The TU Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF) has already developed a deployment app for the fire services in Saxony and Thuringia as part of a long-standing research collaboration. Jens Then, Chancellor of TUBAF, has now signed a contract with the Ministry of the Interior and Sport of Saxony-Anhalt. The fire brigades there will also receive an app from December 2024. "This will support firefighters at the scene of an emergency and on the way there," explains Professor Bastian Pfleging, head of the development team at TUBAF. The app offers a wide range of information such as vehicle rescue data sheets, a hazardous materials database, hydrant maps, a document library and respiratory protection monitoring for the emergency services.
An example of an operation: a car accident, the occupants are seriously injured, the bodywork is so bent that the car has to be cut open by the fire brigade using heavy equipment. To ensure that the emergency services do not endanger the accident victims or themselves, they need information about the vehicle. Is it an electric car or a petrol car? Where are the points on this model where the car needs to be cut open to free the trapped victims? With the help of the app, which was developed by TUBAF and will be available to all fire services in Saxony-Anhalt from 2024, this information can be called up directly on site. In addition to this rescue data sheet function, the new app provides four other modules. One provides information about possible hazardous materials, the map module shows the locations of hydrants and other extinguishing water extraction points and the document library allows the location-based and encrypted retrieval of documents (e.g. building plans).
"Without the app, fire services would have to obtain this information from heavy paper folders," says Prof Bastian Pfleging. "With our app, building plans and hydrant locations can be retrieved in a matter of seconds." Pfleging also points out the respiratory protection function. The tablet provides digital support for the incident command team to make regular radio enquiries and log how much air is left in the breathing apparatus and when who needs to return from an acute incident. Until now, this process has often been carried out with pen, paper and a stopwatch.
The fire service app for Saxony-Anhalt aims to make operations more effective and safer for rescuers and those affected. "The work of our research team from the fields of computer science and engineering has proven its worth. We are delighted that Saxony-Anhalt will now be the third federal state to use a fire service app developed by us," says TUBAF Chancellor Jens Then. Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of the Interior, Dr Tamara Zieschang, welcomes the new cooperation: "The firefighting app is a successful example of collaboration between science and practice. Our fire services have been given an important tool that makes it easier and safer to manage operations. The fire services in our state benefit from the many years of expertise of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. And in return, the operational experience of our comrades can be incorporated into future developments. A great added value for both sides."
The plan is for fire services to be able to use the app for their operations from December 2024.
Background:
The idea of a fire service app was developed as part of a doctoral project at the former Chair of Operating Systems and Communication Technologies at TU Bergakademie Freiberg. The first app for fire brigade operations (in Saxony) was published in 2013 with iRescue. The fire services in Saxony and Thuringia are now working with the successor versions of the app, which are used under the names FwA 16/2 (Saxony) and FRIEDA (Thuringia).