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Superior fire department previews Community Connect home preplanning tool
Summary
At its Sept. 2 meeting the Superior Common Council heard a presentation from the fire department about Community Connect, a voluntary system that lets residents submit household, hazard and access information for use in firefighter preplans and emergency response. Councilors asked about security and employee access; no formal action was taken.
At the Sept. 2 Superior Common Council meeting, a Superior Fire Department representative demonstrated Community Connect, a software tool the department said will let residents create and update home preplans that populate the department's responder view.
The presentation explained that the department already preplans commercial buildings and residential buildings with more than three units; single-family homes and duplexes are not inspected or preplanned by the department. The representative said Community Connect allows homeowners, renters and property managers to create a login and enter contact information, household composition (including children under 5, people 6–18 and residents 65 and older), functional needs, pets, hazards (pools, basements, storage tanks), utility shut-off locations, Knox box locations, elevator and sprinkler details, and to attach photos or documents.
The tool, the presenter said, will push resident-entered information into the department's preplan system so responders see the information in the run view on their iPads and phones after a Douglas County dispatch call. "All the information is in a responder's hands prior to arriving on the scene," the presenter said.
Councilor Sweeney asked about data security. The presenter said the system uses the same protections as the city's other protected systems and that the IT committee reviewed it and "gave it their blessing." When pressed for a 1-to-10 security rating, the presenter said, "I would say that it's an 8 or a 9."
Councilor Levy asked whether firefighters could access the information for nonresponse purposes. The presenter said department members will have logins but that the department's policy will limit use to response, preplanning and training. "It would not be for freedom of use," the presenter said.
The presenter said the system is live and free for residents, that resident profiles will receive an annual email prompt to update their information, and that profiles that do not respond will be scrubbed so the department does not retain stale data. The presenter also said the department expects to enable burn permit applications through the same portal in the near future.
No council action or vote was taken on Community Connect during the meeting.
