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People and the Planet 2013 Conference Proceedings
This article was first presented at the People and the Planet 2013
Conference: Transforming the Future, RMIT University, Melbourne,
Australia, 2-4 July.
All articles published in this collection have been peer reviewed.
Title: Human Computer Interaction for Supporting Fire Emergency First
Responders
Author(s): Raj Prasanna1, Lili Yang2 and Malcolm King2
Institution(s): 1 Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
2 Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom
Email(s): R.Prasanna@massey.ac.nz, L.Yang@lboro.ac.nz, M.King@lboro.ac.nz
Publisher: Global Cities Research Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Year: 2013
Editor(s): Paul James, Chris Hudson, Sam Carroll-Bell, Alyssa Taing
Series URL:
http://global-cities.info/news-events/conferences-forums/conferences-proceedings
Copyright © 2013 Global Cities Research Institute, RMIT University.
All rights reserved. This article may be used for research, teaching and
private study purposes. Material, which is reproduced from this
publication, in whole or in part, must be clearly attributed to the author
and source.
Human Computer Interaction for
Supporting Fire Emergency First
Responders
RAJ PRASANNA, LILI YANG and MALCOLM KING
Abstract: Good information is critical to a firefighters ability to respond
effectively in an emergency situation. Without timely, accurate information, a
firefighters capacity to save lives, protect property and reduce economic loss is
severely compromised. Although technology is capable of providing vast amount
of data, the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) requirements of firefighters in
complex, dynamic, ad hoc and stressful environments is not well understood.
Information system designers and developers face enormous challenges in
designing appropriate HCIs for fire emergency responders. Indeed, firefighters
typically operate in the worst imaginable working conditions and are driven by
naturalistic decision making processes comprised of limited time and information.
Despite many previous efforts, there is little in the way of user-friendly
information systems, which are trusted by the firefighters. Moreover, the literature
suggests that many research contributions have failed due to a limited appreciation
of decision-making models and an inability to capture and validate comprehensive
requirements of firefighters during a fire. To fill such an important and timely gap
in the emergency management literature, this paper presents several novel human
computer interfaces and interaction techniques capable of exclusively supporting
fire emergency responders during a fire emergency. These outcomes are reached
by capturing comprehensive information requirements with the use of a purpose
built cognitive task analysis tool: GDIA and an user centered design and
validation of human computer interfaces conducted on a grounded theory data
gathering and analysis platform. Importantly, this paper makes a vital contribution
to the understanding of HCI requirements and thereby to the rigorous design of
usable fire emergency information systems.
Keywords: Emergency response, situation awareness, fire emergencies, human
computer interaction, human computer interface.
1. Introduction
Emergency Response (ER) information systems should essentially support first responders by
enhancing their Situation Awareness (SA) leading to better decision-making (Klann et al.
2008). It is argued that human decision-making failures during the catastrophic incidents such
as the Bhopal gas disaster (Endsley 1999), September 11 attacks (Son et al. 2007) and the
Three Mile nuclear meltdown (Itoh and Inagaki 1997) were caused by SA failures of the
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
2
systems embedded with poor Human Computer Interaction (HCI) capabilities. Key studies
that recommend Information System (IS) models and architectures suitable for ER have
identified that the ability of IS to provide HCI support to understand and recognize the
situation or context of the responders is a key criteria of a better ER information system
(Jennex 2007, Turoff et al. 2004). Most of the SA related work clearly suggests that although
the individual elements of SA can vary widely from one domain to the next, the importance
of SA as a foundation for decision-making and performance applies to almost every time-
critical and complex domain. Further, it indicates that designing systems to assist individuals
to develop and maintain SA facilitates their decision-making activities, and concludes that
maintaining a high-level of SA with the appropriate levels of HCI to present vital information
is essential for effective decision-making (Endsley and Connors 2008).
Importantly the way in which information is presented to the operator (through interfaces)
during time-critical situations can influence their SA. This is determined by how much
information can be acquired in the limited time available, how accurately it can be acquired,
and the degree to which that information matches with the operator’s SA needs (Endsley et
al. 2003). Therefore, presenting a mass of data will be largely ineffective unless it can be
transmitted in a way that is absorbed and assimilated (Endsley et al. 2003). However, most of
the previous studies related to supporting ER operations are predominantly interested in
generating and coordinating information. There is very little work focused on the presentation
of information to enhance SA of the responders. The record of the United Kingdom (UK)
Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) is particularly poor in terms of providing information systems
that support a firefighters’ SA during their work. Thus, with the aim of supporting UK
firefighters to enhance their SA during their emergency response work, this paper explores
the ways in which information is shared by, and presented to, firefighters undertaking
specific roles.
With the aim of exploring how to present useful information for firefighters during their
response operations this study introduces a set of important human computer interfaces and
interaction requirements suitable for four identified key Fire and Rescue Responder Job roles.
These findings were applied in the SafetyNET project (Yang and Frederick 2004), to develop
UK government funded on-site fire emergency response information system.
With the aim of contributing to the design and development of an IS consisting of usable
human computer interfaces supporting firefighters during ER, remaining sections of the paper
focus on discussing the proposed conceptual interfaces enhancing the human computer
interaction of firefighters during their response operations. First, this paper explains the
methodology for the design and development of human computer interfaces for fire
firefighters including the technique adopted to capture the information needs of the
firefighters. Thereafter, the paper explains several selected human computer interfaces which
exclusively enhance the SA of firefighters working in different roles of the fire emergency
incident command hierarchy. This is followed by a discussion explaining limitations of the
study and its impact on the IS community working with emergency first responders. Finally,
the contribution and the conclusions of the study are explained in a summarized manner.
