Designing to Support Command and Control in Urban Firefighting
Abstract
Recent fire disasters (e.g. 2000 Fireworks Factory, Enschede, NL; 2001 World Trade Center Attacks, NYC; 2007 Airline crashed into fuel warehouse, Sao Paolo, BR) have highlighted the need for support to incident commanders in emergency response situations. Contrary to technologists who introduce designs which are often clumsy and do not support critical tasks, human factors engineers take a problem-centered approach. This research and design project begins with a functional analysis of firefighting based on observations, interviews, doctrinal literature reviews, accident analysis, and simulations. The functional analysis then provides the design requirements for systems to support command and control for urban firefighters. These systems include personal tracking/alerting/communication devices, an interface for incident commanders, vehicular interfaces for fire companies, and an overarching architecture to support cross-echelon and interagency coordination. Recommendations are also made for improving Emergency Operations Centers. Findings from this project will provide unique insight for military command and control and inform decision makers about a design approach that applies to the development of future complex human-machine systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA486810
Entities
People
- Lisa Fern
- Martin Voshell
- Robert Stephens
- Stoney Trent
Organizations
- United States Military Academy