Firefighters are called to all kinds of accidents, disasters but also natural disasters. The operation often takes place under extreme conditions. Nothing can go wrong. Not only people but also their equipment is exposed to extreme heat, dirt and water. Commercially available laptops or tablets are often not up to the prevailing conditions. In this blog entry, we will show you what challenges rescue teams have to face and what advantages a robust tablet can bring you.
Optimal preparation even before use
The rescue operation begins for your firefighting team on the way to the accident site. Fast navigation to the scene of the accident is the be-all and end-all. Robust tablets have integrated, fast Internet as well as GPS for navigation. This allows current traffic information to be quickly uploaded to the tablet so that your emergency vehicles can get to the scene as quickly as possible. During the journey, it is also essential that your emergency team already has important information about the nature of the accident in order to be best prepared for the rescue.
In order to free injured persons from their vehicles in serious traffic accidents, rescue teams often have to open doors with tools. To ensure that spreaders and cutters are used in the right places without cutting electronic lines, for example, your rescue team needs information about the structure of the accident vehicle. While modern technology has made vehicle models safer overall, various barriers and hazards arise during rescue operations. Your team can use rugged tablets to view digital rescue maps of crashed vehicles while they are still on the road, as long as the vehicle data is known. These maps provide rescuers with information on where the vehicle may be cut open, where airbags are located and where power lines run. This guarantees faster recovery from the crashed vehicle and gives your rescue team important seconds that can make the difference between life and death,
For fire operations, it is important to communicate with your team in advance how quickly an adequate supply of firefighting water can be guaranteed. Maps with water extraction points can be viewed while the vehicle is still on the road, analogous to the rescue maps, in order to guarantee the fastest possible extinguishing process.
A real all-purpose weapon on the job site as well
Rugged tablets have also become indispensable at the scene of an emergency. There must still be a constant exchange of data between your rescue team and the control center. Important information at the rescue site, such as the extent of the damage, must be communicated immediately so that reinforcements can be requested more quickly.
The process of accident documentation plays a very important role here. Nowadays, every rescue operation must be precisely documented. The primary objective is to ensure that all the necessary data relating to the operation is documented in a legally compliant manner, so that it can be used in any subsequent legal proceedings. For this purpose, the course of the operation with its special incidents and the measures taken are of decisive importance. But photographic documentation is also essential.
Requirements for rugged tablets in rescue operations
Speed is the difference between life and death in the field. Information acquisition and transfer must function perfectly and without losses. Robust tablets optimize all of your team’s workflows. Since every second counts in critical situations, your technology cannot afford any failures or battery problems. Robust tablets of the Rocktab series from WEROCK have a very long battery life, which allows constant operations without charging breaks. Especially time-intensive firefighting operations this aspect is very important that tablets have to be used for long periods of time.
Your devices also have to be able to put away strongly fluctuating temperatures without any problems. Firefighters have to deal with very strong temperature differences during fire operations. Large fires can quickly reach very high temperatures. So when documenting a fire, you need to have a tablet that can withstand this intense heat. Many such devices are already certified to military standards. Such tablets are tested for resistance to harsh conditions. This includes heat, rain, falls, shocks or even chemicals.
The display must also always be fully functional and, above all, clearly visible. Non-reflective surfaces in combination with a high-contrast display allow reliable use even in the strongest light conditions.
Another plus is the unbeatable mobility. You can easily mount rugged tablets in your fire trucks using vehicle mounts and always have access to all necessary data even while driving. The tablet’s rugged case can withstand all shocks and vibrations even on detoured terrain, unlike consumer tablets. At the same time, your tablet can be charged in the vehicle mount. At the place of use, you simply remove the tablet from the cradle and continue to use it mobile.
Unbeatably practical, not only in uset
Rugged tablets also speed up your team’s work processes away from rescue operations. Some fire departments already use information and communication software on their rugged tablets. Integrated features such as operations diaries, staff communication, situation displays or the management and dispatching of emergency forces make operations much easier.
Warehouse management/inventory is also a major area in the day-to-day work of firefighters, which robust tablets can simplify significantly. This is where RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology comes into its own.
The basis is the identification of emergency vehicles and equipment using RFID technology. Your emergency vehicles and equipment are fitted with particularly robust, industrial-grade and weather-resistant RFID transponders. This means that every emergency vehicle can be networked. All objects equipped with RFID transponders are stored in a central database. By synchronization via LAN, WLAN or LTE, the collected data can be compared with the database and tracked later. This ensures that the current status of all information is available at all times and that no data is lost. Your firefighting team can use a rugged tablet PC to check the readiness of all your networked emergency vehicles as well as equipment. Maintenance and inspection of all rescue equipment is automatically documented in a paperless manner, reducing the chance of errors.
Likewise, your fire department’s equipment needs to be regularly maintained and inventoried. Whether it’s the clothing, helmets, or various harnesses; after a certain amount of time, each item needs to be checked to ensure full functionality and therefore user safety. The information about the condition and the time of the last maintenance must be filed and assignable to each item. Due to the high thermal, mechanical and chemical stresses that the equipment must withstand, robust RFID tags or RFID labels are of great benefit, as they also work on metallic surfaces.
Robust tablets from the Rocktab series should not be missing in any fire truck
Are you still looking for a mobile, robust and powerful tablet that will make the difference in your next rescue mission? Then why not opt for our Rocktab L110, for example. It combines modern technology with rugged design, so it’s optimal for your next fire mission. At the heart of the Rocktab L110 are advanced multi-core processors (three options to choose from), as well as 4GB of RAM and 64GB of system storage.
It’s built to withstand the toughest conditions. The ultra-bright scratch-resistant 10.1-inch touchscreen display offers smartphone-typical operation is particularly high-contrast thanks to IPS technology and perfect for any weather conditions. Even heavy rainfall is no problem for the handy device.
In addition, the Rocktab L110 offers a wide range of modern functions. The integrated camera simplifies any accident documentation many times over. The advantages of RFID technology have already been explained in detail and this feature is also optionally available for the Rocktab L110.
Additionally, don’t worry about sudden failures due to empty batteries anymore. Thanks to the huge integrated 37 Wh battery and intelligent power management, the Rocktab L110 can last several uses in a row during normal use.
Small, handy, incredibly robust and yet powerful. The perfect tool for any fire station. Give your response team a tool to master and rock any situation.
