Charlottesville Fire Department Tracks Fire Hydrant Inspections With An All-in-One Mobile Work App

The Charlottesville Fire Department (FD) serves and protects the residents of Charlottesville, Virginia, by providing fire protection and emergency response to the city as well as the University of Virginia. With a wide range of services offered by Charlottesville FD, including fire response, hazmat, and emergency medical services, the department has implemented best practices to deliver the comprehensive emergency services the city needs.

Accreditation is one aspect of delivering superior services. The model set forth by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International requires fire departments to foster an environment of continuous improvement and sets the fire department apart by affirming that it meets the highest standards of excellence.

As an additional layer of review, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) creates ratings for fire departments that calculate how well-equipped fire departments are to put out fires in a community. The City of Charlottesville has a Class 1 ISO rating, which is the highest ISO rating granted by this body. One requirement necessary to uphold this rating is an annual inspection of fire hydrants within the Charlottesville city limits and the University of Virginia.

Previously, inspections performed by firefighters consisted of a paper-based workflow that had those in the field manually taking notes, writing emails, and making calls to get repairs done, which was a time-consuming process. To more efficiently perform this inspection, the fire department implemented a new app designed for mobile workforces to collect data and complete assignments, streamlining the hydrant inspection process and giving stakeholders access to real-time information.