Laptops in Apparatus

[NoWestFF 21]

My department is considering putting a laptop and printer in one of our units. The intent is to load the laptop with reference information for buildings in town, hazardous materials information, etc. I have three questions:

- What types of laptops and printers do other agencies recommend? I know Panasonic Toughbooks are made for field use, but are they worth the price? ThinkPads (formerly made by IBM, now made by Lenovo) have a good reputation for durability.

- Any recommendations for a small, rugged printer?

- What additional information do other agencies maintain on the laptop? We’re not looking to recreate the resources of 60 Control, though we’ll likely load contact information, locations with special hazards, etc.

Thanks for the input.

[Guest seanc]

i always saw laptops as a very useful tool that should be put into each truck and or in chief cars, they can be very useful in my mind, it all depends on what you are looking for, you would probably want a touch screen, and be able to handle the elements to an extent.

[tjdeputy 0]

Here in Mass there are a few FDs that have computers in there trucks I work as a dispatcher and every truck and engine has a computer in it and the the FFs get extra money for having them in the trucks and i have been told it's something like 2.5 of there base pay witch if you ask me is not bad

[SageVigiles 1,194]

As far as programs, I'm not sure of the names of them, but there is software out there where you can program every hydrant in your district (or countywide for you Westchesta' folk) and another program where you type in symptoms a possibly HAZMAT exposed victim is showing, and it narrows down the types of products you can be dealing with. Again, no idea what the names are, just heard of these being used. I'm sure you could get the DOT HAZMAT guidebook put in there as well, you could have much faster access to the reference materials on whatever unit you are looking to put a laptop on.

[maisela 0]

Here in PA, we have two Panasonic Toughbooks; one on our first-due engine and one soon to be mounted in our out-of-town engine. We used RAM Toughdocks for the mounts. They also charge the laptop as well. As for data, our chief has designed incident management software tailored specifically for our department. It allows us to keep track of personnel, apparatus, assigned tasks, PAR, etc. The software time-stamps everything and the report can be printed out when the incident is closed. We also have a wireless network set up in the bays. When a call is dispatched, County sends out an email with the address and incident description. It gets sent to our server and the address is plugged into Google Maps. When guys arrive at station, map directions are up on a wall mounted computer and the apparatus laptops. We also have the DOT guidebook, building preplans and CAMEO/MARPLOT/ALOHA on the computers as well.

[Oswegowind 17]

Here in Mass there are a few FDs that have computers in there trucks I work as a dispatcher and every truck and engine has a computer in it and the the FFs get extra money for having them in the trucks and i have been told it's something like 2.5 of there base pay witch if you ask me is not bad

Extra pay for having laptops, that is great, give me 5!

As for the actual topic, this is a modern feature that is proving its importance as a safety tool, as well as one of the best resources for up to date information. Some areas connect theirs to the CAD system such as FDNY, and also load extras such as HAZMAT lookup and stuff, structural plans, hydrant plans, water main plans, roadway plans, firefighter safety during longer than normal events (monitoring of time in/out, hydration, physical/vital sign exams, rest and rehab, etc), EMS protocol, and even EmtBravo.com (LOL). Having an internet connection via a wireless source is also a great asset, just make sure it is password protected and the officer has to log on each time and logs off automatically after unused for 15-20 minutes to prevent tampering and unauth content! This way you can look up other things such as what to do in a minor mercury spill in a private home and print out the instructions provided by NYSDEC for the caller. As well you can print out a copy of how to use the CO detector from the manufacturer for all the times they call when their battery is dying! Probably the best and most useful resource I can think of.

[JetPhoto 626]

If your municipality uses GIS I strongly suggest getting the software. This will allow you to do many things like map out hydrants and water sources, have street data and Ariel photography that is available. You can also make a record at every scene you go to and this way you just click on a point and it gives you any data that you have for the location.

Edited July 25, 2007 by JetPhoto

[jack10562 414]

Lenovo thinkpads are pretty durable, and would suffice for your needs.

