The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), Esri and the Intermedix Preparedness Division, soon to be Juvare, announced today that beta testing of the new National Mutual Aid System (NMAS) will begin in four states.
In October 2017, the IAFC entered into an agreement with Esri and the Intermedix Preparedness Division to build the next generation of NMAS software, which was originally developed by the IAFC in 2008. The new version combines Esri’s powerful geographic information system, ArcGIS, with Intermedix’s crisis information management software, WebEOC, to better manage and track emergency service resources during large-scale emergencies that require mutual aid.
In these emergency situations, it is critical that response personnel have access to a simple yet comprehensive mutual aid system for managing resources. WebEOC helps responders communicate more effectively, share important information, generate event reports and manage a range of tasks in one, centralized, web-based environment. These benefits allow the IAFC to effortlessly connect partner agencies and disparate organizations during response efforts.
The four states involved in beta testing are California, Florida, Tennessee and Utah.
“It is an exciting accomplishment to get to this point in such a short period of time,” said Chief Thomas Jenkins, the IAFC president and chairman of the board. “As we said in October, ensuring that emergency managers and responders have real-time information and resources at their fingertips is an essential element in protecting to protecting their communities. I commend the fire and emergency service leaders in these four pilot states for seeing us through this important phase of the plan.”
“Combining emergency asset data with location intelligence gives first responders a huge advantage when managing situations,” said Mike Cox, Esri fire and EMS industry manager. “The National Mutual Aid System tool incorporates geographic information into real-time capabilities that enable professionals like emergency medical technicians to have a comprehensive awareness of where an emergency is occurring, when it happened, and exactly what is needed at the scene.”
