Latest / Fire Service Data & Tech Talk / Preparing for the FIFA World Cup: Kansas City Fire Department Operations and Technology

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Preparing for the FIFA World Cup: Kansas City Fire Department Operations and Technology · Fire Service Data & Tech Talk

• FE 20261104 Fire Service Data and Tech Talk ESRI Nov Podcast Sponsor 0075542: We had overwatch over the whole fan fest and we had a lost child or and we were able to put a drone overhead, provide overwatch, and identify that missing person in thirty seconds. Fire Service Data and Tech Talk Fire Service Data and Tech Talk is powered by Esri, bringing cutting edge GIS to fire and emergency services worldwide. Please click on our ad to learn more. Hey everybody, Seddie Buchanan with the Fire Service Data and Tech Talk Podcast coming at you on all the fire engineering social media platforms. FDIC registration is open now. Ready to take your training to the next level? FDIC International is where the fire service comes together to learn, connect, and prepare for the challenges of today and tomorrow. Join us April 12th through 17 in Indianapolis for a week of hands-on training. Classroom sessions led by fire service experts and access to the latest products and innovations in the exhibit hall. Whether you're looking to sharpen your skills, discover new solutions, or bring valuable insights back to your department, FDIC delivers an experience unlike any other. Register today at FDIC.comslash podcast. If you've never been to FDIC, you want to make sure that you're getting that taken care of. You want to get in early, you want to select your classes before all the good stuff fills up. You want to get you a hotel room that's as close to the Govitzer Center as possible. All that is based on getting registered early. So make sure you do that today or as soon as you can. I understand you gotta wait for the training budget and all that stuff to come come through, but as soon as you can, you wanna knock that out. And this year I want to be helping out with the technology summit. We're actually gonna have a pretty cool event on that Monday and Tuesday where we'll focus on technology, data and the fire service and have people coming from all over the country and the world to really make an interesting event there as well. So definitely start getting your plans together. And speaking of big events, I don't know if you if you maybe you missed it, but I doubt it. this past summer, the the United States hosted the FIFA World Cup, the soccer World Cup games in the United States. And Kansas City was host to a big chunk of that. And I had the opportunity to meet the chief who was heading up some of that planning and some of those efforts. So I thought it'd be really fun to to debrief to hotwash that thing. af you know, now that the event's kind of settled down and kind of see what did we learn and what can you know, if you're a fire department that has a major event in your city, which most of us have something, it would be great to pick, you know, pick the brain of the chief who had a lot to do with making that go. So my my guest today is Stephen Shawmeyer, chief from Kansas City, Missouri Fire Department. Chief, thank you so much for coming on the show, sir. Thank you. Give us your back tell us your background, the quick walk around your career of of how you ended up in this spot. So I've been in the fire service for thirty-four years total. I've been with the Kansas Missouri Fire Department for twenty five of that thirty-four years, and I currently s work as the assistant chief of organizational development, which is a really fun and fancy title to say that most of my job Most of my job and time is spent in training and planning. strategic planning for the fire department and then also a lot of our professional development initiatives for everything we do for training on the fire department from entry level fire academies to training our chief officers. So all of that plus strategic planning strategic planning and planning large events for the fire department, including Chiefs parades that we've had over the last few years. World Series, Super Bowl, the NFL draft and now into FIFA and some other large events we have coming up in the future. So Y Kansas City is like a magnet for big events. It's it's amazing. You know, I've been there a lot. Like I'm you know it's it seems to be a recurring thing. Everybody likes to go to Kansas City. Yeah, we are and we just had the the Fire Rescue International here for the IF C and so yeah, we we've been we've been And F FIFA has pl placed us on the map too as a large host city event for other world world events that that are coming into town. So big things, big things and exciting things are happening in Kansas City right now. So I I was pulling some stats just to give the listeners like a scope of what this event was like. It and correct my numbers if they're wrong because you know, internet. But it it was looks like it was more than four hundred thousand, almost half a million fans in the stands. at another four hundred and thousand plus at this at the fan festival, which I've heard you speak about. Correct. Yeah. over 170 countries involved more than eighty agencies that were working together in this thing. how does an assignment like that come to you? What was that what what was that email like so initially fortunately their their selection process came to us pretty early. We knew about two years or eighteen months ahead of time that we were going to be one of the host cities. They send dignitaries all over the world to pick the cities that are going to be those host cities. both in and this was North America hosting it. So we were competing against cities in Mexico, Canada and the United States, and FIFA would send people over and they know kinda what they're looking for in in fanfest events and then also in the stadiums and the facilities to host the matches and so it was a competition across the across North America and fortunately Kansas City was chosen as as one of the the s the host cities. not only that, but we were selected to host some the quarter ma or the semifinals and quarterfinals for the for the event too. Kansas City has