NEW TECHNOLOGY USED AT THE SHOCKEY FIRE

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October 4, 2012 (Campo) – As CAL FIRE neared containment on the 2,851 acre Shockey Fire burning near the community of Campo in San Diego County, firefighters credited new technology in the success of the incident. For the past year, firefighters have been aided by the development of a new project called Next Generation Incident Command System, or “NICS”.  The new technology is funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate and developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Labs with major participation from CAL FIRE. Especially this year with the increased fire activity, CAL FIRE has been the perfect test bed for the new technology.

“NICS provided me real time information about the fire’s location and size so that I could effectively deploy equipment and personnel on the fire,” said Battalion Chief Ray Chaney, CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 6 incident commander. “This technology allows us the ability to see real time data and share it among all our field commanders.”

NICS is a web--based command & control program designed for use on large--scale wildfires and emergencies.  It facilitates collaboration across all levels of government including federal, state, tribal, military, and local levels.  This new technology allows personnel in the field to send data back electronically to base camp using any computer, operating system, or browser. This allows the fire’s location and perimeter to be mapped far more quickly. This tool also identifies potential hazards for firefighters, which can then be shared with emergency personnel on the ground simultaneously. In addition to improving safety, this application provides critical data to planning and GIS mapping personnel back at base camp much faster than in the past.  Real time information can now be gathered reducing data collection time from 12 hours to 12 minutes.

During the Shockey Fire, the technology was successful in transmitting data more rapidly from the fire lines back to base camp for mapping and planning purposes.  Incident commanders were able to utilize this information to pinpoint where resources should be deployed for maximum efficiency. 

While CAL FIRE continues to pilot the NICS program, the project may ultimately prove to be a successful product nationwide that will improve firefighting efficiency and safety.  This type of public/private partnership is proving to be a valuable tool to obtain enhanced results that neither partner could achieve on their own. 


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Comments

More boots on the ground!

All this technology is wonderful. What's not reported is all this technology did not show up till Monday when most of the fire was out! Talk to the old timers in Cal Fire and you will find all this "technology" serves only one purpose to keep the bureaucrats in Sacramento and the media informed. It does not do squat at putting out fires. If they had taken the millions of dollars in technology, multiple deluxe motor home "communications" and GIS vans at the command post and had converted it into firefighting vehicles and firefighters imagine how much more quickly a fire could be put out. Sometimes I wish my generation had NOT invented the internet.