Life Safety Initiative #8

Life Safety Initiative 8 advocates to “utilize available technology wherever it can produce higher levels of health and safety”.  Firefighter accountability while operating at emergency incidents has long been an issue for the fire service.  This is especially the case in large, multi-jurisdictional areas such as the counties in the area around Houston, Texas.  It is not uncommon in this area to have units from three or more agencies included on an initial structure assignment.  Firefighter accountability in this area had always been a challenge that has now been addressed with the implementation of the regional electronic accountability system and adoption of common guidelines for its use.

The Houston-Galveston Urban Area Security Initiative area encompasses a five county region in southeast Texas.  The counties included are Brazoria, Galveston, Fort Bend, Harris and Montgomery.  Within these counties, there are many incorporated cities including the City of Houston, the fourth largest city in the country.  Fire protection to this five county area is provided through over 100 separate fire protection programs with delivery systems ranging from all volunteer to all career and department sizes from 10 to 3,800 personnel.   To provide service to an area of this magnitude, both in area and population, a robust mutual aid system has evolved, including responses beyond county jurisdictional boundaries.  The development of this response system has not been without challenges. 

 

Of the utmost concern during these automatic/mutual aid responses is for firefighter safety and accountability.  In 2006, this concern was identified during a meeting of the Northwest Emergency Services Leadership Coalition (a long name for the Northwest Harris County Fire Chiefs group).  Mike Montgomery, the Harris County Fire Marshal and a regular attendee, mentioned this project may fall within the goals of the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) for increased firefighter safety, increased response capability and would be of a regional nature.

The UASI grant opportunity was evaluated and it was determined a project of this nature would fit within the UASI First Responder Committee.  The next issue was to identify and evaluate the various systems being utilized.  The City of Houston had acquired and successfully implemented a version of the Grace Electronic Accountability System which incorporated a device known as a T-Pass with a separate monitoring station.  Other agencies used Velcro backed plastic tags and passports and others used tags attached to metal key rings that were attached to passports.  Still others used pen and paper or erasable boards.  Other electronic programs were evaluated as well.  However, in the end, the consensus was that the Grace System met the needs of most of the agencies in the region.

In order to maximize efficiency and minimize the cost of the program, it was determined that a T-Pass device would be acquired for each “riding position” on each apparatus equipped with an airpack.  It was also decided that each department would receive one “Watchdog” tracking system that would be attached to a laptop computer.  After re-evaluating the UASI guidelines, it was determined that each department would be required to provide its own laptop.  One portable “repeater” unit for each department was also included in the grant request. 

The next step involved reviewing each apparatus of each department to determine the quantities of equipment necessary to complete the program.  It was during this step that some “push back” arose.  During the initial development of the project, it was impossible to contact virtually every possible participant and some chiefs initially declined to participate.  An estimate of required equipment was made for those agencies so a reasonably accurate proposal could be completed.  

In early spring of 2007, the initial UASI proposal was submitted requesting in excess of $2.5 million in funding to start the program.  During the “discussion” process of the First Responder Committee, I received the first of what would be several doses of political reality.  While the project was rated as the number one project by the First Responder Committee and had garnered support from Dannie Snell, a Houston Assistant Chief, there were other regional projects that required funding and the project was cut to $725,000 for that year.  Still, 700 T-Pass devices and 20 Watchdog Systems were purchased for distribution to departments in Harris and Montgomery counties.  

2008 produced another effort and submittal of close to $3 million.  Again, the project was voted as the number one project from the First Responder Committee but we received no UASI funding in the 2008 round.  However, amazingly, a previously awarded Chem BZZP Grant could not spend $455,000 of its funding by the due date and offered the funding stream to the First Responder Committee who promptly awarded it to the electronic accountability project.   That funding purchased equipment for 13 more departments, ten in Harris County and three of the larger departments in Fort Bend County. Another $47,500 appeared from a Port Security Grant and that funding was used to acquire the equipment for the Port Authority Fire Department.

2009 was a washout as law enforcement received most of the funding, but 2010 was different.  In 2010, it was determined that due to the upgraded technology of the Grace System, the City of Houston electronic accountability system was no longer compatible with the rest of the region.  The First Responder Committee, supported by the City of Houston representative, concluded this project could only be successful with major funding to allow numerous widespread agencies to be able to work together on a major incident.  Thirty five departments from three counties, including the City of Houston, were included in the application and received equipment with a cost in excess of $2.5 million.  2010 indeed was different as later in the year, the structural collapse project determined it could not spend a prior grant award by the due date and needed to “swap” approximately $313,000 in future funding with another project.  The First Responder Committee felt that electronic accountability would continue to be funded and allowed the funds to be used to acquire equipment for another ten agencies.

2011 was a very big challenge as the UASI voting members of two counties elected to not support electronic accountability for their county departments.  This was and still is a very sore subject in those jurisdictions and will hopefully be overcome at a future date.

2012 produced the final funding for the first three counties, Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend.  An additional $765,000 of equipment was ordered and was distributed in June 2012.  The final tally indicates that approximately $5 million has been expended to equip over 80 fire departments in three adjoining counties, including the fourth largest city in the country, with the same electronic accountability system.  This is the largest single deployment of Grace System resources in the country. 

The system contains a database of each and every T-Pass device that has been deployed and will identify that pack with the riding position on the apparatus to which it has been assigned.  The database is maintained at this time by the Grace area representative.  A standard operating procedure has been suggested to all participants but the operation of the system is such that there is little that can differ between departments.  As a result of the funding received for this regional project, for the three most populous counties in southeast Texas, units responding to structure fires locally or with neighboring agencies will almost always hear the announcement that “electronic accountability is established.”  Software upgrades now allow “teams” to be built and assigned to task level functions.  Additionally, full companies can be combined into a team and assignments made in the same manner.  This minimizes the lines being tracked on the computer.  

This project has been the result of perseverance, cooperation, cajoling and a little sulking between a significant number of participants from fire departments in three counties, the Grace System representative and the company itself, members of the First Responder Committee of the Houston Area UASI Committee and the Houston Area UASI Executive Committee.  There was a lot of give and take during the five-year time period it took to get the three of the five counties completed.  The group continues to seek a solution to finalizing equipping the remaining two counties with the Grace System resources.

Randall F. Parr, EFO, CFO, MIFireE

Fire Chief, Tomball Fire Department