Farmington NM Fire Department Deploys Brooks' RPM Remote Print Manager

Before adopting RPM Farmington's firefighters relied primarily on 2-way radios

Brooks Internet Software, Inc., a leader in enterprise output management (EOM), recently announced the Farmington NM Fire Department has deployed Brooks' RPM Remote Print Manager®.

RPM enables the Farmington FD to quickly send 9-1-1 call transcripts to first responders, arming them with critical details about the nature of each emergency and hazards that may be faced upon arrival. These text and email alerts reach about 500 emergency responders in the area, so they can respond faster, and better anticipate what resources will be required – improving safety for residents, and firefighters and other first responders, alike.

Accurately and quickly relaying 9-1-1 call information can be a matter of life or death for callers and firefighters. Before adopting RPM, Farmington's firefighters relied primarily on 2-way radios, which had the potential for verbal miscommunications that might delay response times or send responders unprepared for dangerous situations. Randy Wakeland, formerly the Technology Coordinator for the Farmington FD, sought to improve response times and safety.

"There was a communications barrier between dispatch and trucks. I needed to relay critical information on a printer at the 9-1-1 center directly to the firefighters on the trucks," said Wakeland. "RPM really, dramatically improved our communications. Firefighters no longer need to get out a note pad and write all the information down. Now we have critical information on our phones, so we are aware beforehand of any dangers, such as chemical hazards, situations involving guns or knives, etc."

In addition, RPM's print-to-email capability serves as a secondary failsafe, in the off chance that primary alerting systems fail. "It provides a secondary means of alerting. Even if there is a failure in the alerting system, we still get the information on our phones. Once I did this for our fire department, everyone started to want it, so I started putting other county fire departments on it," Wakeland said.

"These texts are delivered lightning fast. In fact, some of the firefighters' phones receive dispatch texts before the tones go off in the fire station and the dispatcher calls them on the radio," said firefighter Mark Mordecki, who manages the 9-1-1 call to text system for the Farmington FD. "The others get them within seconds of the tones going off, so really there is no delay in being able to learn about a call. In an emergency situation, seconds count, so getting information as soon as possible helps save lives."

"This is an excellent example of a public safety agency applying low cost EOM technology to improve communications at the core of its services, and better protect staff and local citizens," said Dave Brooks, president of Brooks Internet Software. "RPM is especially suited for PSAP (Public Safety Answering Points) telecommunication systems, used by providers in cities, townships and rural areas to relay timely, accurate communications – from fire and police departments, to hospitals and ambulance services."

Brooks' RPM Remote Print Manager is a Windows print server that adds value to LPD print jobs by enabling complex work flows, such as converting to PDFs and emailing, and converting from numerous formats and archiving to disk. The Windows-based software works with Linux, CUPS, Solaris and HP-UX, as well as legacy systems including System i and mainframes.