Supporting Dispatch Decisions for the Fire and Rescue Services

Decision support tools for efficient dispatching of fire and rescue resources are developed and evaluated. The tools can give suggestions about which resources to dispatch to new accidents, and help the decision makers in evaluating the current preparedness for handling future accidents. The tools are evaluated using simulation game based experiments, with players from the fire and rescue services. The results indicate that the tools can help the fire and rescue services in identifying the closest resources to new accidents, and to select resources that preserve the preparedness in the area. However, the results also indicate that there is a risk that the tools increase the decision time.