2. Methodology
In a previous study, the authors of this paper developed and used a cognitive task analysis
tool, Goal Directed Information Analysis (GDIA) (Prasanna et al. 2009) to explore and
Supporting Fire Emergency First Responders
3
identify information requirements that will lead to better SA of different firefighter roles
during emergency operations. GDIA driven field studies carried out in the study were
strengthened with two less formal participatory type human computer interface evaluation
phases: 1. Prototype Walkthrough Session (Nielsen 1993) and 2. Workshop Session (Fitter et
al.1991). Importantly, the Grounded Theory (Urquhart and Fernandez 2006) approach
supported the field studies for 1. sampling of respondent, 2. case selection, and 3. data
gathering and analysis. The captured information during each field study session was
transcribed. In line with the GT comparative analysis, ‘constant comparison’ technique
(Boeije 2002) was used to identify the fragments of the transcripts, which addressed some
meaningful information needs of firefighters, focusing on a common theme. Later, the
transcript fragments under various themes were used to extract important findings in relation
to the efforts of presenting information to the firefighters. This process was carried out
iteratively until no new or unique themes were to be identified in the data captured.
The above process led the authors to identify accurate and comprehensive information
capable of enhancing job specific SA needs of firefighters (Yang et al. 2009a). It also
allowed the authors to develop a human computer interface design guideline (Yang et al.
2009b). In this paper, the authors integrate the above research outcomes and present a
prototype consisting of a number of human computer interfaces. Adhering to the specific
design decisions exclusively suitable for fire ER (Prasanna et al. 2012), these interfaces aim
to provide the SA requirements of four important firefighter roles namely: Incident
Commander (IC), Sector Commander (SC), Breathing Apparatus Entry Control Officer
(BAECO) and Breathing Apparatus Wearer at three increasing levels of knowledge (Endsely
et al. 2003):
1. Level 1 SA: Perception;
2. Level 2 SA: Comprehension;
3. Level 3 SA: Projection.
Interfaces are designed and developed with the support of Windows-based software
prototyping tools, GUI Design Studio Ver.2 and Adobe Flash. These interfaces form the basis
of an evolutionary development toward a fully-fledged IS capable of supporting firefighters
in an emergency response. Adobe flash software is exclusively used to embed interfaces with
some high level dynamism; simulating the movement of firefighters in a building, data entry
interfaces with direct manipulation and dynamically appearing alarms.
The design and development of the software prototypes is followed by a series of prototype
demonstration sessions with potential end-users to help understand the appropriateness and
usefulness of the proposed software.
3. Types of human computer interfaces for firefighters
Nearly 350 different information interfaces are proposed for the use of four firefighter roles.
Except for a few unique and exceptional interfaces, the rest could be broadly categorized in to
three types, based on the Level of SA classification of Endsely (et al. 2003):
1. Interfaces for Level 1 SA – Perception;
2. Interfaces for Level 2 S A – Comprehension;
3. Interfaces for Level 3 SA – Projection.
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
4
3.1 Interfaces for level 1 SA – Perception
Figure 1: Interface supporting Level 1 SA of an Incident Commander: ‘Dash Board’
The first step of achieving SA is to perceive the status, attributes, and dynamics of relevant
elements in the environment. Lack of basic perception of can easily lead to the formation of
an inaccurate understanding of the situation. These interfaces will support an end-user to
maintain a global picture relevant to a particular job role at any given time of the fire
emergency (Yang et al. 2009b). Thus, as shown in the Figure 1, with this type of interfaces,
firefighters will be able to have a summarized overview of the situation.
Figure 2: Interface supporting Level 2 SA of an Incident Commander
Supporting Fire Emergency First Responders
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3.2 Interfaces for level 2 S A – Comprehension
Rather than presenting isolated data sets, mostly via numbers and text as in the perception
level (as shown in Figure 2) with this type of interface, dynamic information is meaningfully
integrated with static information using graphical presentations. It provides the appropriate
level of comprehension of the situation at any given moment of time to further improve the
SA.
3.3 Interfaces for level 3 SA – Projection
By developing Level 3 SA interfaces, projection of future events is supported by providing
the firefighters with information based on current and past trends. These are, in-turn, framed
by various situational parameters. Together with the Level 1–Perception and Level 2–
Comprehension interfaces (see Figure 3), Level 3–Projection interfaces are capable of
providing a higher-level of SA for firefighters in making difficult predictions with confidence
at any given moment of time of the emergency.
Figure 3: Interface supporting Level 3 SA of an Incident Commander
In addition to those discussed above, there are other interfaces, which are unique and difficult
to categorize. Apart from the information output interfaces, the proposed prototypes also
consist of appropriate interfaces for Data/Information Input and Alarm/Alert generation.
4. Selected important human computer interfaces
Among the interfaces proposed, this section of the paper explains several standalone
interfaces and interface constellations that are uniquely identified as providing crucial human
computer interaction needs of firefighters during their response operations
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
6
4.1 The ‘black box’ interface
‘Ensure Post Incident Considerations’ was identified as one of the top-level goals of an IC.