a a big hawker contingency of fan or a big hawker soccer fan base that they were able to recognize and and talk to and and recognize that Kansas City's a soccer town and they chose us as as one of the host cities and one of the things we were proud about was we were the smallest city that hosted the most matches. So it was it was a pretty big pretty big honor to be chosen to to do all that. So you've got like a a two year runway, eighteen months maybe, to kind of figure out how did you how you're gonna do this? What do you do first? Where's where does what start? So we realized that right away that the biggest thing was going to be the regional impact. So it wasn't just the city of Kansas City that was chosen, but the region of Kansas City that was chosen. And so while the city of Kansas City itself was impacted, but it was also we realized it was going to be the region that was going to be most affected by this. And so That's where the eighteen months started was at the regional level to say, hey, this is coming in, looking at what as a region we're doing, and that looked at, you know, first off, we wanted to know the information. So when they chose us 18 months ago, our first thing was we were like, Great, what does that mean to us? And so we we looked at FIFA. And bringing them in and asking them questions of what did this look like before? What do we need to do? what sort of service levels do we need to provide for this? And so that's where we started with was great, we're chosen. Now what what's next? What services do we have to provide for this? And what does that look like? And so we really started with looking at the regional aspect, like I said, looking with FIFA and and what that what their service level looks like. How are we gonna provide those services? And I'll be honest, we started with they were able to provide us a good a good thing of of yeah, this is great. What do we do? Okay, well we expect you to do FIFA. Okay or we expect you to do a FanFest event. Okay, that's great. Well, what does that do? Well, FanFest is going to be twenty-five thousand people in a in a confined area to do fan fest and that fan fest will be and eventually we know is going to be nineteen days of fanfest with some possibility of of adding days to that. it's gonna be in the middle of the summer. They s are going to have people in a queue waiting to come in into fan fest which they had no idea. They were anticipating it could be more people outside waiting to get in than we're in the twenty five thousand queue. And then we have the games. The games are going to be at our our our Kansas City Stadium, which is Arrowhead Stadium, which is typically ha football with the Kans City Chiefs. And fortunately, we know how to run a Chiefs game but then they're They're expanding that out to the expand the footprint to invite another large quantity of people in to do a fan experience there. And then on top of that, okay, what else do we do? Well, you have increased aviation because now you have people coming into town. So we have two airports. One is mid Kent City International Airport, MCI, which is a large international airport. But now it's going to see increased service capacity. So what does that look like? With increased service capacity, do we need to increase our our footprint for that? Then we have the MKC airport, our downtown airport, which is a large for our large non indexed airport for lots of private air traffic coming in. So what do we need to increase our our footprint there? We have at that station to our f a apparatus, but it's cross staff. So what does that look like as far as do we need to increase our staffing for that? And then we had another another aspect of it of dignitaries and other, you know, training facilities, dignitaries, all of these other ancillary projects that you have going on. and then you have team rallies and all of these other aspects going on. how do we provide services? What do those services look like? or what services are they expecting above and beyond what we provide there? So that's kind of that it it really was, while you just say FIFA, it really was five different at different large scale events that we were trying to manage. Well yeah, that was one of the things I was thinking about. I know you guys have your old hat at at NFL games. Yeah. This this f seems like it far outscoped that, right? Yes. So that yeah. Did these guys show up with any I'm I'm an old budget chief. So the first thing when you listen, you described the impact. I'm like, Well man, who's paying for this? How did that work? Like how does how does the fire department manage to scale up in such a way and and then you've got to find the funds for it? Yeah. So funding is a huge impact for this whole process and so the funding for this came from a regional grant that was given to us through the federal government from FEMA. so there was money that was federally funded for this, state funded and locally funded. And so it was kind of a a mix of all of those. So we there was money that was earmarked from the federal government that was put in through FEMA. and funded very similar to a AFG CEMA FEMA almost like like a FEMA national emergency almost. So that led us down the road of needing to utilize NIMS and the the the ICS process to track and run all of that information and funnel that back through CEMA FEMA for funding. very much like a national emergency, but just we had time to plan for it. So a lot of that funding's funding mechanisms were in place, but the way we were using those funding mechanisms were kind of different in the fact that we had time to plan for it. So yes, that was funding was a big thing. And our after action reviews after the fact has has helped streamline some of that for for future events. So that makes sense that I I can get beh you know, being on the east coast where we're used to dealing with FEMA funds in the storm season, except knock a wood, not this year, but you know, usually we have some kind something to do. Yeah. you know, because one of the things about major events, you know, you have to manage the event but you still have to manage the normal operations of the fire department. Correct. So what was what was that like? Like how d