In the cab of a fire rig you won't have the temperature extremes like vehicles that get left parked outdoors.

Toughbooks are precisely that: they can take the all the heat and cold you could throw at them.

HP makes a nice little mobile printer, but they're not exactly cheap, and still need to be plugged in to get charged.

I have an older HP450 that gets left in my work truck, winter, summer, year-round, prints great.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF...267-466639.html

[NJMedic 96]

Here in Mass there are a few FDs that have computers in there trucks I work as a dispatcher and every truck and engine has a computer in it and the the FFs get extra money for having them in the trucks and i have been told it's something like 2.5 of there base pay witch if you ask me is not bad

OMG

How in the world do they justify a pay increase for having a computer in the apparatus?

What's next.....extra pay for having water in the tank?

[tjdeputy 0]

It's a change in working conditions they have never had them be for and now they do we have a very very strong union and they barganed it and the city the city gave i think it's 2.5 i could be wrong i think having them in the trucks is the best think to come down the line we have maps haz-mat info on them as far as the money goes i was not sure if there where other fd's out there that got money for having them in the engines and trucks

[billfitz 109]

don't be concerned about printers - you can buy a dependable printer for under $100 buy 2 - 1 for a backup

[210 91]

Check Motorola also.

[Engfire 0]

We are in the process of adding Motorola laptops to all of our vehicles and they are directly linked to our dispatch and we receive information such as FDC location or Knoxbox location in the call screen. Eventually we will have our maps and pre-plans on these laptops, and GPS mapping for our community and the surrounding areas. The only vehicles to have printers are the Chief vehicles. Lastly we have Motorola because the county 800 trunked system is motorola and it is much easier to make motorola products communicate to one other.

[x134 46]

We use to have one in our engine at HQ but it got taken out and never to be seen again. They bought a tough book and put in the Capt squad it has internet access and haz mat info and we were told that it would at some point have building types and occupancy info installed for our responce area.

Edited September 23, 2007 by drobison82

[Jason762 2]

All of our apparatus have an MDT in them. They are Panasonic Toughbooks which are hooked to our dispatch centers CAD system via a cellular connection and also have a haz-mat look-up feature, and a GIS map feature showing hydrant location and water main size. They also have actual pictures of each structure taken from tax assesor field cards and an aerial view overlay showing all property features. IMO they are a great tool. They reduce radio traffic greatly and put a large amount of information at your fingertips. We no longer have to sign on the air when responding, or when we are clearing from a scene. The computer uses a touch screen so we just hit the en-route button, on scene, etc. our policy for radio use is the first arriving apparatus on box alarms still has to give a full scene size-up upon arrival, but for still alarms it is basically a silent response radio-wise. Definetely a tool that busier depts. should look into.

[jcoppola 52]

Norwalk has Panasonic Toughbooks in ALL apparatus. All Toughbooks are hard-mounted on movable brackets and have a GPS Locator System on them with maps and plot-as-you-go directions. As our pre-planning program, we are using First Look Pro, which is a pretty user friendly program. In it, we are importing all valuable data about EVERY address in our city, including digital photographs of sides a, b, c & d. In some cases we will be putting roof pictures on the program for commercial occupancies. The wireless internet is coming as I am told, but still not in the computers yet. Other software on the computers includes NIOSH and DOT HAZMAT Manuals in electronic form with much more to come...

[mfc442 3]

For the laptops go with the Toughbook. anything else for this application would be a waste of your money as you most likely will be repairing it on a regular basis, especialy if the uinit is going to be semi moble and you are bringing it out into the field for your IC to use at calls. There is alot of software out there that would make it very nice to have out of the truck and near your incident weather it be hazmat, MVA, structure fire....

I have worked wiht the Toughbooks and several other vendors and while more expensive, its worth the money for this.

[Scottyk107 9]

+1 on the toughbooks they are touch screen too our department uses them for their medical information on the ambulances and can even get a signature through the screen and out of 8 we have had one yet to break after over a year.