However, while these are different from other top-level goals of ICs, it is related to the issues
that need involvement of the FRS after the emergency phase. Examples include the
following:
• Post-mortem enquiries and coroner's hearings;
• Fire investigation;
• Accident investigation (where a death has or may have occurred, and the
‘Work Related Death Protocol’ must be adhered to);
• Public or judicial enquiries;
• Mitigation;
• Financial costs to the brigade (eg. damaged equipment);
• Criminal Investigation;
• Incident debriefing and evaluation;
• Fire safety issues;
• Learning and recommendations, both local and national;
• Critical incident—ongoing emotional and welfare support.
The success of carrying out the post incident actives is related to the success of the IC in
identifying what the post incident considerations might be (DCLG 2008).
The level of assessing the post incident considerations often depend on the ability of an IC to
answer questions such as:
• What happened during critical search and rescue/firefighting operations
(caused deaths/near deaths/BA emergency)?
• Is there any breach in legislation during operation?
• Was the building performed as expected?
• Was there any threat to the safety of the crews?
The particular goal identified for an IC: Ensure Post Incident Considerations indicates the
importance of acquiring information that enhances the SA of the IC so that they can answer
the above questions successfully. However, the findings of early phases of research revealed
that it is a challenge and added burden for ICs during an incident to maintain and organize
information in a meaningful manner so that it can be reused after the incident during various
debriefing and investigation sessions.
To support an IC to reach the goal ‘Ensure Post Incident Considerations’ successfully, while
minimizing their involvement, a conceptual interface ‘Black Box’ is proposed. This interface
will minimize the time and the efforts of ICs to carry out work related to the post incident
considerations and therefore, allow more effort and commitment to other crucial activities
during an incident. This particular interface is capable of replaying or recalling the events
already occurred. It allows the end-user to recall snapshots of any number of interfaces on to
a display device. For example, as Figure 4 demonstrates, an IC would be able to recall
snapshots of three important interfaces: External SA and Internal SA of the 6th Floor, ‘Dash
Board’ and ‘BA Board,’ which deployed the BA Wearers into the 6th floor.
Supporting Fire Emergency First Responders
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Figure 4: The ‘Black Box’ interface
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
8
This interface captures the important instances of an incident at a selected time and flags
them. Later, by clicking on a flagged event, the end-user will be able to recall any of the
interfaces displaying the situation of the incident at that particular time. Furthermore, the end-
user will have the option of playing back these instances along a time line. Therefore, by
selecting a flagged instance or by playing back along a time line, the end-user able to recall
appropriate interfaces related to a post incident activity.
The concept of the ‘Black Box’ to Enhance SA for better post incident considerations was
considered as one of the most useful interfaces by all the participant groups and individuals
involved. The feedback explained how such an interface can improve the performance of the
IC team by reducing their workload. It confirmed that the ‘Black Box’ concept can help to
reduce the efforts carried out to preserve the critical information, which could be used in post
incident activities. This concept is capable of virtually increasing the time available,
especially for the IC to look after important operational activities. Apart from its use for the
post incident activities, most of the participants described its additional use as a briefing and
debriefing tool within the response period. Originally, the concept of the ‘Black Box’ was
designed for the use of ICs. Yet, several feedback fragments in relation to the BA Wearer and
BAECO interfaces clearly indicated the importance of storing the data in such a manner that
it can be recalled later for on-site briefing and debriefing sessions. The interfaces supporting
such on-site debriefing have to be improved so that they can display the details of completed
activities of various on-going operations. Respondent feedback and researcher’s field notes
based on the observations made during BA Wearer training clearly indicate that at present,
just after every BA operation, BA Wearers put a lot of effort to describe how they carried out
their operations. Furthermore, more often than not, such descriptions do not match with what
actually happened. Several firefighters explained how difficult it might be for them to
remember places and locations when carrying out operations in very harsh conditions.
Similar observations were made by the ethnographic work carried out by Dyrks (et al. 2008).
After carrying out extensive observations with frontline firefighters, they explain that it is
important for a team of firefighters to build and maintain a cognitive map of their operations
and pass that information to the next team and their commanders. They also identified the
challenges faced by firefighters to build such cognitive maps due to the cognitive workload
and the difficult environment. Due to these challenges, Dyrks (et al. 2008) observed
ambiguity and uncertainty of the cognitive maps built by the firefighters and recognized the
need of system support for such situations. In the future, rather than using a white board or
paper to draw maps and plans, firefighters will be able use the ‘Black Box’ interface
conveniently to explain what happened during their operations. Thus, the ‘Black Box’
interface will be a useful tool to debrief an operation.
The ‘Black Box’ is one of the novel and unique concepts proposed for the firefighters to
enhance their SA. At present, there is no similar product or practice used by the firefighters to
enhance their SA. As well as enhancing the SA of firefighters, it could be useful to overcome
SA Demons such as 1. Work Related Stressors and 2. Requisite Memory Trap. This
particular conceptual interface could also be recommended for other emergency related
domains where end-users struggle due to preserve information that is primarily useful for
their 1. post incident considerations, 2. briefing and debriefing activities.
