Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service has deployed a selection of Panasonic Toughpad tablets among its crews.
It has set up 13-inch Panasonic Toughbook CF0D1 tablets in the front cabs of its 50 vehicles as mobile data terminals (MDTs) connected to the Tetra network. These can provide information on the way to a call out, including routing, sending status updates to command and control, meeting risk assessment requirements and locating nearby hydrant locations.
It has also equipped firefighters with smaller 10-inch FZ-G1 models for use inside and outside of vehicles. They can be used for asset management of equipment and inventory, and in the future could provide emergency information on site, such as vehicle crash rescue data, and for community duties such as home fire safety checks and hydrant defect management.
The smaller models are used with a Bluetooth connected barcode reader for asset management and checks.
More agile
“We have invested to change all the existing MDTs to a more agile device to allow the crews to work more efficiently and smartly,” said John Barlow, communications project manager for Cambridgeshire FR&S.
The installations followed a six-month field test with one vehicle fully fitted with the devices and testing the software and applications. The deployment was then completed in eight weeks.
For the mounted tablets, the Panasonic team utilised as much of the existing infrastructure as possible, such as the power management units, to keep costs down.
It has also aimed to future proof the vehicles by fitting antennas that will work with the imminent introduction of the new Emergency Services Network.
Image from Panasonic
