Smart firefighters in focus at AFAC17

Fire and emergency services have been urged to take advantage of smart data to assist them in unexpected situations.

This is advice from Bart van Leeuwen, a senior firefighter in the Netherlands who will be delivering the keynote presentation at the AFAC17 powered by INTERSCHUTZ conference in September.

Educating emergency management personnel about new technologies and the impact of data usage on their emergency strategy could empower Australia’s fire and emergency service departments to better serve their communities, as well as continuously develop response plans.

Van Leeuwen, who also owns smart data company Netage, believes that connecting and understanding data could vastly improve the safety of Australian communities.

“Netage B.V. strives to assist fire services worldwide. Data should be connected — currently fire services operate extensively on data silos and the recollection of existing datasets. What we need is to link and harvest the data at the source to make it possible to maintain quality,” he said.

“It’s about creating a smarter firefighter, who is armed with knowledge of the data, to expect the unexpected and trained in the crucial technologies that aid their ability to act safely and smartly in their domain.

“Smart data technologies, like machine learning, could provide great benefits to emergency management; however, world over, there are not enough individuals in the service who understand these technological advancements.”

AFAC17 will bring together local and international emergency management experts to discuss six key themes including collaboration and performance, data to drive performance, public value, research utilisation and innovation, strengthening organisations and the value of mitigation and disaster resilience.

“Our profession is constantly moving — not learning new advances is not an option. AFAC17 will inspire people to be curious, willing to learn and to educate themselves on our industry,” said van Leeuwen.

The keynote presentation, ‘Smart Data for Smarter Firefighters’, will take an outside-the-box approach to explaining the tactical role of connecting data and technology with real people; helping to pinpoint errors and generate possible solutions that in most cases can assist with the unexpected.

AFAC17 powered by INTERSCHUTZ will be held 4–7 September 2017 at the International Convention Centre in Darling Harbour, Sydney.

Image courtesy of Hannover Fairs.

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