4.2 The ‘Guideline’ interface
As shown in Figure 5, ‘Guideline’ interface proposes a 3D visual of the front view of a
firefighter, guiding firefighters to and from a predefined destination. This particular interface
Supporting Fire Emergency First Responders
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is capable of enhancing their SA from start to the end of a BA operation. The development of
this particular type of interface is motivated by the contextual implications due to the use of
physical guidelines.
Figure 5: The ‘Guideline’ interface
This interface is capable of indicating the required changes to a predefined pathway based on
the contextual information captured, so that the safety of the BA Wearer during navigation
can be continuously maintained. It is proposed that with a simple voice command, the end-
user can switch their view from the default ‘My View’ of the interface to the ‘Map View.’
The ‘Map View’ provides the current location and the intended location of the destination of
a BA Wearer. With a simple voice command, BA Wearers will be able to call on other
additional information layers such as Contextual Hazard Profile of the area, Defined route to
the destination, Location of fellow BA team members, Available installation and equipment
around the area.
Figure 6: Proposed display for the ‘map view’ with superimposed layers
of additional information
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
10
As an example, Figure 6 shows a display, which has superimposed the additional information
layers of defined route of the BA Wearer with the prevailing contextual hazard profile onto
the ‘Map View’ interface. This information will significantly enhance the SA of a moving
BA wearer.
For this interface, it is proposed to provide information in the form of voice instructions until
the BA wearer decides whether he/she needs more comprehensive display of information via
the visual interface. The idea is that the BA Wearer will be able to activate his/her visual
display by giving a simple voice command requesting it to wake up. Until such time, the
visual display will be in the sleep mode. The technical feasibility of this proposal will be
further discussed at the mock-up demonstration.
4.3 Route planner interface
There are several useful data input interfaces proposed for the use of BAECO. This includes
interfaces for the management of BA Teams, BA Wearer Routing and management of BA
emergency and evacuation. Among these interfaces, the ‘Route Planner’ interface is
significant as the functionality of the ‘Guideline’ interface proposed for the BA Wearer
navigation is primarily driven by the route planned with the use of this interface.
Traditionally, BA Wearer navigation entirely depends on the support of the ‘guidelines’.
Instead, the proposed ‘Route Planner’ interface allows BAECOs to plan a route for each and
every BA operation (Figure 7). This interface is capable of laying a computerized virtual
guideline. At first, ‘Route Planner’ will request the BAECO to provide the start and end
location of an intended BA operation. In addition, it will request the BAECO to input
appropriate access points and entry control points as the transit locations. Thereafter
considering the existing risks, hazards and existing paths, this interface will be able to
forecast the options of the safest path and quickest path to the desired destination. The end-
user would then be able to select the best path according to his/her preference. Furthermore,
the interface allows the end-user an option of defining a customized route on his/her own.
With this option, the end-user would be able to draw and digitize a route on his/her own for a
BA operation, using the support of ‘Drawing Toolbox.’ Such planned routes would take
account of the prevailing conditions at the incident, and will become the navigational input
for the BA wearers who carry out various BA operations.
The Participant feedback indicated how ‘Guideline’ together with the ‘Route Planner’ can
enhance the SA of frontline BA Wearers by minimizing SA Demons associated with work
related stressors, information or data overloading and limited working memory. The
participants welcomed the balance between automation and user intervention provided in
these interfaces, as they are given an option to select a route based on their own view rather
than being totally dependent on a route decided by the system intelligence. Thus, this
particular feature will also minimize the SA failures by keeping the end-users out of the loop
of the situation due to extreme automation. These interfaces also complement the
ethnographic findings of Dyrks (et al. 2008) where they identified the goal of the navigation
systems based on new technologies is not only to provide directions, but support the
firefighters to build their own paths.
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Figure 7: The ‘Route Planner’ interface
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
12
The participants also thought ‘Guideline’ and ‘Route Planner’ would be a welcome
development for the unpopular traditional practice of using physical guidelines. Most of the
previous research related to fire ER such as ‘LifeNet’ (Klann 2008), Gambardella (et al.
2008) and ‘CADMS’ (Walder et al. 2009) has recognized the importance of location tracking
and navigation of firefighters. Complementing this research, two interfaces proposed:
‘Guideline’ and ‘Route Planner’ appeared to offer the possibility of an excellent solution to
that problem.
4.4 Out of path and out of site alarms
Among many visual and voice based interfaces proposed for the deployment of alarms,
functionality of two alarms for BA Wearers 1. Out of Path and 2. Out of Sight are recognized
as crucial for their safe mobility. Assuming one firefighter is dangerously away from his
assigned route, this particular alarm at the outset generates a voice message. So it will deliver
the voice statement ‘You are not in the correct path’. Since the visual display is expected to
be in the Sleep mode as its default mode, system generated alarms are proposed to reach the
end-user as a voice communiqué. After such voice communiqué, end-users would be able to
obtain more elaborated information on that alarm with the use of the visual display by
requesting it to switch its mode to Wakeup. In the Wakeup mode, end-user will be able to see
the alarm visually as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8: Visual alert pop up for BA Wearer ‘Out of Path’
Furthermore, with a simple voice command end-user will be able to acknowledge such alarm
or call an additional layer of information embedded with his/her current location (Figure 9).
This particular alarm is considered to be important as it enhances the performance of the
‘Guideline’ interface. It will be useful to avoid using a physical guideline, yet supports
firefighters to maintain their movement along the required route.
