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Stateside Comment US Correspondent Catherine Levin reports on the opportunities provided by the Internet of Things
I
think it’s a reaction or even an antidote to living in the US, but I drink a lot more tea than I used to. I was amused by the Huffington Post which recently set out a utopian world where the sensor in your fridge knows that your milk is running low and sends that information to your online supermarket account, adds it to your shopping list and makes sure the order will arrive when you’re in because it knows your diary. And it’s all possible in the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT isn’t new in technology terms but it isn’t widely known outside of these circles either. Earlier this year, the UK government analysed the international patent activity related to IoT technologies in its Eight Great Technologies
series and concluded that “with an estimated 23.75 billion connected devices by 2020, it appears that the IoT is likely to radically change the way we live our lives in a smarter digital world.” It all sounds a bit geeky and inaccessible, but there is work going on to see how the IoT could make a difference in the fire sector. Consider the connected fire station, where the fire station knows long before the first 999 call that Mrs Smith’s sofa is alight because the temperature in her house went up more than usual and the air quality changed so there’s definitely a fire in her home. Conversely the fire station also knows that Mrs Smith is OK because she’s just burnt her morning toast. The monitoring system tells the community safety team’s system so that they make a call on Mrs Smith soon to ensure her smoke alarm is located in the right place to stop those nuisance toast alarms. To smooth the way to this Nirvana, Nest Labs has teamed up with a few other tech firms to
“The IoT has huge potential for the Fire Service both in the US and the UK to drive down costs and realise efficiencies in new ways” create the Thread Organisation. This collective is trying to get a standard protocol for household appliances, including the smoke alarm, to talk to each other (and back out to the outside world). Their goal is more holistic in that it’s about creating a home that is efficient and well-ordered but also safe. And for companies monitoring fire alarm systems in commercial buildings, there’s work by firms like Tyco SimplexGinnell in the US developing IoT solutions for fire safety to, in their words, “provide faster, more efficient inspections, less disruption for customers, improved inspection reporting, and better life-safety protection.” With all of this change there comes risk: risk that someone will hack into systems and impact safety in homes and communities. The US
Department of Homeland Security is encouraging what it calls ‘cyber hygiene’. DHS oversees the US Fire Administration and over time it’s likely we’ll see more from them about IoT and the implications for the US Fire Service of this technological change. The IoT has huge potential for the Fire Service both in the US and the UK to drive down costs and realise efficiencies in new ways. There’s a leap of faith to be made, to invest in new technologies and spend money now, develop new expertise and give the fire sector early-adopter status with public safety firmly on the front foot. And for me, well, I look forward to the day I don’t have to think about whether there’s any milk left in my fridge, I just wish someone would make the tea for me too.
Chief officers welcome government’s Fire Transformation funding announcement The Chief Fire Officers Association has welcomed the announcement by Fire Minister Penny Mordaunt of a £75 million fund to help fire and rescue services improve frontline services to the public
T
he Fire Transformation Fund has allocated money to 37 projects across the country, following bids from fire and rescue authorities. The awards will be used to develop innovative projects to increase efficiency, extend collaboration and improve services to the public. The awards include £5.96m to Surrey for a project working with the Police and Ambulance Service on transport functions across Sussex and Surrey; and £3.78m to Durham to build joint emergency services stations, one
of which will also house the local Mountain Rescue Team making the site the first ‘Quad-Service’ in the country. CFOA President, Peter Dartford, said: “We welcome the government’s announcement of the distribution of the Fire Transformation Fund. The funding awards recognise the collaborative transformational approach that fire and rescue services are taking, both internally and in association with other emergency services and local authorities, to mitigate
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the effects of increasing financial pressures. “Services have already seen cuts of up to 25 per cent in the past four years, and yet are amongst the most successful public services in the country, driving down incidents by nearly a quarter and fire deaths by 12 per cent between 2011/12 and 2013/14. The funding will help to facilitate further collaborative efforts, which will make an important contribution to meeting the challenges the Fire and Rescue Service will face in the future.”