How Northeast Massachusetts Technical Rescue Team Have Reduced Their Administrative Burden With D4H
This is how a Technical Rescue Team in Massachusetts are using D4H Readiness and Response software to efficiently coordinate every aspect of their team.
Customer Background
Northeast Massachusetts Technical Rescue Team (NEMTRT) assists and coordinates life-saving efforts in the search, extrication, and the safeguarding of trapped or stranded victims during natural or man-made accidents and disasters. The team went live in early 2010 and has now grown to over 95 members strong. They are trained to Technician Level in Wide Area Search, Rope, Confined Space, Trench, and Collapse Rescue.
Challenges & Needs
As NEMTRT is a regional team, they have members from up to 22 fire departments. With multiple members in various locations, communication had become fragmented and important information was difficult to record and trace. Further, NEMTRT encountered problems with tracking equipment and the maintenance of their equipment, as it was dispersed across multiple locations. Russell Lewis, Assistant Director of the team explained;
“We were running into the situation where we had spreadsheets and bits and pieces of information with nothing centrally located”
NEMTRT began looking for a solution that would allow them to streamline their processes. They wanted to find a software solution that could provide ease of communication between teams and locations and that would allow them to effectively track their personnel and equipment all in one central location.
Solution
D4H’s innovative software effectively supports NEMTRT in the tracking of all aspects of the team. After the implementation of D4H, they began to realize the full capabilities of the software. They started logging their equipment and the maintenance of equipment, this reduced administrative burden, allowed them to make better use of their time, and increased their overall efficiency.
“We found D4H on the internet and it seemed like a perfect fit. D4H streamlines the process for us”.
-Russell Lewis, Assistant Director.
NEMTRT uses D4H to track member’s training records. Because they operate under Essex County Fire Chief, the team must adhere to training quotas. They can now easily ensure that members have made their quota.
“Trying to document it through spreadsheets was a nightmare, now we can just pull up a simple report”.
-Russell Lewis, Assistant Director.
The software enhanced the capabilities of the team by improving their overall organization, simplifying their processes, and allowing the team to keep all of their data in one, easily accessible place.
Example
The county is broken into Northern and Southern Districts, and the team has three separate squads. NEMTRT can send communications to the whole team through D4H and can keep track of who has received the message and who is available to attend training or to respond to an incident. D4H makes it easier for them to find out if they have enough people available to respond or if they need to contact another team. Similarly, for monthly drills, individual team members can log into D4H and confirm their attendance prior to the event. This has improved the overall organization and coordination of the team.
“The biggest benefit of D4H to the team has been organizing the data, all the paperwork is now in one central location”.
-Russell Lewis, Assistant Director.
