real time computer mapping of fire calls

We will be reading many more stories about the Los Angeles urban conflagration. Here is just one of those from the NY Times, What went wrong the night Altadena burned

There are recollections in the article from people who survived the fire and from the first responders who did their best to fight fires where and when they could. In the story there is a series of maps showing where fires were being reported. This is all “post event” by reporters putting the story together. In the article it stated several times that because of the extreme winds aircraft were grounded and the responders lost their “eyes” on where the fire was spreading. When they don’t have good situational awareness, neither do the emergency managers responsible for issuing warnings to people in a disaster zone.

This is where computer mapping of 911 calls becomes critical and that those maps are shared with Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) in real time. If a system like that had been operational, and staff at the EOC planning section were paying attention to the map to obtain situational awareness…some of the people who died might have survived because the warnings would have come much sooner.

I say some and not all, because the last step in the warning process is to have those who are notified of a hazard to respond properly by evacuating. Even then, as described in the article, people who had lived in their neighborhoods all their lives got lost due to the smoke and fires in the immediate vicinity.

Technology isn’t the only solution, but it is one that could have helped in this situation.