West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) will extend its trial of Unblur’s digital incident command software to include its Birmingham fire stations after completing an initial six-month trial across Coventry and Solihull stations. 

WMFS will conduct a further six-month Proof of Concept, where we will be introducing new approaches to incident management, command and control, and command support to fire stations in Birmingham. The trial will build on and complement the ongoing trial in Coventry and Solihull, and include the use of handheld mobile devices and vehicle-mounted demountable tablets. 

Unblur utilises both IRIS Core and IRIS Tactics. IRIS Core centralises real-time data and tools in a single place, such as: still and moving images (body-worn and drone); GPS data; command structures; mapping (with ability to draw); hydrant data; decision logs; risk assessments; message logs. 

Personnel feed information into this ‘hub’ via IRIS Tactics, from their handheld devices. 

The technology brings a boost to both firefighter safety and post-incident learning. Improved on-scene and remote situational awareness will enable instant access to critical data, and safer, quick decision making.

Station Manager Paul Dunnell of West Midlands Fire Service said: “Throughout the trial period we have been impressed with the functionality and ease of use of the IRIS Core system. 

“The process of trial and test has been extensive and incredibly robust, with the team at Unblur working closely with us throughout to ensure that any challenges along the way were quickly overcome. 

“We look forward now to working with Unblur to implement the solution across a wider service area in a managed roll-out programme.” 

Alfonso Zamarro, CEO and Co-founder of Unblur, said: “We are delighted that WMFS will now implement our IRIS Core solution across the Birmingham city area after working together throughout the trial and testing process. The hard work will continue as we undertake the full implementation programme over the coming months. 

“At Unblur, we understand the need for a communication bridge between all the resources deployed on the incident ground and command centres. Firefighters in WMFS will now benefit from technology that provides real-time situational awareness that can be shared across all responding agencies. The system’s GPS tracking delivers up-to-the-second information on personnel and asset location across the incident ground. It also provides a dashboard to support quick and effective information sharing and decision making while capturing everything as a decision log.” 

The roll out will be complemented by deploying new Zebra Technologies devices to support the IRIS Tactics app.