Advanced Fire Service Interface

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The Advanced Fire Service Interface project is a systematic approach to providing helpful and consistent information to building managers and emergency response personnel. The intent of this project is to provide better information, faster and more reliably  from systems that monitor the environment in buildings. There are three parts to this project. The first is to develop a consistent set of symbols which scales from high resolution displays to personal information displays. The second part is to provide a basic "look ahead" capability  to provide interpretation of this information in a way that is efficient and easy-to-understand. The third is to develop a metric of the closeness of two time series so that we can provide a statement of the reliability of the alarm generated by sensors.

Initially, we are seeking consensus on a set of icons that can be used as the basis for a nationally accepted symbology for building management and to aid First Responders. The goal is to provide these symbols across a wide range of technologies, from high-resolution displays in site management rooms, to display panels available to fire service personnel or handheld devices in fire engines and trucks.

The concept of the common interface has been presented to the Fire Alarm Panel Manufacturers through the National Electrical Manufacturers Association and at several presentations of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and from the National Fire Protection Association’s National Fire Alarm Code Task Group on User Interfaces. Based on these focus groups and workshops we have outlined an initial approach including a basic set of symbols.

The symbols chosen, and shown in the table come from several sources. There are international standards for building signage, including those accepted by the National Fire Protection Association for the Fire Service (NFPA 170), as well as the results of a study done by the National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster in Mitaka, Japan. These symbols are intended for discussion, initially with these focus group members.

An illustration of the display, as it might appear on an advanced panel or portable computer in a fire truck, is shown the example. ((Please note that the example works properly only with Internet Explorer. While it will display with Netscape, the table properties needed are not supported in 4.7 and earlier)).

 Please email comments to walter.jones@nist.gov.

 

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