how did you go about How did that impact staffing? I th there's overtime, but this sounds like man, this like a whole lot of overtime. How how did that go? Yeah, so one of our big concerns from our city and that we had to keep briefing them on was exactly that. Like, yes, we are impacting about a hundred and fifty people a day is what this was our staffing for this, but how does that hundred and fifty people impact a daily work shift of three hundred and thirty eight people. so we're you know, and so yes, you're talking overtime. you're talking about redistributing personnel that are maybe normally a normally they're serving in a service capacity or or a different capacity than emergency response and redistributing those personnel in So yes, that it service delivery maintaining our service delivery delivery, plus then impacting and and trying to staff this with another command staff, a whole nother level of personnel, was a challenge and and that, you know, our personnel on the Kansas City Fire Department, we it really became a a a communications thing and a team and a challenge of hey we got this coming in we were able to talk to him ahead of time and just say, Man, we we need you all and you you guys do great work and that is we need you to we have this thing coming up. We need all of us to pull together. We're gonna get into this. We're gonna work through this. We're gonna staff everything and we're gonna work through this. Now That wasn't just us. This the like I said, this was a regional and a state event too. So yes, we we were able to come together with a hundred and fifty people per day for our from our personnel and the Kansas City Fire Department, but we also were able to reach out regionally and say, is there people not in not necessarily in our region here, but also throughout the state and Are there resources we can look at there? And so we were using and we reached out and we had region we had resources from outside of of the Kansas City region but through the state. We had resources from several different re several different mutual aid regions send staffing. So every day we had seven different regions from our state that were sending us staffing and we had lots of mutual aid resources involved with this from a lot of different counties around our state that provided up to fifteen ambulances a day throughout three different strike teams of ambulances. We had specialty regions from or specialty resources from the the st the federal veterans affairs sent two mass casualty buses that we were able to utilize. the St. Louis area sent a mass casualty resource bus that we were able to utilize. And so yeah, we were it really was proud of the Kansas City Fire Department and and the the people they provided, but also our regional partners both in our in our mark what we call our Mid America Council region and then across our both of our states of Missouri and Kansas both provided resources. So What what's mutual aid in normal operations? Is this something were those relationships already in place or or these new new practices you you built for this this this event? What was it like on a regular day as far as mutual aid goes? So mutual aid in our area is actually very robust. We work with a what we call the Mid America Regional Council, which is a by state it's eleven total counties and two million people. of population that we we have a very robust system with. we do auto aid normally with several departments within our region. And then like I said, yeah, just our whole county or our whole Mid America Council works with both states and and mutual aid is a normal and robust thing here for us. But where it got weird with FIFA was that that really expanded to include outside of our region with the entirety of both states in Missouri and Kansas. Wow. I think that's one of the if I've seen anything consistent about managing large events, it's you've got to have those relationships in place and beforehand. Yes. You know, that should be regular business practice, not not special event practice. You know, you're not going to show up on that day and all of a sudden be able to get along. You know, it's requires those relationships and things. Correct. Let's let's dive into the the kind of the tech stack, right? Like the I mean we're the tech show here. So yeah. I'd be curious to understand what you know, when we look at a a common operating picture, what was that e how was how would you even that's a big scope. That's a lot to put on a screen. Like yeah. How did how did you go about that? Tell me what that experience was like. So technology played a huge role into what we did. So of course Looking at technology, we looked at I I don't wanna I I don't know ha you know, we can look at this as a software and a hardware type thing, but from a software perspective we were looking at all sorts of new programs that we were utilizing for this from Poulsera to track patients. we were also using Salamander to track people, personnel, places and operating where they were working at. you know, we were using now I lost it. But so we used target solutions as our as our learning management system to be able to to put out our training notices and things of that nature. And then we were using on the hardware side of things, you know, drones and technology through we used our thermite robot. We had but drones pay played a huge a huge role in this as part of an evolving and evolving and new technology and of that the SkyDio platform which is what our drones use for real time broadcasting throughout and we were able to broadcast their feed to in real time to our incident commanders, our field teams, our EOC, our the the combined what we called the regional coordinating center or the RCC, which is where a lot of our decision makers and FIFA were, they're taking our broadcast and they were putting that nationally, both both at the stadium and fanfest. And at all of the pop up events and training platforms and and rally areas, we really became our fire department SkyDO drone group really became national overnight, nationally recognized overnight by the by the p what they were providing from Overwatch and Situational Awareness. they were pull the the national groups were pulling our feet because it was just it was it was very good and and very timely and just that whole platform they were able to use was was kind of a game changer for everybody. 