Accidents with hazardous materials, missing persons in the sprawling countryside, or clearly laid out situation plans during major incidents: the Neuruppin fire department relies on Rosenbauer's EMEREC operations management system for these and many other situations.
Six fire stations spread over an area of more than 300 km2 with residential areas, industrial zones, and extensive countryside: this is the operational area of the Neuruppin fire department, which is located about an hour's drive northwest of Berlin in the German state of Brandenburg. Most of the more than 200 firefighters perform their duties voluntarily; only the main fire station in the center of the city also employs some full-time personnel.
In accordance with the large operating range with the most diverse possible operational scenarios, the vehicle fleet is versatile: advance and command vehicles, fire fighting vehicles with and without equipment for technical operations, and logistics vehicles are distributed among the fire stations, as are some special vehicles, for example, for oil spill response.
Digital Support
But the Neuruppin fire department is not only well-equipped in terms of vehicles: the EMEREC operations management system from Rosenbauer also plays an important role. It is used for the EMEREC Alarm Monitor (EAM for short) in the main fire station, where the arriving crews can see all the important information about the current operation at a glance. And the vehicles that most frequently go out on operations are also equipped with EMEREC: the command vehicle, the advance unit vehicle, and the auxiliary group firefighting vehicle.
The type of operations are as varied as the different zones of the operational area itself: they range from traffic accidents on the motorway to kitchen and apartment fires in residential areas, search missions for missing persons in the wide-open countryside to challenging firefighting operations in commercial and industrial zones.
Vehicle Rescue Cards
EMEREC provides valuable support in virtually all operational situations EMEREC provides valuable support in virtually all operational situations. The Neuruppin fire department often uses vehicle rescue cards, which are available quickly and easily in digital form via EMEREC, in the event of traffic accidents, for example. In just a few seconds, you can access the design details of a wide variety of vehicle types during an operation. Where are the airbags fitted? How can I quickly disconnect the battery? Where can I use hydraulic rescue equipment? These and many other questions can be answered quickly and reliably thanks to this function of EMEREC.
EMEREC also provided very valuable services during a critical operation involving a hazardous goods truck in an accident: thanks to the lightning-fast Hommel dangerous goods database query and access to the ERI cards (Emergency Response Intervention Cards), the operational leadership was able to make the right decisions to safely manage the operation.
Detailed picture of the situation
Rosenbauer's digital operations management system has already provided vital support in other challenging missions, such as the search for missing persons. Thanks to the plans stored in the application, the operational leader was able to rely on the support of EMEREC in terms of situation management and display of the current sitemap. In particular, the familiarization with different vehicles and a large number of crews deployed during operations across a large area provides assistance and facilitates orientation.
Accordingly, the Neuruppin fire department concludes: "EMEREC is a tool that is very helpful, from the alarm to gathering information during operations through to preparing the operation report. We especially like the range of functions." That is why the use of Rosenbauer's operations management system is to be further expanded in the future: from now on, EMEREC will not only be used in the main fire station and in the vehicles mentioned, but also in the fire stations of the individual districts. The modification of the alarm interface for alerting the necessary resources in the local fire departments is already being implemented.
