IT-helper, for faster fire-fighting

Photo: Toomas Tatar

«I was on duty as the Kangadžungel store caught fire, and thanks to the new system I found the Kunderi Street water hydrant,» said Ramon Ruotsi, senior operational officer at Northern Rescue Centre. Mr Ruotsi went on to explain that only the rare few hydrants stick out in the street, most being buried under it.

«The hydrants above street surface are seen anyhow, but to find those with lids on them we were having to browse through papers to see where the closest ones were,» he said.

Helped by the new system, an officer on duty can calculate the distance between a fire and a hydrant. «If it’s a hundred metres, for instance, I can immediately calculate: one hose is 20 metres, we need to connect five hoses to put the fire out,» he said in praise of the new system.

Also, the new IT-solution makes it possible to calculate the fire area – vital with forest fires. And the system allows entry of plans of large buildings such as hotels and schools, significantly speeding up preparations for extinguishing. The new IT-solution positions the person who dialled the 112 emergency phone-number and points out, on a digital map, the closest ambulance and fire-brigade teams.

Computers installed in all ambulances and fire trucks use digital maps to show the teams where the accident site is located, adding the fastest route there – as well as an alternative. The digital map is based on the Road Administration one and will for the time being not be showing road-works or the actual traffic situation, but the options should be added some day.

As a call comes to the emergency phone number 112, the new system pinpoints the precise house, in low density areas its precision is 200–300 metres. «By the end of the call, the positioning sharpness may have reached a few metres,» said Avo Kask, the CGI Eesti CEO who developed the system.

While the Alarm Centre application is working, the devices on operative vehicles still need some adjustment, says AC head Janek Laev. «We have a little work left to do here as the cars are a bit over 200 and every machine needs to be checked separately as the cars are not on a wire – there are radio coverage and cabling issues,» explained Mr Laev.

Work on the vehicles should be completed by New Year. «After all problems are solved and the users trained, then we may say if it works as it should. Today, it’s a bit too early to tell,» observed Mr Laev.

Currently, the system also lacks the dumb and deaf connection whereby the latter can communicate with the Alarm Centre. «That will be added because a person who cannot speak must also be able to communicate with the state – as we all,» promised Mr Laev.

According to Tallinn emergency medical care chief doctor Raul Adlas, they have been using the new system for several weeks and it does need some tweaking. «The main problem is the apparatus in the vehicle and the central server are only just getting to know one another, but that’s the way it is with application in the beginning,» noted Mr Adlas, adding that thus far their experience is positive. «When it works, faultlessly at that, it is of great help indeed,» he assured.

For the time being, only Rescue Board and emergency medical care have joined the new system; in near future, the Police is supposed to hop on board. In the new system, Alarm Centre will see the movements of voluntary rescuers while the latter do not have the app in their vehicles. The creation of the system started in 2010, within an Estonia-Switzerland cooperation programme. It costs €1.5m, 85 percent of which is provided by Switzerland, and 15 by Estonia.