Figure 9: Proposed view mode interface for the ‘Out of Path’ alarm
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As shown in Figure 10, it is also proposed to have the alarm: Out of sight/range, which
generates an alert when the distance between two firefighters exceeds the predetermined
safety distance.
Figure 10: Proposed view mode interface for the ‘Out of Sight/Range’ alarm
Importantly, while maintaining the recommended safe distance between team members
throughout their operations, this alarm allows BA Wearers to minimize their movement
restrictions due to the ‘Personal Line,’ which maintain a physical link between two
firefighters. Some of the other important alarms proposed are as follows:
• BA Emergency Alerts for BAECO and BA Wearer;
• Critical Air Level alerts for BAECO and BA Wearer;
• BA Evacuation Alerts for BAECO;
• Alerts to indicate new hazards in the path of operations for SC, BAECO and
BA Wearer;
• Body Health Alerts for BAECO and BA Wearer.
The end-user feedback confirmed the two proposed alarms: Out of the Path and Out of the
Sight as crucial for both navigation and the physical freedom of movement of the BA
wearers. According to the feedback, these two alarms could dramatically increase the
freedom of movement of BA Wearers, but still allow maintaining equal or higher-level of
safety currently maintained with the support of physical navigational guidelines and
personnel guidelines. Thus, these alarms were recognized as the two most essential alarms to
be embedded in the future systems supporting frontline firefighters.
4.5 Alarm log
Apart from generating alarms for different job roles at different situations during an incident,
various categories of alarms are proposed to be displayed on a serial list of alarms (Endsley et
al., 2003), which can be accessed by an IC at any time. These alarms are proposed to be
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
14
categorized in to three main categories:
• Resource Management
• Hazards & Emergencies
• The status of firefighters and casualties
Each alarm is logged and accumulated on to a serial list of alarms belonging to one of these
categories. As shown in Figure 11, an interface embedded with tab sheets for three serial lists
representing the three categories of alarms are proposed. As shown, active alarms that need
the attention of the IC are highlighted and displayed in bold letters. This effect will remain
until the alarms get deactivated.
Figure 11: Interface displaying the ‘IC Alarm Log’
It is important for SCs encountering a particular hazard in their territory to acknowledge the
recognition of such hazards immediately. Therefore, the alarms, which indicate hazards such
as explosives detected and new fire detected, should be acknowledged first by the respective
SC. Until such time, those alarms would be highlighted as activated on the alarm log of the
IC. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 12, time to time an IC will get a pop-up alarm on his
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display indicating that a particular hazard or hazards are not yet been acknowledged by the
respective SC and therefore, need attention.
Figure 12: Interface reminding the hazard need to be acknowledged
The feedback confirmed the importance of having an alarm log during an incident. For the IC
and SC job roles, the option of checking a log during the incident to see if any alarms had
been missed was seen as useful. The feedback also mentioned the usefulness of having an
alarm log during the post incident considerations. Furthermore, the comments given by the
command support teams indicated its usefulness in supporting their job role and how it can
improve their support to the incident command teams. It was also suggested that an alarm log
would help during the change of command roles. Using an alarm log, officers who takeover a
particular job can quickly find out what and where are the most critical activities. This will
help them to focus their attention on the most wanted areas and operations and thereby
balance their workload most efficiently.
4.6 User friendly tools for data input
The captured user requirements clearly indicate the importance of developing appropriate
data input interfaces for each firefighter job role. Specifically, for an IC, there are proposed
input interfaces, which cover the data input in Sector Management, Fire Ground Job
Management and Fire Ground Resource Management. Data input interfaces proposed for the
SC are similar to those of IC, but focus on the data input relevant to a particular sector. These
data input interfaces are supported by some tailor-made data manipulation to interact with
them during data input. The data input interface proposed for sector management is selected
to explain the features of some of the high-level data manipulation techniques proposed for
data input.
As shown in Figure 13, a ‘Drawing Toolbox’ supports the sectorisation process during an
incident for both the external and the internal environments of the incident. With the use of
simple drawing tools: lines, arrows, boxes, ellipses and free hand line drawing facility of the
toolbox, an IC will be able to sectorise the external environment by providing a number to
each sector. Similarly, an IC will be able to sectorise the internal areas appropriately by
defining them as the lobby sector, fire sector, search and rescue sector or bridgehead.
Furthermore, this interface is designed in such a way that at the end of naming each sector, it
prompts the end-user with a choice of tactical modes to be selected for each sector. Similarly,
as shown in Figure 14, the end-user will be able to define and name various safety cordons
around the incident with the support of the ‘Drawing Toolbox’. In the process of sectorisation
and creating appropriate safety cordons, the end-user is given the option of using the
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
16
Distance Rule and Grid to improve the precision of the measurements and the sizes of both
sectors and cordons.
