In 2017, the California Fire Chiefs Association (CalChiefs) Operations Section (Ops Section) completed a “needs assessment” with its membership. High on the list of immediate concern was the need to have a better understanding of emerging technology affecting the fire service. Respondents indicated that they were hesitant to adopt new technology that may not be inter-operable with their neighbors and were concerned that the technology selected wouldn’t be supported in the future. Other respondents indicated that they were unaware of industry best practices with implementing technologies and even expressed that they were unaware of what technology were available for fire service operations. To answer this need, the CalChief’s Ops Section created the Technology Summit in partnership with Esri.
This February 19th and 20th, 2019, the Operations Section has partnered with Firescope and Esri to host the second annual “Operations Technology Summit”. This two-day event, held at the beautiful Esri campus in Redlands, California, is an opportunity for technology leaders in the field of emergency operations to address operational chief officers representing fire service organizations throughout the nation.
The format of this event is different - it is not a conference full of lectures or a room full of static display booths. This summit is designed to provide a face-to-face operational discussion between leaders in emerging emergency services technologies and fire service leaders.
To keep the Summit informative, the event asks emergency service technology leaders to present in a “Ted Talk” like manner explaining their technology and how it fits into fire service operations. Past presentations have included case-studies, discussions on the future of operational technology, and the importance of inter-operability between all the technology platforms agencies have implemented. This year the Summit attendees will hear from industry leaders such as Intterra, Deccan International, BCS, Tablet Command, and Tenzinga along with invited guests from the Public Safety Technology Alliance, FirstNet, CalOES. Experts in CAD to CAD technology, fire service leadership, and public safety technology will provide informative “talks” on the future of our industry as we embrace the technological age.
For additional information, go to Fire Operations Technology Summit