'cause it was able to provide that real time situational awareness, overwatch of the event. so that was that That was one of the big things that came and then our pulsera technology of patient tracking, identifying patients, putting a band on and then able to track them from from the time we found till the time they got through all the different phases of treatment to the ER, they were able to track them there too, so from start to finish. And that turned out to be very critical and and so Both of those systems were v integral in in the success of the operations. So did you guys run this out of a emergency operations center? Did you have a forward command or or maybe multiple sites? How was that set up? Multiple sites. So our incident was set up as one incident and not really an area command, but we had one one incident command system. one operating facility and then we we transformed in that into different divisions. And each division so we had a FANFE division and we had a stadium division and then we had a division for all of our pop-up events and division for regional operations with ARF and everything. And so each one of those was set up as its own division reporting to a single incident command. and then that incident command also we had like I said, we did work with a EOC with our our EOC within Kansas City and then we also had a regional coordinating group where everything kinda all of the regional that's where kind of all the regional cities and towns and everybody had a and the federal government and FIFA corporate and all of them had kind of a a coordinating center there. so yeah, that was it that's how and we had so we each spot had a mobile command center or a mobile command post and then we also had our our century towers and that operated with our EOC and a in a court instant command post. How did you put how did you put di I like to call it data in space? Like was there a a map or a a way to visualize this event in some way. How how did you do the So where we did that was with our like I said with our drones and our our SkyDio. We had one command post and we used our drone feeds and our SkyDio to maintain our situational awareness and be able to s visu to be able to have visual acuity of all of those spaces using that system through both our SkyDio and then our Pulsera and then our Salamander systems to know where the people were at, what they were doing and and be able to maintain that awareness throughout each event. And I I know you guys have I th I I guess probably the star of the show is the drone program. That you guys have an award winning drone as you you already had a program before this, right? Correct. We did have a program before that and and it's drone and technology. So while we do focus on our drone and our Overwatch, it also includes our thermite robot. we also have a dog team as part of that. we have a mobile ventilation unit and we have some other technologies that all evolve. in that program, but of course the drones are they're kinda everywhere and they're kind of the star o or the the what most people think about with that program. Mm-hmm. So tell me about the capabilities of the robot before we go to the air. Let's talk about that robot for a second. W what what so that thermite robot is a is a also kind of an evolved technology, but it has a lot of capacity not just for for flowing water, which it does have a a a large twenty four hundred gallon per minute waterway on it, but it also has thermal imaging, it has a blade on it, and it has it's it's kind of like a skid steer or a unil uniloader, but it it's on it's a tracked vehicle, it weighs about thirty five hundred pounds and it has a good ability to push and move debris. it also has thermal imaging so you can use it to you know see through a smoke and also to identify people. So you can use it to kind of put pe put that into harm's way, and to be able to look and and use it in like an MCI event or something to identify patients and find people. but it's really d you know, it it's really good. you can put it inside of a collapse zone and you can use it to put out fire where where we really ha where the really big need for it was subterranean. You know, Kent City has the largest commercial underground in the world. we have a lot of hazardous occupancies, both from a hazardous materials and a biohazard and and all sort we have some very unique target it target hazards in Kansas City where that sort of unmanned ability to handle both thermal and and just unique hazards for fire suppression are important. And so that's ability to put a fire suppression capacity in an area that you cannot put people has been tremendously important to us. We have one of the fires we had that really made it apparent that we needed this sort of thing was we had a fire in an old an old auto assembly plant. And This fire was so deep seated you couldn't reach it with an aerial, you couldn't reach it with, hand lines, but the building was not in a com in in a in a safe it was not safe to put people into because, you know, the fire was deep and the you know, the building was not stable and so there was no way to reach that fire because, you know, you can't re you know, we think about well just put an aerial up. Well great. The aerial was able to put a str you know, this is a six million square foot air facility. You can't reach it with an aerial. And so that really painted the picture that we need an ability to take this sort of a a operation and be able to deploy this asset where we can deploy a fire service asset into a building hundreds of feet inside where you just can't reach without any without without putting people in harm's way. So now we have the ability to do that. and we can and we can take that thermite robot and we can take it as far as you can supply it with hose. And so that has been a tremendous asset for this for for the region and for this fire department to be able to do that. and we have been able to deploy that and we have been able to show that that has made an impact. And not only that, but it also allows us to