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The bigger picture: increasing the role of technology
A vision that encompasses the local and the big picture – Olaf Baars, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, during BAPCO Conference.
Deputy Chief Baars (Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service and Chair Chief Fire Officers Association IPTC ) began his presentation by taking the business continuity baton – the theme of previous speaker Hayden Newton, Chief Executive of England Ambulance NHS Trust and Ambulance Network – and running with it.
Olaf recounted how he’d just authorised a live exercise to take place in May. The last one carried out was a table-top exercise involving a bomb found in the headquarters. “The whole organisation had to cope until three in the afternoon. It was not cheap.”
As regards technology, the fire service’s journey is via risk management – both for the community and the firefighters.
Firefighters work in a data-driven environment and lack of it can have fatal consequences. The first mobile data system was rolled out 10 years ago, unfortunately driven by the deaths of two firefighters.
FireControl will change that – a single network solution that will need the approval of each fire chief before implementation. “If you are going to rely on data, data capture is very important.” Water companies, for example, have the information on water mains and hydrants and agreements on data usage will have to be reached. However, barriers both legal and policy-lead abound both in the emergency services and elsewhere, and a shared vision of the value of the data, and how it can improved joined-up responses, is needed.”
The fire service is overloaded with various programs. FireControl, e-Fire, Firelink and New Dimension Project to name but a few. The New Dimension project provided national response equipment above and beyond what each brigade could justify for its own pitch.
Each project has its own characteristics. “The Integrated Personal Development System is about developing staff. Staff have commented that this system is so paper driven that they spend more time doing paper than training. You can minimise that burden with good IT.” The speed of change is greater now than it has been for the 28 years of service of Deputy Chief Baars. “I would say it is for the better but it does not feel like it sometimes.”
Most fire brigades have seen minimal budget increases, but have been expected to do more with less – in addition to these projects. And the projects are technical in nature, impacting profoundly on the small set of people who have the right skill sets. Finding new people with the right knowledge base is problematic.
Although the government has been generous with funding for major incidents, this has not been the case for day to day operations. “At the same time we have had to deploy services to the public. What is the strategy? I would like to say there’s an overarching strategy.”
The two major projects, FireLink and FireControl, are run in parallel even though one – FireLink – would have been better run as a subgroup of FireControl. “The effect of this is a lost opportunity. And the government will invest in deploying lots of technology for FireControl, but cross working could have resulted in overall improvement rather than just the solutions they are interested in. And you would get better ROI.”
There have been reports that good stake-holder management has been missing. “I had six stake holders today giving me their views on FireControl. That for me is very significant, because as senior staff these are the people to impress about what we will get. In good stake holder management people expect good information about where we are going but that information is not always there when people want it. That is a managing issue.”
Another challenge is ensuring the investment protects communities and staff. “A few years ago we did not give the same focus on resilience as we do now. Actually, my fall back arrangements are very shaky – the same equipment, the same staff. It is not good enough for the future. We talk about smarter delivery, but with fewer resources we have to make better use.”
Baars ended his presentation by pointing out there is a need for a vision that both encompasses the big picture and the local picture, but also the multi-agency vision. “I’m not sure that vision is there just now. As a final thought: this is a BAPCO conference, so is there a role for BAPCO in delivering a vision for the future?”
