Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue has implemented anational property databaseto provide
more accurate address information and improve response
times.
The new database has been set up by
the fire service to help pinpoint the location of fires and
other emergency calls more quickly and accurately, and enable them
to get there quicker as a result.
As well as responding to calls, the fire service in Oxfordshire
carries out domestic and commercial property inspections, covering
issues including the installation of smoke alarms to the issuing of
licences. They also undertake risk assessments and ensure building
regulations are adhered to.
The new property management system helps them do this work. The
system uses the
National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG), a national
property identification database which carries out searches. The
fire service says the system has improved access to data and made
it easier to find homes and businesses.
The system underpins
the FiREcontrol project, a government initiative that will
amalgamate the existing 46 fire control rooms into nine regional
control centre. Because of this scheme, several fire services have
linked with address databases maintained by local authorities.
Not all properties are on the database however, meaning fire
crews have to constantly work with council officials to update the
system.
The next stage of the project will be to link the system into a
job management system, meaning each call the fire service responds
to, or each inspection, can be recorded and kept.
Jennie Crapper, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service's data and
systems manager, said several systems will be linked into the NLPG,
increasing data sharing with the aim of making life easier for fire
fighters.
She said, "The NLPG is becoming our de facto source of property
information."