Realizing the Vision of Smart Fire Fighting

Abstract

Fires in the wildland urban interface are but one of the common challenges faced by today's emergency first responders. For the Yarnell Hill Fire, and any challenging emergency response event today, the following question is inevitably asked: “Was there information that could have made a difference?” What knowledge-delivered in real time to the people who need it, when they need it, the way they need it-can be made available to the incident commanders and the “boots on the ground” that will make a difference? Enter smart fire fighting. As stated by the English philosopher Francis Bacon, “Knowledge is power,” and smart fire fighting has the potential to provide fire fighters and other emergency responders with the knowledge needed to inform their decision making and their activities. Our changing world today is one of increasingly sensor-rich data; and, smart fire fighting has significant potential to use that data to make the tasks of fire fighters more effective and efficient, with direct improvement to their safety and health.