return companies to service and and keep that as a deployed asset. So yes, that has been a tremendous, tremendous asset for the fire department. You know, I I'm thinking of some incidents I had years ago that were large scale big open warehouses that were packed full of paper in this case. Yeah. And and our our our approach back then was, you know, we I remember asking the question, we're like, Can we bring a master stream in there? But we'd be like, We've never thought about it, hadn't But had never come up, to take a master stream as an interior attack line. Right. But the the we were probably maybe a little dumb and luck and lucky because when we got in there with that thing, we noticed how tall those those stacks of paper were and like one one bad move, you know. Yeah. Usually be buried in there. Yeah, I mean and you have these and it's not uncommon now. You see these great big fires in these in these you know, the you know, Amazon warehouses and these huge you know, we We talked about big box stores back in the day that the big box stores when they first started these coming out with these Home Depots and Walmarts and and targets and and we and not that those aren't hazards still, but now they're building, you know, one and a half million square foot warehouses. Well how do you fight firing those if it's you know, if it's in the middle of this one and a half square one and a half million square foot warehouse, how do you get there if the building's compromised? Well, thermite's the answer for that. And and these new and evolving technologies of drones and and robots and things that we have that we can deploy that we can put into harm's way when we can't put people there. You know, that is the technology that's going to evolve and be be the next of of what we need to be looking at and and where are we evolving as a as a service and and that is you know, look you look at the Boston Dynamics dogs and and how those are able to de be de be deployed and and you know, while we're not going to replace us and people and and the firefighters that do the job, where we have to evolve is where are we going to How are we going to provide service capacity when people can't be where where we can't put people in that harm and how are we going to how are we going to still provide the services? you know, you look at lithium lithium batteries and we have a a s a factory going in here that's gonna make battery injury battery energy storage systems and how are we gonna fight fire in those? and provide services in in those sort of environments. that's yeah, that's a that's a really good use of that technology. Mm-hmm. Let's go to the air now. Let's talk about the drones. Yeah. love love the drones. Because I you I got to hear you speak a little bit at FRI and that was probably one of the more interesting stories to hear was you know did like were were there any particular use cases that came to mind that really exhibited The value of that drone program. were there any man look at that. Yeah. So one of the ones that I I believe the one that I mentioned in in in the in the in the presentation was the fact that we had Overwatch over the whole seri ho over the whole fan fest and we had a lost child or and we were able to put a drone overhead, provide overwatch and identify that missing person in thirty seconds. We had we had we found that person so quickly that the police told us, that can't be the person. we found him too quick. So okay, we'll keep looking for And and and then we had to and then we're like, no we really think this is him and they're like, no, no, no, well you know, that they can't be them. And so we I mean we found the person so quick that the that the person was actually dismissed as that can't be him And then when we came back and said, okay, but d then we had to go back and and and be like, No, this is him. And so and then so then we the you know, they actually then were like, okay, well, now it's been long enough. Now you we can say now that no, no, this is him and we found him. So yes it was just the technology and the drones we were able but you know, the we've had some incidents more recently where it's like you know, the the the drones just keep showing because keep showing their their worth because now we've got drones that are actually docked on our fire stations that are reaching incidents and and finding people and finding these incidents quicker. And it's actually we found it's actually reducing our risk because now we're able to get a drone on scene before a firetruck. And so we're able, instead of all of these resources that are that are going to a suspected incident, now we're able to put a you know, put a a drone on scene before the fire trucks get there and say, Hey guys, slow your roll. It it there's nothing showing. but but the dr yeah, the drones have been able to make such a r a a quick decision making impact on an incident that that are are you know, they're we're able to going back to FIFA, you know, you think about like, hey, you're looking for this person. Well, you have one one crew looking for a patient in a sea of people. Everybody's the same height, your crew's trying to walk through, identify a person and everybody being the s you know, you're all wearing one of two jerseys, right? Yeah, you're able to identify your patients so quick, you know, you get the call like y you know, think of a a Chiefs game and they're like, Okay, you're looking for somebody in a red shirt and and tan shorts. Well, great. There's five thousand of right? But if you get that overwatch, you get that drone up in the air who's looking down and and and looking at the entirety of the crowd, they can see somebody and and they stand out. Really quick because you know, if they're laying on the ground or if they're sitting down or leaned up against a post, somebody who's in distress actually when you're when you have that overwatch, they stand out very quickly and you're able to identify your patients much quicker and you're able to get help to them and you're able to identify so the reason I was bringing up the the the recent things is because you know, you have a patient we have a We had a car wreck where somebody had gone a motorcycle had gone off a bridge. Well, to