March 10, 1999 Special Presentation

by Ann Willis
George Washington University

and

Kevin Farrell
Aberdeen Proving Ground

The Firenet Story
Information Technology Use at the Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department

SUMMARY

EIIP Virtual Library Online Presentation
Wednesday - March 10, 1999 - 12:00 Noon EST

The FireNet Story:
Information Technology Use at
Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department

Ann Willis
Doctoral Candidate
George Washington University

Kevin Farrell
Information Systems Manager
Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department and 911 Center

Ann Willis, doctoral candidate at George Washington University, and Kevin Farrell, Information Systems Manager for the Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department and 911 Center, presented an interesting session based on actual experiences of introducing technology tools step by step at the APGFD. The discussion explained how information technology currently used by the organization was developed over a 12-year period with details of the progression of a small emergency response organization from paper-based operations to an automated environment. The formal part of the session included the effects computer technology has had on the organization.

ANN WILLIS

Doctoral Candidate
School of Engineering and Applied Science
George Washington University

Ann Willis is a Doctoral Student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Ms. Willis is currently conducting research in the area of information technology and its impacts on emergency management organizations. She received her B.S. from Boston University and her M.S. from The Johns Hopkins University.

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KEVIN FARRELL

Fire Protection Specialist
Information Systems Manager
Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department and 911 Centery

Kevin has been active in fire and rescue services since 1969, and has previously served as Chief of the Singerly Vol Fire Co, Elkton, MD where he served in every operations position within the department from Lieutenant to Chief of Department.

Since he has been with the Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department, he brought the first FireNet file server on-line in 1991, and day to day records management were completely digital by 1992. He established a single line remote access dial-in service in 1994 which was later expanded to a multi-line remote access server. The FireNet WWW intranet server came online on 01 July, 1995 and a year later, connected the FireNet wide area intranet to the global Internet by installing Compatiable Systems RISC 3000 routers and connecting FireNet to the APG campus FDDI. Since then, he has rought the APG 911 Center Computer Aided Dispatch/Geographical Information System/Enhanced 911 system live and online on Dec. 7, 1997. Enhancements, data entry, and system monitoring are an ongoing activity.

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