Two fire departments have chosen to replace aging technology in favor of new rugged tablet PCs that can not only be carried into the field, but also can be used to perform in-the-field-related critical call actions.
The departments—the Reading Fire Department in Pennsylvania and Community Volunteer Fire Department in Harris County, Texas—have chosen XploreTechnologies Corporation’s tablets in order to modernize their centric workflows and in-vehicle data systems across fire and rescue operations.
Firefighters are using XploreTechnologies’ F5M rugged tablets in order to perform critical call-related actions in time in the field. Source: XploreTechnologies The tablets are capable of being carried into the field, unlike bulky laptops that have been used previously, allowing first responders the ability to complete electronic patient care records and perform other critical actions in real-time while in the field, en route to incidents or back at the station.
In the case of Reading Fire Department, it is replacing its Panasonic Toughbooks as well as station-based desktops with Xplore’s F5m tablets that will create a single form factor computing system for the crew without physical limitations, Xplore says.
Similarly the Community Volunteer Fire Department (CVFD) in Texas has standardized its mobile computing technology, transitioning from multi-component, end-of-life Motorola workstations. The department will use Xplore’s R12 tablets in the cabs of its firetrucks and ambulances. The tablets integrate with the Ethernet connectivity needed to securely manage the medical team’s ambulance-based narcotics vault as well as allow for portability where CVFD has limited resources in the past.
“When we had to send in our previous fixed terminal MDT for repairs or replacement, we’d have to dismount, pack and ship a 20-pound CPU,” says Andrew Hawthorn, deputy chief of administrative affairs for the CVFD. “The much lighter 2.95-pound Xplore R12 relieves those burdens and gives us the flexibility to use the tablets outside the vehicles if we decide to introduce additional mobile workflows using the PC platform in the future.”
