In October 2016, the Western Australia Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) unveiled their new website - Emergency WA. The new site is a hub for residents and response personnel to monitor warnings and incidents across the state.

Updated in real time with data from a number of sources, the revamped Emergency WA site provides up-to-date information via an interactive map, complete with icons indicating the type of incident and summarised alerts.

As the state marches towards another long, hot summer, hazardous bushfire conditions are already occurring across WA, the new tool couldn't have been established at a more critical time. The safety of fire crews while they protect Australians and their homes is of paramount concern, something the Emergency WA site is built to assist with.

Vehicle telematics are improving the emergency response for WA's firefighters.

Assisting firefighting efforts with telematics

A key element of the new Emergency WA website is the installation of vehicle tracking systems in DFES fire trucks. Using telematics data, the agency is able to map any fire fronts, showing the progress of firefighting efforts in real time.

"Rather than having trucks and sector commanders relaying over a busy and sometimes scrambled or confused radio network, where they are, where the fire front is, the Incident Controller will see in a map, in real time where the activity is happening," said Joe Francis, emergency services minister for WA, told the ABC.

"This means that you'll get a far more timely and more accurate picture of the perimeter of a fire."

Learning from the past

The installation of GPS tracking technology in the fire vehicles stemmed from the review of the state's response to the Yarloop fire in early 2016 by former Victorian Country Fire Service Chief Euan Ferguson. Of the four critical issues identified by Ferguson that led to failures around the incident, three were related to management of vehicles and firefighting resources, according to Perth Now.

"There's a very clear and strong message here about prevention, preparedness and putting the appropriate funding and resources, and more importantly getting the resources down to the ground and stop building the bureaucracy at the top," said Dave Gossage, WA president for the Volunteer Bushfire Brigades.

Ensuring those resources are where they need to be is precisely what the vehicle telematics system from Pinpoint Communications is designed to do. Allowing incident controllers to manage where fire trucks are and assess which appliances can most easily be sent to the front is essential to prevent future failures such as those seen at Yarloop, while also protecting the safety of fire crews.

With advanced tracking solutions onboard, the bushfire seasons of the future will be safer for residents and DFES Volunteers and responders. 

Pinpoint's role in Emergency WA

The Pinpoint AVL system will provide real-time visibility of appliances - especially during large scale bushfires - and provide automated features to support enhanced crew safety. The system is part of the WA Government's $15.4 million crew protection measures designed to help firefighters if they become trapped by fire while in their vehicles.

The AVL system, which will be installed on firefighting appliances, will help address bushfire safety by providing real-time tracking of firefighting appliances. An automatic alert will be generated when vehicles enter or leave defined areas. This will increase fire ground situational awareness and crew coordination.

Portable tracking units will also be located in regional locations to ensure local government, contractor and farm vehicles can be tracked. This will assist the Incident Controller, who will have oversight of the exact location of all vehicles on the fire ground.

The AVL system also includes a distress alarm that, when activated, will automatically notify the DFES Communication Centre.

AVL systems from DFES and Parks and Wildlife will interchange data to allow all vehicles to be displayed on either system regardless of the fire status or incident stage. This will improve crew coordination and response times.