GIS Mapping Support for Anchorage Fire Department

These maps depict the various uses for GIS mapping and data analysis for the municipality of Anchorage Fire Department. The products represent centralized data and a blend of ArcInfo Workstation and ArcInfo Desktop, using version 8.3 for analysis and version 9.0 for final layout.

Emergency Medical Service Response Density

Displaying driving distances from stations, traditional response areas, hydrant coverage, and high-incident areas all contribute to planning for new stations and response unit coordination.

Driving Distances from Fire Stations

Distance to fire stations, distribution of stations, and hydrant locations help insurance raters evaluate and grade the municipality's public fire protection. One- and one-half-mile driving distances generally expect less than four-minute incident response time.

Vehicle Map Books

The generating program (ARC Macro Language [AML]) accesses more than 20 layers from centralized GIS sources. The up-to-date information facilitates incident location while improving the quality of shared GIS layers through field verification and feedback loops. The hard-copy maps are used in all fire department vehicles.

Disaster Mitigation Routes (Windshield Survey)

Following the fire department's standard operating guidelines, as soon as possible following a disaster, companies will conduct a rapid damage assessment (triage) of their entire response district. This is done to establish a basis by which to prioritize responses following a disaster, such as an earthquake, storm, airline disaster, or wildland fire, that impacts a widespread area.