ESO Identifies Key Fire Trends to Watch in 2019

Fire truck

ESO, the leading data and software company serving emergency medical services (EMS), fire departments, and hospitals, recently shared the trends it predicts will have the biggest impact on fire departments in 2019: Visibility and accessibility to data will continue to be important; mental health and wellness will grow in awareness; response to large-scale events will remain in the spotlight; and budget scrutiny will increase.

“In 2019, fire departments’ usage of data will evolve and play a vital role on both the operational side as well as helping create a narrative for the community,” said Shelley Koegler, Vice President of Fire for ESO. “Mental health and overall wellness, in particular cancer and cancer prevention, will gather momentum as topics of discussion in the industry.”

Key Fire Predictions for 2019:

·         Awareness of mental health and overall wellness will be an area of focus:

Increased acknowledgement of wear and tear (especially around cancer and suicide since they are the top two killers) – and ways to address the issue – will continue to gain momentum. Departments will need to create programs to prepare, educate, and respond to mental and physical health needs, including budget consideration, preventative measures, and the potential impact on other resources. From a software perspective, we will begin to see functions and features that create reporting and automatic flags to help agencies develop proactive programs for responders.

·         Large-scale events will place funding challenges and response times in the spotlight:

Large-scale events will continue to occur and bring into sharp focus funding challenges, response times, mutual aid resources, etc. Many large-scale events are regional in nature; however, the response to these types of events tends to be national in scope as departments from around the country send people and equipment to assist. Data will play an increasingly important role to help firefighters improve response planning and objectively provide responses to criticism of managing large-scale fires.

·         Visibility and accessibility to data will continue to increase in importance:

In 2019, the value and importance of data and data insights will increase as departments across the country leverage data to determine long-term impacts of code changes and to help shape implementation of service delivery enhancements. Additionally, data will help fire departments create a narrative that can easily be shared with government officials and citizens.

·         Budget scrutiny and pressure will continue to increase:

Budget scrutiny will continue to be an issue in 2019 and budget pressure will ratchet up. According to ESO’s 2018 Fire Trends Report, fire-related calls accounted for 30 percent of all calls while EMS-related calls accounted for about 70 percent of all calls, which will increase scrutiny around investments and budget dollars related to fire. Tracking of dollars to create benchmarks and measure relevant outcomes, including anticipating needs during large-scale events, will improve conversations with city council and local governing bodies.

Download the 2019 Fire Predictions whitepaper here.

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