A Simulation Model of Fire Department Operations: Design and Preliminary Results

A simulation model designed to compare different policies for locating, relocating, and dispatching fire-fighting units is described. Issues treated include: the use of internal measures of performance as proxies for global ones; the use of analytical models for various subproblems to yield policies to be tested; the handling of loss of life and other important but rare events. The SIMSCRIPT 1.5 simulator and input and post-simulation analysis programs are described. Results that have been used by the Fire Department of the City of New York are presented and analyzed.