The estimated distribution of time intervals between when a department is notified of a fire incident and when they put water on a fire is currently the basis of the performance score in FireCARES. However, there is no distinction made between departments that are slow to suppress fire incidents due to delayed task completion and those that must travel long distances or through high congestion to arrive on scene. To address this issue, a "station placement score" is under development, which aims to estimate the 90th percentile of expected travel times between the locations prone to fire incidents and their respective nearest stations. This will help decision makers and fire chiefs understand whether resource allocation should be focused on improved training or staffing versus improving station placements.
The estimated distribution of time intervals between when a department is notified of a fire incident and when they put water on a fire is currently the basis of the performance score in FireCARES. However, there is no distinction made between departments that are slow to suppress fire incidents due to delayed task completion and those that must travel long distances or through high congestion to arrive on scene. To address this issue, a "station placement score" is under development, which aims to estimate the 90th percentile of expected travel times between the locations prone to fire incidents and their respective nearest stations. This will help decision makers and fire chiefs understand whether resource allocation should be focused on improved training or staffing versus improving station placements.