get somebody to that person we're coming, but to be able to identify and find those peoples where, you know, that the bridge isn't over another road. So now we got to get crews into the woods to get down to where where this bridge was was over a a wood a a he a creek bed yeah in a levee area and to get somebody down to that levee area, is gonna take a while. But we can get that drone over and we can see, well, where is that person located? What's the best way to get to We can come back, we can look. we had an event at a a sh a shipping company the other day. you know, I don't necessarily want to tell what what freight company it was, but they're they're taking these packages off this conveyor belt and they're all going to a federal installation. That that federal installation, you know, instantly think, well, somebody might want to ship somebody something at this place that's not very nice. And so it it when they're pulling these packages off, they put on a flatbed truck. And they put on this flatbed truck. And then all of a sudden they saw a spark shoot off this this this box of the off this this flatbed cart. And and some dust they thought might have been smoke or some sort of a cloud. So they called for a hazardous materials response. And I get there and I get there and they're like, Yeah, that's weird. They're like, Man, this spark shot off this thing, and now this cloud of dust is there. We don't know what it is. And They're like, and it's going to this federal building. So who knows what they're what what could be going on, right? Well, I happen to pull in, j I just happened to be in the area, so I pull up first. And then it the first crew there was a pumper. And I told the pumper, I was like, wait for our hazmat crews. We don't know what's going on in there. And then the next rig that was there was our drone car. Our drone car was just in the area, and they just happened to be there. And I was like, hey. and we have a little drone that is for confined space. And I was like, fly your drone into that building and see what's going on in there. And and sure enough they fly their drone in there and they're hovering over this cart. And then we saw a spark shoot off of it. So we're like, Well, there's something obviously not right going on there. We were able to send our hazmat team in and Overwatching them with drone and we're using the thermal camera off the drone, looking around, trying to identify, but we were able to identify we're looking at the address and the shippers on each one of these boxes with the drone before we're even having to commit people into it. You know, the the hazmat team, they're shooting up, they're getting their meters set, they're they're trying to they're trying to get ready to go into this place, which takes time, but we're able to have a drone in there looking at What's going on? We're able to identify shipping labels and we're able to identify you know, where are these packages going? Who are they addressed to? Is there anything going on with the boxes? We're looking at with thermal. We're looking at visually. We're looking at are there any holes in Are they degrading? Is there any sign that there's anything going on with Now now the reason that we found the sparks was actually kinda stupid later, but the they were doing some construction work and it just happened that this whole cart was going to the federal facility. So everybody's a little nervous about it. But it happened that the day before they had cut a hole, they had con contractors working there and they had cut a a c curf cut through the concrete and it just so happened they nicked a wire by than the circular saw and it just was you know, they had pulled this four wheeler over the hole that they had cut and just every now and then there was an arc in the wire and they thought it was coming from the cart and we thought it was coming from the cart and it was just bouncing up and off that cart. It was shooting a spark up every time that wire would arc. but we were able to isolate that whole area. We were able to investigate with this little tiny drone that we have now. We were able to identify and look at all of these containers and boxes without putting people in harm's way. Something we would never have been able to do year you know, even three years ago, let alone. Yeah. But, you know, just everything pointed to this being something hazardous and we were able to isolate, deny entry and put people put a robot and a drone in harm's way without without risking any of our people. Yeah. So anyway. That's what it's for. Yeah. Did d how did y'all if with the World Cup, how did you keep the riffraff out? Like you've got 'cause I'm sure every dude with a drone wanted to fly around. How how did they how did you manage the airspace? So the airspace was managed. We were able to put in a temporary flight restriction through the FAA and then One of the things that our drone group just because of the because of the what we were able to show our capacity was, was the federal government then started using us to do drone interdiction. And so we were able to work with different federal agencies who were involved in this, but of course the FAA, the FBI, the Federal Air Marshal Service, and then the the customs and border protection all look to us to help them to do drone interdiction. and so one of the things that our guys started doing is as a drone would go up and the The they were able to identify as soon as a drone went in the air, our guys were able to to find it, identify it, identify the operator, and then they would wait till they had everything aligned in that service, and then they would they would use our drone to identify it. The Federal Air Service and the FBI would identify where it was coming from, triangulate where the user was, and then they would take over the drone in midair. We would fly with it and fly over to a landing spot. They would the the FBI and the Federal Air Service would take the drone over, land it in the spot, we would overfly it, we would visually ID it, make sure there's nothing hazardous with it. And at the same time the FBI is using their their people and they're taking down the the operator right at the same time that we're overflying their