The city of Boston is using data and digital technology to improve firefighting and other vital services, according to a report from the Harvard Kennedy School released on Monday.
The 12-page brief from the Rappaport Institute at the Kennedy School is entitled “City Hall’s Data and Technology Journey: Using Data to Improve the Lives of Citizens.” Authored by executive director Steve Poftak, the report tracks “how the City’s efforts have improved firefighting, business permitting, and the flow of traffic,” the institute said in a statement. On the firefighting front, electronic data from the city’s Inspectional Services Division on building hazards, combined with the Fire Department’s own hazard reports, was recently made available to dispatchers, said Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn.
Poftak wrote in the report that the data project stemmed “from an internal request by the BFD’s own dispatch unit to better understand building hazards. The intent with this program is to take the existing property-specific sources of data in the city and put it into the hands of Dispatch and fire fighters -- so that they can know what known hazards exist in and around a building before entering.” Eventually, Finn said, the electronic data will be available on fire trucks and on hand-held devices for fire officials who take command at scenes.