CFA has been working with EMV as well as VICSES, Ambulance Victoria and ESTA, on the development of a new Supplementary Alerting Service (SAS) app for CFA, State Emergency Service (SES) and Ambulance Victoria members.
Expected to be released mid-2020, the new app that will value-add to the existing Emergency Alerting Service (EAS paging) to provide improved performance and reliability as well as improve communications during response for users.
Volunteers will soon have free access to this new app, which has been designed to help them respond more effectively and efficiently to fires and incidents.
The app will support members responding to incidents by providing access to more detailed information including the ability to see who is turning out and a number of their competencies relevant to that response.
Additional features will include chat functionality, dashboard reports, access to pager message history and robust privacy protection measures.
EMV is leading the project, with input from all agencies ensuring it will meet the needs of members.
The SAS app will provide a common platform that is not only freely accessible to all of our people, but it will be used by the agencies we work alongside every day.
The EAS will still be the number one means of communicating emergency callouts and dispatch because of its reliability, so members will be still expected to carry and use their pagers.
Both pagers and the SAS app have an important place in providing an efficient and effective service to the communities we serve.
As part of the development of the app, workshops were conducted with key stakeholders including volunteers to determine the requirements and functionality of the app. More than 1,750 volunteers also had their say on the design via survey, helping to further refine its look and feel.
Developers Ernst and Young have tested multiple prototypes, including testing and development work directly with CFA members involved in the internal working groups, to come up with the end design. They are currently working on a number of features that will be incorporated into the app and testing of these in the lead up to final release in mid-2020.
A significant amount of work is also underway to integrate the app with our systems, the EAS, and SES and Ambulance Victoria systems.
For more information on the SAS including FAQs visit Members Online.