panel shows which stations responded correctly. For a normal alert, the station has its radio, lights, bell and a call-type indicator activated. The dispatcher also has separate functions for testing the equipment and for opening the doors at the station.
Can still run manually
The vehicle status displays are maintained from status units in each vehicle. Under the manual system they show the status entered at the vehicle and the channel it was transmitted on. In the CAD mode these displays are driven by the CAD computer and show additional data such as incident location and type as well as those vehicles available for dispatch but not presently in their regular station. The manual system may be used alone or in conjunction with the CAD system.
The CAD system consists of a redundant pair of Hewlett-Packard minicomputer systems. It interacts with the radio equipment and the manual system to give dispatch control and flexibility. It also communicates to printers at each fire station so that a hard copy of the dispatch instructions can be taken on each vehicle as it leaves the station.
In addition to the status units in each vehicle, the fire department wanted a printer in each apparatus. However, Edmonton gets extremely cold in the winter and no printers were found that would function adequately at 40 degrees below zero.
Basic CAD features
The basic features of a CAD system are incident processing, vehicle status, and reference information storage and retrieval. This system coordinates the geographical data processing of an incident’s location with a variety of reference files to automatically present pertinent information to the fire fighters, making their job easier, faster and safer.
When an incident is initiated, any blocked streets or malfunctioning hydrants in the vicinity are brought to the dispatchers’ attention as well as being printed at the stations. The system also determines which maps and special site information should be used and prints them out. Any other files that contain information about the location, such as burning permits issued nearby, are flagged for the dispatcher
The dispatcher has a capability to override any computer suggestion. On dispatch, any traffic control zone information is printed at the stations and also sent to the city’s traffic control computer system, which automatically sets the traffic lights in the downtown area to speed the apparatus to the fire.
Any activity in the system is automatically stored on a magnetic tape and printed on the logging printer. “This feature,” says Ed Gilchrist, the department’s director of planning and research, “will supply us with the data we need to run our station location simulations and other statistical programs.”
An initial training program conducted by Wismer & Becker ecompassed actual hands-on operation with voice contact to stations and vehicles. For the future, a special training package has been included in the system.
When a position signs on as a trainee, it no longer has access to the real incident and vehicle files. Instead, it interacts with dummy files which look exactly the same as real files. All the reference files are the actual ones. A trainee may initiate his own incidents accessing the real geographical data base and dispatch vehicles by their actual names. However, he will not get radio access, and the incidents and status changes he causes are only reflected at any trainee positions. The actual data available to the real dispatchers are unaffected. Naturally, any status changes originated by actual vehicles are reflected at the dispatcher’s positions but not at the trainee’s positions.
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COMMUNICATIONS
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Says Podlubny: This is an extremely valuable feature allowing us to give a trainee true hands-on practice without disrupting operations.
A new communications center is presently under construction. The CAD system was installed in the old dispatch center but will be moved to the new one as soon as it is completed.
Also in the works is a mobile command post which will put a dispatching display screen and printer, plus lots of other material, into a mobile home that can be driven to any site. The display screen will be connected to the system via the data radio channel and will give full access to all computerized information to those in charge at the scene.
Slightly farther down the road, a fire inspection file will be added to the system. Then a dispatcher will be able to review information such as hazardous materials, handicapped persons and owner identification in the same manner as he reviews other files now on the lower portion of the CRT. The fire inspection teams will receive automatic updates to their manuals and have the amount of time they spend on paperwork reduced. This will allow the Edmonton Fire Department to provide even better service to the public, with improved safety for its own personnel.
