As the technology capabilities available to first responders improve and expand, mobile device and app usage for geospatial awareness is increasing in prevalence. With access to real-time data, teams are better prepared for every mission or emergency, coordinating resources and personnel, and ensuring the safety of your responders after deployment.
Every response situation presents a potential danger and risk at the site of the incident, and teams must be prepared for any scenario. Whether it’s communicating and providing mission critical data or planning personnel movement, relevant information can be delivered quickly and efficiently using powerful first responder apps.
First responder apps are effective in a variety of incidences and scenarios. Here are a few that may be relevant to your team:
1. Accidents
Vehicular accidents can quickly go from bad to worse. Major highway pileups and multi-vehicle collisions happen multiple times per year.
Whether it’s the dispatching of personnel and emergency vehicles, or the need for specific medical supplies and essential tools, situational awareness plays a key role in responding to incidents with speed and accuracy. First responder apps can provide needed data to address the scenario with expertise.
Dealing with the aftermath of a gasoline powered car crash is a common occurrence. But what about a hybrid or electric car? These require a different approach to ensure safety.
Using a first responder app, teams can communicate and store relevant safety information concerning the emergency or mission. For instance, safety information that would be relevant to green car collisions, whether it’s to be cautious of high voltage, checking that the ready indicator is off before proceeding with emergency response producers, avoiding the cutting of orange cables, or otherwise. This information stored securely in files within the platform supports first responders in unfamiliar situations, so they can act with precision.
First responder apps can also help plan routes for emergency vehicles. One of the greatest threats on the road for a first responder is civilian vehicles, and the latest technology ensures the quickest and safest route is chosen for the emergency vehicle.
2. Military Planning
Military planning requires real-time situational awareness as well as pre-planning. Teams must gather intelligence in the area of operation and be familiar with the area in advance. From split second decisions to an altered mission plan, adaptiveness and fast execution is of the essence in many military missions.
Whether it’s communicating mission details, sending relevant data to troops, or staying abreast of the movements and actions of your group, first responder apps allow you to share key data with your team to ensure a successful mission. You can even create and manage groups and federate groups (even with different organizations) while a mission is in progress.
This enables users to save time while maximizing efficiency, minimizing damage, and saving llives in the process.
3. Medical Emergencies
As with most types of incidents, medical emergencies benefit from reliable data delivered to the right people at the right time. With that, a better response can be coordinated – especially if the right people have access to the right information.
First responder apps allow you to share key information via chat, messages, and images via embedded metadata. Whether it’s life-threatening injuries or illness, the right data, followed by the right response, can help save lives or prevent mistakes.
4. Natural Disasters
To a degree, you could plan for a natural disaster scenario based on location, predictability, and past incidents. Even then, there are too many factors to know where, when, or how things will unfold. Ultimately, however, such events can strike anywhere at any time.
As with accidents and other incidents, knowing when and where to deploy first responders is key to saving lives and mitigating damage occurring from disasters.
First responder apps offer data and situational awareness that simply wouldn’t be possible without modern technology. In addition to preparing for coming disasters, technology even enables civilians to report on a situation before information reaches first responders.
From coordinating response teams and planning relief missions, first responder apps can empower your teams to take action in response to disasters.
5. Terrorism
As the tragic events of September 11, 2001 confirm, acts of terrorism can suddenly and permanently transform life as we know it.
Whether it’s preventing acts of terrorism before they happen or responding to them with greater efficiency, many lives can be saved, and damages reduced if the right information was available at the right time.
Fortunately, the latest technology offers opportunities never before seen. Mobile apps are now able to deliver unclassified alerts and terrorism reports directly to responder phones. Additionally, reference training aids, mobilization indicators, and vetted information can be accessed within the app itself.
It all Comes Down to Successful Mission Planning
Whether on a mission or emergency, there is both known and unknown data. First responder apps remove many of the unknowns from the equation, offering a pathway toward success. They can give you a clear picture of what has occurred, where it occurred, what the current situation is, if there are any dangers or threats to be aware of, as well as how you might coordinate available resources to mount an effective response. Accurate, real-time data only stands to improve the effectiveness of your missions.
Long known for its technological solutions, PAR Government’s scalable, mobile situational awareness solution, Sit(x), is designed for any response, military, or safety operation. Think of it as a vital member of your team. It can help quickly remedy the situations above, is affordable and easy to use, and brings near real data directly to those operating on the front lines.