NSW Rural Fire Service to digitally transform

Fujitsu Australia has announced a five-year engagement with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) that will see it digitise the NSW RFS’s mission-critical systems to help improve fire emergency outcomes in the state.

The $60 million program will see Fujitsu develop, install and maintain incident response Mobile Data Terminals across more than 5000 RFS vehicles. Using a specialised Fujitsu program and AWS-hosted software from Adashi Systems, the Mobile Data Terminals will be a resilient platform that will provide support to firefighters fighting the fire front. They will have access to mission-critical information such as satellite and topography imagery and weather updates. The Mobile Data Terminals will also connect firefighters to the NSW RFS Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, which is managed by Fujitsu.

The rollout of Mobile Data Terminals in all NSW RFS firefighting vehicles advances fire emergency outcomes by improving the delivery of briefings and incident information and intelligence to field commanders.

This announcement advances a number of the 76 recommendations set out by the independent NSW Bushfire Inquiry — which was established in response to the 2019–20 black summer bushfires — and is part of a $192 million NSW grant to improve and provide new emergency infrastructure for firefighters.

“Fujitsu is pleased to be helping the NSW Rural Fire Service improve frontline situational awareness for firefighters, and protect our rural communities, people, property and the environment. We are so proud that our dedicated emergency services practice and experienced teams are able to deliver transformational innovation that helps our heroic firefighters in life-threatening situations,” said Dave Lennon, Head of Industry — Public Sector at Fujitsu.

According to Rob Rogers, NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner, the 2019/20 bushfire season was the toughest and most devastating fire season ever experienced in NSW.

“Following the NSW Bushfire Inquiry, we’ve been working with the NSW Government and our partners to advance the recommendations set out in the report and ultimately improve how we plan, prepare and respond to bushfires.

“Our partnership with Fujitsu is one example of how we’re achieving this, and we believe digitising our operations will help us be more agile and enhance our firefighting capability,” Rogers said.

Fujitsu has begun building the integration systems, using cloud-based infrastructure to run the Adashi software platform and manage critical incidents safely and efficiently. Installation of the Mobile Data Terminals into NSW RFS vehicles will commence at the end of 2022.

This engagement is an extension of Fujitsu’s existing relationship with NSW RFS. Fujitsu currently manages the NSW RFS’s Computer Aided Dispatch system, which it implemented in 2020. The CAD system manages the assignment and deployment of resources to emergency and non-emergency incidents.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/David