Figure 13: Display of internal and external sectorisation
Figure 14: Display for the development of safety cordons
The feedback indicated the importance of having user friendly tools for data input. It is a
challenge to motivate firefighters to enter data onto a computer. Most of the participants have
shown their reluctance to type in data. Participants welcome the embedding of simple
automation methods during the input of data, since it can reduce the time for data inputting
and may also increase the accuracy of the data. For example, the direct manipulation
technique (Shneiderman et al. 2009) provided to sectorise the incident is identified as one of
the popular automation among most of the participants. However, end-users always wanted a
Supporting Fire Emergency First Responders
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manual data input option in case they need any unconventional entry of data. For example,
the proposed manual sectorisation option that allows the end-user to type the names of the
sectors manually was identified as useful when a particular type of incident has a
sectorisation plan that does not match with the current policies of sectorisation. The ‘Route
Planner’ is another data input interface commended by participants mainly because of its
simple and flexible direct manipulation techniques (Shneiderman et al. 2009) supporting the
BA navigation. Participants also appraised the manual route planning option proposed for this
interface. They indicated that by providing such manual option, a system can avoid
introducing too much automation. Participants stressed that it is essential to maintain such
balance between automation and manual intervention as it can support end-users in having
better control of the system. The ‘Drawing Toolbox’ and ‘Drag & Drop’ capabilities were
found to be popular for data input among most of the participants. Furthermore, the concepts
of ‘Distance Ruler’ and ‘Distance Grid’ were considered useful to provide support during
drawing and positioning.
The feedback justifies the use of design guidelines in relation to the interface interaction
(Shneiderman et al. 2009) and the data entry (Smith and Moiser 1986). More specifically it
confirms that the end-users of the system prefer to use direct manipulation techniques
(Shneiderman 1983) rather than other traditional techniques such as form filling or command
language. However, the feedback also reinforces the preference of end-users to have some
degree of manual controllability to nullify any adverse effect due to extreme automation
(Shneiderman et al. 2009). The human supervisory role needs to be maintained because the
real world is an open system and there can be many unpredictable events that are beyond the
capabilities of a system. Manual intervention in such situations is essential to maintain the
usability. As explained above, the manual options allow the end-users to override some of the
less capable automation, as and when necessary.
5. Devices for deploying human computer interfaces for different firefighter job roles
Apart from identifying the human computer interaction needs, the authors also studied the
appropriate type of device on to which the above designed type of interfaces should be
deployed. Depending on the assigned job role and the demanding and challenging operational
context, this study proposes a variety of suitable display devices for different firefighter jobs
based on the identified needs of the individual firefighter job roles.
5.1 Display devices proposed for an IC and a SC
Most of the participants were in favour of a larger display for the IC interfaces when they are
at the scene. This display can be similar to that of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) fixed in
the new CS vehicles. However, participants had conflicting views on the size of the display
device in relation to the SC interfaces. Although most of the participants preferred the use of
a larger display, the working environment of the SCs and their work patterns seems to
prevent the use of such a larger display and suggested the use of a laptop screen. However,
the display should be able to withstand the harsh environments regardless of the size of the
display. Apart from the display device for the ICs and SCs who have already arrived at the
incident grounds, the feedback also highlighted the importance of providing access for both
ICs and SCs who are on the way to the incident. Ideally, the most suitable display device can
be a laptop located in the vehicles of the officers who are on the move.
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
18
5.1.1 Proposed Improvement
Further research is needed to determine the best choice of displays for the SC interfaces. A
final decision should only be taken after carrying out some rigorous usability testing of both
laptops and large displays during live operations.
5.2 Display device proposed for a BAECO
The feedback confirmed that it is important to have a bigger and unconventional type of
display device for the job role of BAECO. Essentially this should match the size of the BA
board currently used in the FRS. Almost all the participants rejected the idea of using a
device such as a laptop for the support of BAECO job role. For the deployment of the BA
Board interface proposed, it may require an electronic device, which is to be used in difficult
conditions. Hence, it is important to select a device specially designed to withstand harsh
environments.
5.3 Display device proposed for a BA wearer
Almost all other participants who commented on the devices proposed for the BA Wearer
interfaces emphasized that the old generation of firefighters has had a fear of using new
technology. Therefore, the option of using Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) for the visual
interfaces could become quite a challenge among the older generation of firefighters. Yet, the
feedback clearly suggests that HMDs could be a feasible option for the younger generation of
firefighters. Furthermore, almost all of the participants indicated the need of physical
prototypes to test the suitability of a HMD. However, none of them rejected the idea of
having visual information. They were only concerned about the applicability of devices,
which display such visual information.
The feedback was positive about the idea of using voice combined with a visual display to
present information. Most of the participants insisted that the delivery of information should
start with voice rather than a visual media. It was stressed by many participants that BA
Wearers are not ready to sacrifice their hands for the operation of any third party devices
unless it is directly related to their operations. This was confirmed by many field
observations. The feedback also indicated that the BA Wearers are not ready to focus their
vision onto a visual display or a picture continuously for a long period unless essential. Thus,
voice is recommended to be used in combination with any other suitable media. In fact, BA
Wearers are already familiar with the use of voice. Currently, the fire ground communication
is totally based on the medium of voice, either via the use of two-way radios or face-to-face
verbal communication. Therefore, firefighters comfortably accept voice as a user friendly
mode of communication.
5.3.1 Proposed Improvement
The proposed system not only introduces new means to acquire information and carry out BA
operations, but also introduces sophisticated technologies, which have never been used by the
BA Wearers. So, as suggested by most of the end-users, it is recommended to start the rollout
of the proposed BA Wearer module with a technology already familiar to the actual end-
users. According to the participants, such a rollout is considered essential for any long term
success or popularity among the potential end-users. Therefore, it is recommended to begin
the testing of a physical system prototype, which delivers the information only via the
medium of voice. Deployment of interfaces capable of combining both visual and voice
mediums in tandem on to a handheld thermal image camera type of device is recommended
Supporting Fire Emergency First Responders
19
for the second stage of the rollout. Finally, the interfaces can be upgraded to a much higher-
level of technology by combining the use of voice with a HMD type of display. Such an
arrangement will allow the end-users to properly digest and adjust to a totally new concept
based on a totally new technology to carry out their operations.
