MAXWELL AFB-GUNTER ANNEX, Ala. -- Air Force firefighters can breathe a little easier after receiving a critical capability and upgrades to the field.
In June 2024, the Fire and Emergency Services - Information Management System (FES-IMS) released a Firefighting Foam tracking capability to the field.
With this upgrade, if an Air Force Firefighter crew is dispatched to a job where Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) is used, that data is automatically captured and preserved in their service records, whereas previously this was a manual process that was often left undone. The system will track all AFFF usage to include spills, suppression activities, and the quantities and specific types of AFFF used.
In addition to the foam-tracking capability, the team performed a significant user experience upgrade, replacing an end-of-life Oracle database technology with Angular, a more modern and sustainable alternative. This upgrade enabled enhancements to fire prevention code enforcement activities, improving the ability to load, download, and interact with facility related reports and forms, and will provide an increased delivery rate for future software enhancements. Both upgrades have represented major boosts to Airmen’s ability to do their jobs more effectively, while ensuring mission success and safety.
“This delivery is a major success for the team, culminating months of work, such that we were able to deliver this customer top need nearly immediately after the application had completed its mandated migration to Cloud One,” said Civil Engineering Enterprise IT Materiel Leader, Lt. Col. Brian Mahar. “We look forward to receiving feedback from the field on how the tracker can be even better, so we can make those fixes quickly and continue to deliver for the warfighter. I’m super proud of my awesome team!”
FES-IMS supports base level and higher Headquarters Civil Engineer (CE) fire department functions in day-to-day operations for emergency dispatch and data management. FES-IMS provides direct CE information management support to active Air Force units, the Air National Guard, and the Air Force Reserve, during peace and wartime.
FES-IMS is used at 186 fixed main bases and at Area of Responsibility locations for mission support.
FES-IMS functions as an interoperable, user-friendly system providing information that expedites effective emergency response support during normal and contingency operations. FES- IMS provides resource tracking and supports critical decision-making in the management of emergency fire services and is critical for National Fire Incident Reporting System incident response tracking.