drone, making sure there's nothing hazardous with it, and then they would work together with our guys to take they would take over the the operator and we would overfly the drone. Then once we determined it was non hazardous, the FBI would take the drone, confiscate it, and then they would meet with the operator and and the operator would because they're entering FA restricted space, you know, the FBI would then write that guy a ticket, a summons, and that starts at what they were telling us, it starts at fifteen thousand dollars and goes up. from there for their penalties for for flying in a non rest in a in a restricted airspace. Bad day to go sightseeing, huh? Yeah, not not a good day to go sightseeing, but but yeah, our folks were were instrumental and as soon as those drones would go up, we would get an alert. We'd overwatch they'd take over the drone and w the FBI would be able to land the drone and we would Fly over it, make sure it was not s it was safe, non hazardous, with both thermal and visual, and then once it was determined to be non hazardous then then the FBI would take over and and take take the take confiscate the drone and and detain the person who was flying it. So not a good day to go sightseeing and and fortunately n we Well, I think they did eighteen total drone interdictions, n none of the drones that they interdicted and confiscated were doing were or contained anything hazardous. So that that'd be just fun to watch. I would enjoy just watching that go now. The funnest thing was as soon as they took over the drone Of course, nobody could be nonchalant about it. Nobody could be cool about it, 'cause they're sitting there dr flying their drone and all of a sudden it it's not responding. So they're not try they can't be cool about it. They can't just try an eye. They're like, What's going on? they're you looking up and down it's very apparent, it just as soon as it happens, they're yeah, they gave away right up right there. Yeah. if they could have just been cool about it and just maybe walk away and not then then they wouldn't have but they're it's it's instantly instantly they they give themselves away every time. It was pretty fun. that's classic. Yeah, it was it was funny. When the show leaves town, tell me about that. So you you know they what what is the demo something like this look like? Yeah, so they built at our at our Liberty Memorial, they built two story buildings. I mean the the build up took weeks of building temporary buildings and it was a huge buildup. But then it takes as much time to tear down because and we have to be there the whole time. And so not only are we doing Overwatch and not only we're providing the services for build up because this is a whole as they're building this up, they're building temporary buildings and we have our rescues there. We have to have deployable assets for ALS and BLS standbys while they're doing the whole build up and the whole teardown. So it takes it took it took a month to build it up and two weeks to tear it down and we're there the entire time. while they're doing that, our rescues are there every day doing a walkthrough, making sure they're they're they're there and that they're available. should one of the you know, this is a dangerous time when they're building these buildings up because they they're full stages, buildings and and everything that they're building in there. So yeah, we're we're there ahead of time and then two weeks after while they're doing the teardown. Did you get to acquire any equipment in the process? So yeah, and so when we did our the Chiefs parades and the Super Bowl parades, one of the things we w we realized very quickly was utility vehicles, side by sides are our number one service delivery vehicle. And we realized very quickly when we knew when we knew we were getting the FIFA World Cup, side by sides and utility vehicles were our number one service delivery vehicle. you know, think fire trucks and you think big rescues and everything is what we have and what we think about when we're delivering these services. When you're dealing in populations of of as far as the Super Bowl parades go, ha you know, a million people in a confined space in in in in a downtown area, that's great to think of fire trucks, but you're not driving fire trucks through there. So side by sides and utility vehicles become your delivery models. So prior to FIFA we bought ten side by sides. That included six that were dedicated for patient transport. and they were custom built apparatus that are designed. They carry a full cot, but they're small, they they can get through these tight crowds. And so we bought six patient transport side by sides. Then we bought two that were dedicated for fire suppression and two that were dedicated for command. And so those were our main service delivery vehicle for the entirety of FIFA. And so We found in our previous that those were critical to both patient care suppression and command. so yes, we acquired ten separ or ten and then we coupled those with what we had before. We the fire department had two patient transport side by sides, our utility vehicles, and then we had two existing rescue that were dedicated to our rescue division. and so we i we drastically increased our capacity because for that because while our before for for the NFL draft and for the Super Bowl parades and all that, we had our regional partners who who were happy to help us provide those. Right. Theirs were dedicated to what they needed for FIFA. So we didn't have them available. So we had Fortunately we were able to work with our vendors and reduce some of the delivery times on those and we were able to get those in place and get those in service about two months before FIFA got here. So we were able to place an order and get those in in about nine months, which was v we were very grateful for our partner in in our in our vendor to be able to to get those in place and built ahead of time. So yes, but we worked ver very closely with our partner, our our vendor Reno Power Sports, and we developed and designed the patient care ones, the patient transport ones. we worked with those to have those custom designed and built for to meet our cot, to meet our needs for our