After completing some initial exploratory exercises using open source geographic information system (GIS) technology, Dublin Fire Brigade decided to implement a full-featured GIS platform using Esri’s ArcGIS system. Fire station officers used their operational knowledge to create a proof-of-concept and then appointed consultants from Esri Ireland’s Professional Services team to build the solution. “It has been a really successful collaboration,” says Rob Howell, Station Officer for the Organisational Intelligence Unit within Dublin Fire Brigade. “The consultants at Esri Ireland have a high level of expertise, both in terms of their GIS knowledge and their project management skills.”
Esri Ireland first built a core GIS platform for Dublin Fire Brigade using Esri’s web-based ArcGIS Online solution. This foundational system brought together operational data, such as the locations of fire stations and historic fires, and combined it with third-party data, including census and population health information, for the first time. Esri Ireland then began to leverage this platform, and other ArcGIS products, to create specific solutions to help the fire brigade manage and reduce fire risks.
The first of these solutions was developed to improve community fire safety activities. Staff now use ArcGIS Survey123, an easy-to-use, form-based data gathering tool, to capture information about community fire prevention activities, including where they took place, the type of group and the information provided. All this data is transferred seamlessly to ArcGIS Online, where it can be viewed on an interactive dashboard, alongside contextual information showing where there are high numbers of smokers or elderly people, for example. Users can explore the data in the dashboard to easily see where community fire safety activities have been delivered and where they are still needed to reach at-risk communities.
Another solution has been developed to raise internal awareness of buildings in Dublin with fire safety issues, such as inadequate means of escape, building defects or over-occupancy. Staff use an ArcGIS Survey123 form, currently in the pilot phase, to collect information about the building owner, risks and actions required. The data is displayed in an ArcGIS dashboard, giving a map-based overview of these high-risk buildings and the ability to drill down to more information. When new risks are identified, ArcGIS Online automatically instigates email alerts, through the use of ArcGIS Connectors for Power Automate, giving relevant personnel the information they need to gather operational intelligence to inform the response.
