As advancements continue to reshape emergency services, the fire and emergency medical services sectors are exploring tools to enhance communication, streamline dispatch operations and support real-time decision-making in the field.
Community Impact sat down with department leaders Assistant Chief of Administration Mike Clements and Assistant Chief of EMS Justin Reed on March 11 to discuss how the department uses technology to bridge gaps within the community. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How does the Cy-Fair Fire Department approach the use of technology?
MC: I think as an industry sometimes we’re slow, but I think we’re pretty progressive in testing out stuff. It’s important in the fire service. We can’t just adopt unknown technology. We’ve got to test it and really make sure it works because you don’t want the first time we’re using tech to be on a family’s worst day. ... That’s probably why we might be, as an industry, a little bit slower to adoption, but I think we try and do what we can to be on the front end of things.
Would you say the Cy-Fair Fire Department stands out from others with its use of technology?
JR: There was a stress mitigation study that we were working on, and through that, there was only three agencies that were working on them, and that was [the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency], NASA and the Cy-Fair Fire Department. They were working on a lot of fatigue mitigation stuff for space missions and found through our partnership, previously working with exoskeletons, an opportunity where we could apply the same principles. ... That’s cutting edge. ... I definitely think we stand above.
What are some recent innovations the Cy-Fair Fire Department has been testing out?
MC: I think one of the big things is we just finished using a program that essentially took all our run data and then the population census data, and it helped use predictive analytics to help us find the best station locations for all the new stations that we’ve been planning for in the last three or four years, and so that program really helps us to project growth and to say, "Hey, this is exactly where we need to build," ... so we can provide the best service to the community.
JR: We’re kind of so close to it we may not realize it, [but] one of the things that we take for granted is when we need to send resources to a 911 call, every single one of our vehicles has GPS on it that our dispatchers can see. And so, we’re sending not just necessarily what station’s closest, but whatever ambulance, fire truck, Tahoe, whatever it is. I think that’s one of those kinds of tech innovations that we realize is kind of the standard, but the public may not appreciate that’s something that we do every day.
How does the Cy-Fair Fire Department utilize drones and artificial intelligence?
JR: One of the ways that we lead the forefront is wildfire response. You wouldn’t think being in kind of suburban Cy-Fair we have a big wildfire response, but we definitely do. ... It’s kind of hard to coordinate resources [during a big fire]. ... We had a large fire on the north side of our territory, and we deployed our drone to essentially track resources and ensure that they didn’t get overrun by the fire—so, keep them where they need to be, watch where the fire is going and then be able to see them. We’re sitting in the command vehicle with the drone screen streaming the drone, ... we’re making coordinated attacks with the drone in the air as the real-time situation awareness tool, which is super invaluable. ... Where it goes from here has many possibilities, from drone delivery of blood products and drone delivery of [defibrillators] to just situation awareness. How fast can we find a wreck on the freeway, and things like that. Lots of opportunity.
MC: Another thing that we do that probably most people don’t know is we’ve got a new system that, when [our dispatcher is] talking to you on the phone, AI is using that and producing written text on the screen so they’re hearing and seeing what you’re saying. So they don’t have to ask you twice about anything, and that’s a pretty cool deal to use the speech-to-text feature on the dispatch side.
How does the Cy-Fair Fire Department go about acquiring and introducing new technology?
MC: We might beta test with one or two units to see if it works, but also provide them the redundant current technology we use. ... We test all that stuff before we put it in the field because we want it to work. There's an expectation from our community that the stuff we're doing works, so we make sure that if we are testing something, there's a redundant feature that we can use as backup should the test process not work.
JR: We could sit here in the office and test tech all day long ... and it may work fine ... when you’re calm, you’re not under pressure, you’re able to sort of rationalize and think things through. It makes sense, but [when] you put it into sort of a chaotic environment that our crews operate in, day in and day out, you have to make sure that ... it actually applies to what they’re doing, and it enhances it.
How does the Cy-Fair Fire Department identify needs where technology can improve efficiency?
MC: If we see something that’s an emerging trend in the industry, we’re going to be on top of it. There’s a new national reporting system that’s going to go in place the next six months called [the National Emergency Response Information System], and it has the ability to kind of be a little bit more flexible and dynamic than our current reporting to take advantage of things like electrical vehicle fires. ... Essentially, the technology got ahead of where the suppression efforts are and where the industry is, and so the whole industry is trying to just battle with electric vehicle fires, and so we know that’s an emerging problem. There’s some technology we’ve gotten to help us with that, but we’re on the hunt.
JR: One of the opportunities that we had was aviation manufacturing. ... So, we understand that in EMS, your career only lasts as long as your back does. So, how could we actually make it a safer, better environment for them to work in? We reached out to a local engineering school [for help testing exoskeletons]. ... How can we actually prove the data so that the manufacturers can make a better product that is specifically formulated to us?
How does the Cy-Fair Fire Department see technology evolving in the next five to 10 years?
MC: One of the things that we’re watching and testing is satellite internet connectivity. When the derecho storm came through and knocked out a bunch of cell towers, nobody in the community could get cellphone service. ... We purchased some satellite receivers, and we’re starting to really look at satellite connectivity, Wi-Fi, calling and stuff like that over satellite. ... We can’t fail. Nobody’s backup for us, so every day we go out there, we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got the best stuff to get the job done.
JR: One that I’m huge on is ... autonomous driving vehicles. ... It opens up a lot of opportunity for us when it comes to just adding an additional person to the patient experience during transport [that] would be huge. Then, other ways that we can essentially make a seamless reporting structure from when you call 911, all the way until you’re discharged from the hospital. What’s the opportunity there for a single record to follow along with you? ... There’s another opportunity that exists, ... sort of bridging gaps and connecting a lot of this data that’s already here.