equipment, to be able to utilize our monitors. on those and specifically to be able to be able to just carry our our our striker cots that we were able to then not have to take a patient off a cot. We wanted to be able to take put on a cot, put in the UTV, take to an ambulance once we got through the crowd to an ambulance and then just take right off and put it right in an ambulance without having to transfer a patient. from a cot to a cot to get to go. So you're just swapping cots basically. Yeah, we yeah, we were just swapping cots. That's that's good planning. Yeah. Good planning. What what was what would what would you say if you had to if there was one big takeaway from surviving this event, what what would you say the big lesson? What's the big takeaway from there? You know, I was thinking about that as I was preparing today and I know that we're The focus of this is on data analytics and and creating that data and and analysis working group type infrastructure. And, you know, hardware, software, all of that is critically important to what we do. And it really depends on your role. and and one of the things, one of the big takeaways I really wanted to bring about of this as we look at data and analysis. And working through what is technology and what is our trend. And one of the things that I think is true from the the guy on the ground, from the boots on the ground, all the way up to the fire chief, is how are we going to take that data and bind that together from what the data from what the street person needs and what the data and and what the guy needs on the ground to what the fire chief needs to be able to attain the resources to that guy is is the combination of a software product that takes that is a one stop shop from the ground to the office and that everything that that person needs from and what I mean by that is is this is that we need one software package that does everything for everybody. So we don't you know, I talked a lot about how we used Pulsera for patient tracking and Salamander for resource management, and we have telestaff to do personnel tracking, and we have comms and we have NERAS and we have All of these data packages for running an the ICS incident. We need one software package andor one data package that you come in and it will track a patient from start to finish, and it will take our resource that we have for personnel, and it will take that, and it will take that. There's one login and one package that will take that whatever it is. If it's a patient, if it's a UTV, if it's a nearest incident, and and if it's a if it's an ICS form and it takes that person and I come in into that in the I come in today and I know I'm firefighter X. And firefighter X is transporting a patient and it's doing patient care. And Firefighter X uses the same software and the same data to track that patient, and then that patient and that firefighter g go to the hospital and that tracks that to the hospital and then it it takes that and puts it on the ICS form that then gets funneled up through. the finance and administration piece that then gets put into the the funds request through the ICS form that then gets submitted both as the time card so that that firefighter gets compensated, that the chief can put in for the budget request next year to know that that that those resour that that amount of resources is what's required for that incident. that uses the UTV that tracks that for for both inventory control and inventory control and also for maintenance and circulation and so that we know everything that got utilized so so that So that both sides of the the infrastructure or both sides are talking together. So we know that this or I I'm stumbling on this, but what I'm saying is is ever every piece of software talks to one another so that the same software that's tracking the package is the same so or that's tracking the patient is the same software that's tracking the resource and the time. And the the firefighter for the compensation part of it. Mm-hmm. The fire chief to make sure he's getting the reimbursement and the s and the hardware so that we're tracking what we're utilizing for hardware and we're tracking our inventory control and that leads to the maintenance and the and then also to the fire prevention piece of it to to make sure that our our pre-plans and our occupancy software and all of that is working together as one functional piece for everything. is probably our the biggest takeaway. You know, we have we had, you know, we have Outlook, we have telestaff, we have Vector Solutions, we have Poulsera, we have Salamander, NERUS, ESO, and all of this needs to work together into one Common package and language so that we have one service, one software that does it all. It's it it is possible. I'll have somebody reach out to you. Yeah, yeah. We have one that's that's a conversation for another time. But yes, yeah. We have one software to one ring to rule them all. We have one software that rules everything. One suite, we like to say. Yeah. One suite, yes. But Chief, I appreciate you sharing such great insight. I you know, like I I said It it might not be the your fire department might not be dealing with the World Cup. But we're all dealing with something. We're all you we're all gonna deal with the Fourth of July parade or something. so this is really good insight on using with where the technology and the data and the tactics all come together. So I I really appreciate you sharing that. Yes, I really appreciate you having me on. I appreciate everything that you're doing for the fire service and to try and take the the the future and the tech and and and build it all together. So I appreciate you, sir. We'll see you I'm sure we'll be speaking again very, very soon. Thank you very much. Thanks, Chief. And that is a wrap for this edition of the Fire Service Data and Tech Talk. We're sponsored by Ezri. So be sure to go to Esri reach out to them, particularly if you're doing an event like this kind of scope. they have lots of great resources there for you to, to help manage a major event, whether it be planned or unplanned. So be sure to come back next month. We'll have another episode and hope everybody has a good fall and be safe.