This past week, Mark Vandenberghe (Technical Operations person) and I attended a symposium sponsored by Microsoft and the(IAFC) International Association of Fire Chiefs in Redmond, WA.
The purpose of the meeting was to be exposed to the latest developments in technology that are being directed towards first responders, in particular the fire service. Microsoft is committed to assisting first responders in making our jobs safer and more productive. Having Microsoft involved in supporting product development is a huge step forward in terms of driving technology development that is focused on the unique needs of the first responder community.
During the two day meeting I was exposed to a lot of new ideas and emerging products that will change the way we are able to process information at emergency scenes. Of particular note are products that will assist the “Command and Control” functions. The early minutes at an emergency scene are often very chaotic. With some of the new products I saw, this chaos factor can be greatly reduced and educated guessing can be minimized to a large extent.
Even more impressive to me, though, was the unique position that our police, fire and public works leaders enjoy. In Eden Prairie we have always been committed to working together. Surprisingly this is not always the case in other jurisdictions. None of the product developments are effective if the people running the show from the three disciplines aren’t on the same page. Eden Prairie is well positioned to take advantage of the new developments because we do work well together, the new technologies will only help to make those relationships more effective when dealing with emergencies of all types.