5.4 Display device proposed for the firefighters moving in a fire engine
Participants expressed their strong support for displaying the interfaces on the existing mobile
data terminal screens located inside the fire engines. These interfaces will be able to provide
both dynamic and static information that can be useful for the firefighters who are on the way
to the incident. However, it was thought as important to locate this display at a convenient
position so that all the firefighters inside the fire engine can have access to the information. In
that case, they expect to carry out quick brainstorming with the support of the interfaces
proposed. Currently, firefighters are not concerned about the position of the mobile data
terminal as it is mainly being used as a navigator. However, with the proposed dynamic
information it becomes a much more useful tool on the way to the incident and therefore,
needs appropriate positioning inside the fire engine.
5.5 Voice controlled interfaces for a BA wearer in action
In relation to presenting information to BA Wearers, there is a crucial issue of controllability
of any form of a display used by them. Feedback from BA Wearer interface evaluation
sessions clearly indicated that the most feasible way forward to control BA Wearer interfaces
will be through voice recognition. Whether the information presentation will be via a voice
interface or purely via a visual interface or as proposed in this paper via a mix of voice and
visual interface, the control of the interface may only be feasible via voice commands.
Despite supporting the idea of voice control, participants recognized the difficulty of voice
recognition due the noisy conditions on the incident ground. As a solution, all of the
participants accepted the use of throat operated microphones. In fact, several participants
mentioned the plans of FRS to use similar technology to improve the BA Wearer voice
communications. Also, participants specifically mentioned their experience of using such
devices and explained its ability of avoiding their primary barrier to voice communication:
incident ground noise during frontline response operations.
5.5.1 Proposed Improvement
Participants mentioned that there are many other factors to be improved before such
technology could be adopted as a proven technology. In addition, participants were also
concerned about the capability of throat operated microphones, since the behaviour of a BA
Wearer’s vocal chords can vary depending on their health level and the physical
environmental parameters. Although a throat operated microphone is conceptually a feasible
solution to control the BA Wearer interfaces, it may need further testing and validation before
being accepted. Such testing would only be possible with the use of a physical prototype
operating in an actual fire context.
Previous related work such as project ‘Fire’ (Wilson et al. 2005) and ‘Siren’ (Jiang et al.
2004a) has identified the use of visual solutions to deploy the information for frontline
firefighters. In addition, Bretschneider (et al. 2006) and Wilson and Wright (2007) describe
the usefulness of HMD for frontline firefighters. They concentrated on perfecting the
ergonomic design and the visual aspects of the HMD, but very little was described in relation
to the controllability of the visual interfaces. In that respect, the feedback received becomes
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
20
significant, as it accepts using a throat operated microphone to control the visual display
devices for frontline firefighters as an important design concept. Multimodal display concepts
are not new, as most of the HCI and Wearable Computer related literature such as Brewster
(et al. 2003), Dvorak (2008), Endsley (et al. 2003) and Shneiderman (et al. 2009) describe
the usefulness of multimodal displays in delivering information. In contrast, having
considered the unique work environment and possible end-user challenges, this study
proposes a multimodal display concept suitable for the frontline firefighters. Apart from the
frontline firefighters involved in a fire emergency in a large building, this concept could be
equally applicable for similar frontline ER domains such as earthquake, volcano eruptions
and wild fire rescues.
6. Discussion and conclusions
Importantly, the interfaces proposed in this paper are driven by the specific needs of the
firefighters identified in the first stage of this study. There have been several significant
efforts to specify human computer interfaces in other similar domains. This includes
interfaces to support emergency medical dispatch teams (Blandford and Wong 2004), control
interfaces for unmanned military vehicles (Connors et al., 2008), decision support interfaces
for army brigades (Riley et al. 2006), and dashboards for executives in uncertain financial
markets (Resnick 2003). However, apart from a few commercial products as Vector
Command for command support officers (Prendergast 2007) and Semi Automated Displays
for BAECOs (Drager 2008) there is very little research conducted in fire emergency domain
to comprehensively specify the presentation and sharing of information for different
firefighter job roles to enhance SA via appropriate human computer interfaces. Therefore
human computer interface specified in this paper for four firefighter job roles contributes to
the knowledge of human computer interaction for emergency response.
Apart from its overall contribution to SA and the design of ER related systems, this study has
presented several innovative design concepts that could significantly contribute to the
development of information systems to support fire ER operations or any similar type of
response operations. Among these, the following are considered to make the most significant
contribution to the knowledge of the design of ER information systems.
The human computer interfaces proposed in this study are designed so that each one of them
is capable of presenting the information in three primary levels of SA: Perception,
Comprehension and Projection. The interfaces proposed allow each end-user to organize
information to enhance all three SA levels depending on their dynamic decision-making
requirements related to their goals.
