The Spokane, Wash., Fire Department has implemented the Rhodium Incident Management Suite to improve its responders' incident management capabilities for routine and large-scale incidents and events.
The City has a lengthy history with all-risk Type 3 incident management with a particular focus on wildland fires. In 1994, a devastating fire destroyed 110 houses and killed one person. Since that time, Spokane Fire has been searching for a solution to build quality, integrated, IAPs that could be distributed quickly and efficiently. According to Assistant Chief Brian Schaeffer, "When we adopted the Rhodium platform, our capabilities improved significantly. The time required for IAP development was cut in half."
Historically, the Spokane Fire Department depended on paper ICS forms to develop the IAP and coordinate response to large events and incidents. In many cases, this approach resulted in confusion and frustration due to formatting and other challenges inherent in multi-agency planning.
"The ability to create and distribute a draft assisted the Planning Section Chiefs in ensuring the quality and consistency of the IAP without impacting the process", said Schaffer. "In the past, the Planning Section Chiefs were required to develop word processor files that were riddled with format problems such as version and table inconsistencies. Rhodium's process eliminated that. We have used Rhodium to standardize and improve our forms, management processes and overall distribution processes."
The Spokane Fire Department has utilized Rhodium at a variety of events and incidents that have included Unified Command between law enforcement, fire, and public health. Rhodium's robust toolset can be implemented quickly on day-to-day incidents, while being rapidly scalable to manage large, regional incidents. This allows responders to put the tool to use during high risk, low frequency events with confidence, having used the tool routinely during low risk, high frequency events.
About Incident Response Technologies
Incident Response Technologies, Inc., has been providing cloud-based solutions for public safety organizations since 2005. IRT's flagship product, the Rhodium Incident Management Suite, is currently used by hundreds of organizations in more than 30 states and 3 countries to support Police, Fire, EMS, Emergency Management, Campus Security, and others.
For more information on the Rhodium Incident Management Suite, visit IRT's website at www.irtsoftware.com
