Added protection
New software gives Payette Rural Fire an edge on fighting wildland fires
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:44 AM PDT
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| Washington County resident Greg Frates (left), whose house is situated on the outskirts of the Payette Rural Fire District, reviews data about his property and potential risks during a wildland fire with Payette Rural firefighter Justus Barton (center). Barton enters the information into a PalmPilot as part of the Rural Fire Department’s RedZone geographic mapping and information system program as firefighter Jon Laurenson looks on. |
PAYETTE — Payette Rural Fire District resident Greg Frates knows how difficult it can be for emergency services to navigate on rural backroads in emergencies. When the Cherry Gulch fire raged in the hills behind his house in rural Washington County last summer, he directed Bureau of Land Management firefighters to a rural road leading to the fire.
In the future, however, finding and gauging the potential impacts of wildland fires in the rural fire district, which services parts of Washington County and over to the Oregon Slope, will be easier because of a new software system Payette Rural Fire is in the process of setting up.
Payette Rural firefighters will be spending the summer months recording data about rural residences into the department’s new RedZone emergency services mapping and information system it purchased with a BLM grant. Holly LeFevre, an independent contractor who was hired by Payette Rural Fire to coordinate the new RedZone software installation project, said firefighters will be going to every home in the rural fire subscription area and entering in data regarding the homes and properties in question.
The firefighters, only a few days into the project, have begun their assessments of the properties by answering survey questions in PalmPilots. During a wildland fire call, firefighters can access the survey data and GPS coordinate positions of each of the residences and properties on a laptop situated in one of the fire department’s rigs prior to reaching the scene, LeFevre said.
“And that’s going to help fire departments respond more efficiently to fires,” LeFevre said. “They will have information on every home before they even get to the fire.”
Rather than assessing a fire at the scene, firefighters will be able to easily locate residences in the area of a wildfire using the mapping system; find the access points to fight the fire; determine what other structures are in the area; and identify environmental, structural or topographical factors that could pose additional threats in a wildland fire, she said. That information can also be shared with other agencies when coordinating a response to determine fire attack strategies, safety zones and areas of concern early on.
“It’s really a benefit to the homeowner as well,” LeFevre said.
As part of the assessment process, which will likely conclude in September, property owners will be issued a report letting them know their wildland fire risk rating and what efforts could reduce the threat of damage to personal property in case of a wildland fire, LeFevre said.
“The program’s just got tons of capabilities,” she said.
Payette Rural Fire Department firefighter Justus Barton, one of the firefighters completing the surveys and recording the information in the system, said he has no doubt the RedZone software will be useful when responding to large wildland fires, such as the Cherry Gulch fire, in the future. He said having all that information available prior to reaching a scene will help initial operations run more smoothly. It is during those first moments when responding to a fire and assessing the scene miscalculations or mistakes are made, he said, because information is limited, and it is not always available in real time.
“Any information that you can organize like that is a definite benefit,” he said. “It can only be helpful.”
Frates, the second property owner to have his residence assessed Tuesday, said wildland fire is always a concern during the summertime. While the Frates’ house was built using stucco, which is fire resistant, finding the house, situated on Hill Road, can be hard, and giving directions in the confusion of an emergency can be difficult.
“For them to have information about our location is pretty valuable,” he said.
LeFevre said RedZone software is also used by the Weiser Rural Fire Department, which prompted Payette Rural Fire to follow suit.
