Fisch Internet Solutions has reached over 1,000 users with its ROVER system. The system is a joint project with Spotted Dog Technologies located in Monroe, CT. ROVER or Real-time Operations Volunteer Emergency Response system is a web-based fire personnel communications system. The system provides critical information to both volunteer and paid departments that includes who is responding, how far away they are, and where the incident is located.
“FIS’s text system is highly interactive and customizable. It has truly become an asset for communicating emergency and non-emergency messages to our firefighters,” Jason Caulfield, Assistant Chief of New Hamburg Fire District, said.
ROVER allows members to receive an emergency call to their cell phone and/or e-mail as an additional means of being alerted than by their radio pagers. Members then have the ability to use a mobile application to signal the system that they are responding to either the station or the scene with their live estimated time of arrival.
“The system is very sophisticated in that it uses mobile location services to estimate a responder’s arrival time while maintaining the responder’s privacy. We believe that personal privacy is very important and our system does not transmit or store responder location information,” said Jason Fisch, Owner and President of Fisch Internet Solutions. Fisch has also served as a firefighter for 11 years.
One or more large screen monitors are placed in the firehouse, typically on the apparatus floor. Call information is displayed on the screen with the call location pinpointed on a map. This map can be pre-populated with critical information such as hydrants, alternative water sources and drafting sites. As members check into the system with the mobile app, their name, live estimated time of arrival, qualification and other pertinent information is also displayed on the screen. This allows members coming into the station to see the type of call, the location of the call, the location of water sources, who is en route and the expected arrival time of those who are en route. The system provides a great deal of information that in the past was just guessed.
In addition the system has membership and group notifications, scheduling, membership availability, and many other features. What really sets this product apart is that it has a set of unique features that are coupled with a customizable user interface. Each department has the availability of having the system and even the incident text messages customized to their department’s needs.
“We built this system based on real world scenarios. As a fire officer and firefighter, I use the system every day to help me make better, data based, decisions,” said Geoffrey Giordano, one of the co-founders of Spotted Dog Technologies. Giordano has over 26 years of experience as a volunteer firefighter.
The software was developed by Trumbull Software Associates, Inc doing business as Spotted Dog Technologies, a software company owned and operated by firefighters. Fisch Internet Solutions, an IT company that is staffed by both paid and volunteer firefighters, came on board with the product about a year ago. Together, both companies continue to develop and support the product with actual members of the fire service. This allows the product to support the ever evolving mission of firefighters and other first responders.
For more information on this product visit our product page: /fire-department-text-messaging.php or feel free to contact the office at 845.590.1630 to speak to one of our firefighters that support the product.
