Watch Video: Hawke's Bay firefighters embrace state-of-the-art technology
Hawkes Bay have traded folders and paper-based map books for state-of-the-art technology.
Eight Hawke's Bay appliances have now been fitted out with Mobility - a tablet that provides firefighters with important GPS tracking and real-time information from their communication centres, as well as any information stored on the building.
FENZ National Advisor - Mobility, Kevin McCombe, says the state-of-the-art technology is a "gamechanger".
"It encompasses all the information we hold an organisation and it now puts it at my fingertips operationally as an officer responding to an incident.
It shows the type of fire, trucks responding with them, where the building is, where the hydrants are and whether they hold any information on these buildings. The tablets also run a real-time feed of information coming into communication centres from members of the public and other agencies.
"So it's all at their fingertips now. They don't actually have to go searching for it," McCombe says.
Previously firefighters used map books and cellphones for GoogleMaps, along with folders with information on buildings within the community that have a "greater risk".
"For trucks that don't have this they use map books, so if they don't know the address of the house someone in the back will be flicking through a map book trying to figure it out so all it does now is it brings us into the 21st century."
This month's installation follows a two-year pilot which saw the tablets on 24 vehicles around the country. Now 240 appliances nationally have been fitted with the tablet including 200 of the busiest trucks and their command unit.
Firefighters have been trained on how to use the tablets, what it's telling them and how to input information.
"The consensus from the feedback I have had around the country is that it is a gamechanger with the amount of information and the picture for situational awareness they get is just revolutionary for us."
"What it's done is it's given every officer in New Zealand the ability to have the knowledge of all local officers everywhere. It allows me to get situational awareness before I arrive at the incident so that gives me the foundation to make good decisions."
