Because First Responders, and the Communities they serve need access to Actionable Content
FireCast® Platform
FireCast is developing a secure and scalable technology platform that is operationally responsive to the needs of today’s Wildfire Fighters and the Communities they serve. The FireCast® Platform can be used to augment legacy information systems which are not positioned to rapidly adapt to changes in the number of individuals, teams, and resources joining and leaving today’s mutual aid incidents.
The overall FireCast® Platform is comprised of four categories (or tiers) of networked software components deployed to edge trackers and computing devices, mobile apps, and resources residing in the cloud. Respectively, this includes the FireCast Tracker, FireCast Team Gateway, FireCast Incident Command Gateway, FireCast Cloud (services), and the FireCast Mobile and FireCast Web apps.
While our FireCast mobile apps provide users access to an extensible set of actionable Common Operational Picture (COP) and Situational Awareness (SA) capabilities, different editions are tailored to address the unique mission needs of different participants.
FireCast Mobile app for Apple iOS and iPadOS devices
Our FireCast Pro edition apps are compatible with Apple’s iPhone and iPad mobile devices running iOS 18 and above.
FireCast Mobile apps provides joint teams of Fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement personnel originating from different jurisdictions - and organizations spanning local, regional, tribal, state and federal levels, the capability to securely access, display and interact with digital content. This mobile-first (offline capable) app is FirstNet®-compatible when terrestrial LTE services, Iridium® IMT, and/or Starlink® capabilities are accessible. so that participants can Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act as a mission-focused Team-of-Teams.
Digital content received through FireCast® apps is conveniently contextualized via an interactive COP (or Map) that takes into account the user’s current location - even while in motion, or a location of their choosing. Convenient Heads Up Display (HUD) style extensions to the FireCast® toolbars provide users with an easy way to transition between different location aware readouts including the traditional Degrees, Minutes, Seconds; Decimal Degrees; and Street Addresses formats; but also the emerging What Three Words (W3W) global location standard.
Digital content received through these FireCast® apps is conveniently contextualized via an interactive COP (or Map) that takes into account the user’s current location - even while in motion, or a location of their choosing. Convenient Heads Up Display (HUD) style extensions to the FireCast® toolbars provide users with an easy way to transition between different location aware readouts including the traditional Degrees, Minutes, Seconds; Decimal Degrees; and Street Addresses formats; but also the emerging What Three Words (W3W) global location standard.
When enabled through companion gateways, FireCast apps address the operational need to deliver authoritative content to tens of thousands of users moments after it is collected.
Early FireCast® Gateway (Engineering Development Models)
Our small, portable, battery-powered, edge computing platform is available for Airborne, Ground Vehicle, Command Post or building-based deployment needs.
Interoperability between existing and emerging Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems, existing solutions incorporated within Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs), and remote sensor feeds are key!
Our initial software-based FireCast® Gateway components were designed to minimize the time and cost of FireCast-enabling legacy CAD systems, and netted computing infrastructures found in most EOCs. Our second generation FireCast Gateways can be leveraged by organizations who need to extend the reach of their existing CAD / EOC solutions well beyond what is used on a routine basis, to accommodate secure interactions with mutual aid responders originating from external organizations when the need arises.
FireCast Gateways integrated within these environments provide a means to ingest content collected and distributed by FireCast mobile applications and other “external” FireCast® Gateways - including emerging airborne FireCast Gateways collecting and forwarding Fire Perimeters, participating in a shared event / incident.
Our emerging second generation FireCast® Gateways span small ruggedized embedded computing / Internet of Things (IoT) devices (as illustrated above) to other edge computing systems ideally incorporated within PSAPs, EOCs, Battalion Chief’s Trucks / mobile Incident Command Posts, Fire Apparatus, EMS vehicles, and even in fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.
When paired with onboard airborne EO/IR Sensors controlled by the aircrew, FireCast Gateway autonomously processes, stores, and forwards digital content to the FireCast Cloud without additional human intervention. Responding to digitized updates it receives, FireCast Cloud services distribute tactically actionable content directly to FireCast Mobile app users combating wildfires, those engaged in evacuating people, and those staging mission-critical resources - regardless of which jurisdiction they originated from. The delay (or latency) between airborne sensor acquisition to end-user receipt is often measured in single-digit seconds.
FireCast® Cloud
Responses to wildfires occur around the clock. What is needed is a means to rapidly “connect” first responders in a secure manner regardless of the jurisdiction they originate from, without direct intervention from a systems administrator (human). This is what the FireCast® Cloud is designed to do. Our FireCast® Cloud is built upon a collection of software services distributed across resilient computing platforms, primarily comprised of Amazon® Web Services (AWS) and Google® Cloud Platform (GCP) services, to form a Data Exchange HUB. These cloud-based services augment and extend disparate computing and data resources, aggregating the authoritative content sought by those participating in wildfire responses. Furthermore, bi-directional feeds provide the mechanisms necessary to route data collected in the field back to PSAPs, EOCs, ICPs, and Battalion Chiefs. FireCast Cloud services provide users access to content originating from orbiting Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visual Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellites, and near real time Fire Perimeters observed from Infrared aerial sensors outfitted on crewed and unmanned aircraft.
Full Motion Video (FMV) content acquired by manned aircraft and small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) can be digitized in near-real time to create Fire Perimeters outlining a fast-moving wildfire. With FireCast, this actionable insight can be delivered and viewed in a fraction of the time once thought possible.
FireCast® Early Adopters
The FireCast® Platform is designed to evolve in support of emerging needs of today’s first responder community and to those that they serve. If you or your team is ready to explore the art of the possible, send us an email or sign up to be a FireCast® Early Adopter.