The design concepts of ‘Mashups’ (Taivalsaari and Mikkonen 2008) suggested the concept of
embedding information onto many layers common to various information sources when there
are a large number of heterogeneous sources. It was decided to adopt this concept of layered
architecture, as it is capable of absorbing the demands of the end-users belonging to different
firefighter job roles when they seek similar information to support them in achieving the
goals that get repeated. Furthermore, the concept of developing common layers of
architecture is also capable of displaying or presenting specific and individual information
demands based on the differences of skills and experience of the individuals. With such
flexible capabilities of information display, firefighters are expected to cope with their
decision-making better. Apart from enhancing the end-user flexibility, common layers of
Supporting Fire Emergency First Responders
21
information enable system developers to reduce their workload. Rather than designing large
numbers of different interfaces to address unique end-user needs, this ‘Mashup’ based
approach allows designers to design fewer information interfaces. This approach can cope
with unique demands of the end-users by providing flexible options of combining several
common layers of information to organize their dynamic information needs.
The levels of SA required for any type of a firefighter job varies rapidly due to highly
dynamic contextual conditions during a fire emergency. Therefore, the cognitive demands for
SA of a firefighter change from perception level SA, to comprehension level SA, and from
comprehension to projection level SA within a very short period. Having considered these SA
related requirements, firefighters are provided with the facility of dynamic interchangeable
access between different interfaces containing appropriate information capable of enhancing
the required levels of SA.
The concept of ‘Black Box’, a device popular in the aviation, is a novel concept of an
interface proposed for the firefighters to enhance their SA to carry out briefing, debriefing
sessions and post incident considerations. These activities are crucial, not only for the success
of on-site response operations, but also for the off-site activities such as forensic and criminal
investigations, business continuity assessments and training activities that could be carried
out sometime after the actual operation. At present, firefighters are struggling to maintain
necessary SA to successfully carry out these activities. The feedback received clearly
supports the capability of the interface ‘Black Box’, not only as a concept that could enhance
the SA of firefighters, but as a concept that could be useful to overcome many SA Demons.
Therefore, this particular conceptual interface is recommended for use in other emergency
related domains where end-users struggle to find and preserve information that is primarily
useful for their 1. post incident considerations, 2. briefing and 3. debriefing activities.
To overcome various SA related difficulties and challenges for BA Wearers, this study has
proposed the implementation of two new human computer interfaces: ‘Guideline’ and ‘Route
Planner’. In the feedback sessions, most of the potential end-users considered ‘Guideline’ and
‘Route Planner’ as perfect solutions to substitute the unpopular traditional practice of using
physical guidelines for firefighter navigation. There has been some significant work related to
navigation and location tracking of frontline firefighters on the move and recently Ramirez
(et al. 2009) proposed novel design concepts aimed at supporting firefighters in creating and
finding their own paths. The proposed design concept in this study adds to the body of the
knowledge of this previous research. Compared to previous studies, the concept proposed is
different as it is the first time the conceptual human computer interfaces have been specified
for both the firefighter and their entry control officer.
It is a difficult task to identify the most appropriate mode to deliver information when
considering the complex behavioural requirements such as constant mobility and higher
levels of hands and eyes free requirements. However, having considered the pros and cons of
currently used firefighter display devices such as thermal imaging cameras and extensive use
of voice communication by the firefighters during their operations, this study recommends a
multimodal interface, which embeds both audio and visual modes for BA Wearers. Although
previous research (Bretschneider et al. 2006, Wilson et al. 2005, Wilson and Wright 2007)
has proposed visual HMDs for BA Wearers, they are primarily focused on the display of
information and various human factor issues related to visual capability. However, the
concept proposed in this study has extended the previous research as it not only considers the
display of information, but also considers the controllability implications related to the
R. Prasanna, L. Tang and M. King
22
display devices. Taking into account the end-user reluctance and the difficulty of using both
hands to control the device and other contextual challenges, this study proposes a visual
interface controlled by a simple voice commands. However, the fire incident ground is very
noisy and controlling a device with natural voice is unfeasible. Therefore, throat operated
microphones were introduced to replace the natural voice for controlling the BA Wearer
visual interface. The concept of having a multimodal display, which can be controlled by the
voice of firefighters captured via a throat operated microphone, was praised by most of the
end-users. This is the first known occasion a concept of head mounted visual display for
firefighters controlled by a throat operated microphone has been proposed and evaluated.
Final remarks
The outcome of this study is different to a range of similar inquiries undertaken to date. At
present in the UK, there is very little literature published related to the human computer
interfaces capable of enhancing SA of key firefighter job roles. The only available literature
is limited to discuss commercially available products such as Vector Command (Prendergast
2007). These products do not address most of the specific information needs and issues
related to the presentation of information. Similarly, most of the previous academic research
efforts carried out in the UK (Berry et al. 2005, FSEG 2007a and 2007b, May et al. 2007)
and other parts of the world (Bergstrand and Landgren 2009, Jiang et al. 2004a and 2004b,
Landgren 2007, RUNES 2006, Walder et al. 2009) focused on the use of a particular
technology/ies and addressed only a few selected needs limited by the scope of the
technology that promoted in the study. In contrast, this study has managed to explore and
explain comprehensively on how to present the information to enhance SA for several key
firefighter job roles via suitable human computer interfaces. This is the first known occasion
where an early software prototype of an information system capable of looking after SA
needs of firefighters is developed and evaluated. Thus, the knowledge contained within this
study fills an important gap in the existing literature.
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