With New Fire Department Technology, a ‘Mayday’ Could Bring Faster Help

The Sept. 11 attacks, and other disasters since then, painfully illuminated the difficulty of locating lost firefighters: mayday calls rang out, but it was often difficult to tell who was sending them. Since then, the Fire Department has been working to develop an accountability system that would more effectively pinpoint the locations of firefighters and equipment and log those spots, Deputy Assistant Chief Stephen Raynis said.

The goal of tracking mayday calls more precisely is one of five initiatives the department has undertaken as part of an overall strategy that relies on data to increase awareness and communication in emergencies, when hundreds of people may be converging at once. Last week, the department began the first citywide use of a new software system, known as the Electronic Fireground Accountability System, that can identify the seven-digit number unique to a radio, the department’s spokesman, Francis X. Gribbon, said. It then translates that number into a firefighter’s name and displays it, if necessary, on the laptop computers mounted in various places, including in fire commanders’ vehicles. In addition, the software, which cost about $750,000, uses a city wireless Internet connection to reach a database for each fire company’s working tour. This allows it to display not only firefighters’ names, but also their ranks and assignments. If firefighters issue maydays by pressing the emergency alert button on their bunker gear, a red light will flash on the computer, instantly identifying who sent it and saving valuable time, Gribbon said.