Fire Flow System, an innovative, GIS-based, digital tool is being made available to ten fire services in the Thames Valley region over the next year. The unique system from Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering, provides emergency teams with crucial insight to help them save time and lives when responding to fires.
Developed in the UK alongside Thames Water, the award-winning Fire Flow tool pairs water network information from the water company with a vast digital twin of all buildings and infrastructure in the Thames Valley region. By using a laptop, phone, or tablet, firefighters can then identify accessible fire hydrants in any given location and uncover vital details on the water they can draw to suppress a fire. The tool uses building data to calculate the required fire flows based on height, floor area, and occupational uses, and can highlight at-risk buildings based on their specifications.
The insights from the Fire Flow System will allow emergency teams in the Thames Valley to establish instantly which hydrants in the area offer the best pressure and flows. This gives the fire and rescue services instant access to the best available data for planning for and responding to incidents. Based on a fire appliance’s potential location, the Fire Flow System also identifies the most efficient hydrants to use while devising the optimum routes for teams to lay their fire hoses.
The tool is already in use by the London Fire Brigade and will be rolled out across ten Thames Valley fire and rescue services, including: Hertfordshire, Surrey, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Royal Berkshire, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Kent, and Essex. The combined services protect more than ten million people across the south of England.
“In a fire, we know that every second counts. The time saved by using the Fire Flow System will undoubtedly lead to better and more efficient responses to emergency situations across the Thames Valley region,” says Michael Morrisroe, technical director, Stantec. “By being more prepared for incidents with resources and data, fire crews can ultimately protect more properties, and save more lives.”
“At Stantec, we provide sector leading solutions to the entire built environment,” added Morrisroe. “Bringing different industries together to address our communities’ biggest challenges is a fundamental part of who we are. We’re delighted that that these ten fire services will be using this cutting-edge digital tool, which we’re continually developing to include more features and to suit wider applications.”
“The Fire Flow System has benefited from the valued, long-standing partnership between Stantec and our planning and modelling teams,” says Simon Moore, head of planning for Thames Water. “It is proving to be an important tool for us, helping us to identify issues on our water network and allowing us to share data easily with our regional fire services whose input has given us confidence that the tool also meets the needs of the front-line responders.”
“The Fire Flow Application has proven to be an invaluable tool,” says Kevin Muller, Water Team Manager, London Fire Brigade. “It was developed with some input from the London Fire Brigade which was a welcome opportunity. Fire Flow has been used at multiple operational incidents to identify and secure appropriate supplies of water for firefighting.”
“The Fire Flow application is unique in the information it makes available to fire and rescue services and the functionality it provides,” Muller added. “It is a great example of partnership working between Thames Water and the London Fire Brigade.”
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