The Sparta Fire Department has improved its daily operations thanks to a newly acquired fire station response software.
Sparta Fire Chief Kevin Powers said the software is essentially used to track response calls, maintenance for fire apparatus and training. It also keeps up with the department’s pre-planning.
“When we go out to businesses and our high-risk areas, we conduct pre-incident pre-plans, and all of the information we gather goes into this response software,” Powers said. “So it’s all like one stop shop for everything that we need.”
Powers said the city is paying an estimated $3,000 a year to use the software. Powers said what really drove the decision to purchase the software was that the department needed a new method to report incidents to the federal government.
“We are mandated in our federal reporting of our incidents; they are switching to a new system, and what we had was not compliant,” Powers said. “So to be compliant, this response software not only made us compliant with how we report our incidents to the federal government, but also includes maps, and we have hydrant locations on there where we didn’t have our hydrant locations. [before] We were having to rely on dispatch.”
Powers said the software is being used at all Sparta stations and several stations across White County. Powers said the department is working on purchasing tablets after acquiring the software.
“We are working on getting tablets in the first response engine, so that we can actually input some of it while we are on scene and while it’s all fresh in our memories,” Powers said. “Also, each member of the fire department can have it on their cell phones as an app, and they can tell us if they are on call, or if they are out of town or out of service. So we can determine that, and what percentage of personnel are available for us.”
Powers said the department is still adjusting to the new software. Powers said the software is a huge improvement and is another step toward making sure the department keeps up with the times.
