Mobilize your fire inspectors with FH Mobile!
The FH Mobile suite continues to grow.

FH Mobile Inspections development is underway! Like its Mobile predecessors, FH Mobile Inspections will give the user the ability to synchronize with the FH master database. The application will provide occupancy information you find in Mobile Preplans, and with the ability to add, edit, and delete occupancy information which will update the master database on synchronization. Inspections can be created on location, or from the scheduled inspection in the FH master database synchronized to the mobile database. The synchronization process will have some similarities to FH Onsite Inspections for Pocket PCs, and even more too. You can find more design details and product information on our website soon and with future newsletters.

Don't forget about the rest of the FH Mobile suite. Press any of these links below for more information of what FH Mobile can do for you today!
FH Mobile:
http://www.firehousesoftware.com/Tour/FHMOBP.htm
FH Mobile Preplans: http://www.firehousesoftware.com/Tour/FHMOBP.htm#preplans
FH Mobile Incident Command: http://www.firehousesoftware.com/Tour/fhmobic.htm
FH Mobile EMS: http://www.firehousesoftware.com/Tour/fhmobems.htm

FIREHOUSE Software Version 7

FIREHOUSE Software is the first to earn NEMSIS Gold Compliance certification... FIREHOUSE Software recently earned Gold level Compliance certification for submission of EMS patient records using the NHTSA version 2.2.1 dataset. We are very proud to be the first information management software provider to attain this level of certification. All of the components related to NEMSIS will be available in FIREHOUSE Software Version 7. 

Since our initial commitment to NEMSIS, FH has enhanced all of our aspects of EMS incident and patient care documentation through our FH desktop application, as well as FH Mobile EMS.

It's time to start planning for updating FH.....
The FIREHOUSE Software® (FH) Version 7 update is automatically being distributed to clients with active support contracts based on the age of the support contract. This carefully staged release will ensure that current clients receive the FH 7 update in a timely manner, AND that we continue to provide a high level of service and support to existing and new clients. As your department receives the update packet for FH 7, please review the documentation promptly and begin planning for when to apply the update. Traditionally, FH Technical Support's busiest time of the year is during the months of January and February. Please keep this in mind as you schedule your department's update. 
 
You may also take this opportunity to consider if it is the right time to update your computer(s) or network with new hardware. FIREHOUSE Software 7 minimum requirements are very similar to the FH 6 requirements. Check our website location for the latest hardware requirements and recommendations: http://www.firehousesoftware.com/Tour/requirements.htm . If a new operating system is being considered, it is important to know that FH 6 and 7 will not be supported on 64 bit version operating systems. For more information about future Visual FoxPro development, please review the Microsoft FAQ page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/productinfo/faq/default.aspx.

Until you receive your update packet, feel free to review a list of new features included in FH 7 available at: http://www.firehousesoftware.com/eval/web/welcome/whats_new.htm.

Tips from the Field....
This column details different ways FH clients have put FIREHOUSE Software to work for their department. We encourage clients to submit tips and suggestions for future FireVISION articles. Feel free to email them to: FHdocumentation@acs-inc.com.

System rule for re-inspections.....
In the Inspections module, FH is designed to connect violation records from the original inspection through each re-inspection until the violation is repaired. When the violation is repaired, the repaired date will populate in each inspection record. By design, the received date does not default in from the original inspection to each subsequent re-inspection. To make the received date populate, you can add a Default Value System Rule in the ins_main table on the received field. Here are the steps:
1. In FH, go to the Administration menu, System Rules and Default Values. Open the Inspection group, highlight INS_MAIN, and press Setup.
2. Locate and highlight the field name RECEIVED. Press Add.
3. Mark 'Specify a Default Field Value...' and press Ok.
4. In the expression box, enter the expression: 'InspectionRecord.received'. Press Ok.
5. Press Ok and Close to close the System rules module.
The next time you create a re-inspection from an existing inspection with violations, the received date from the original inspection should be populated for in the re-inspection.

More FH Output to the web.....
Keizer Fire District in Keizer, OR. is using some of the valuable FH report and query tools to output statistics for their community to their website, http://www.keizerfire.com/Index.asp. At this time, they manually update the pages, using the data from reports in FH. There are plans in the future to automate the updating process. Their Statistics page displays counts of call types which Keizer Fire District responded to (including EMS in-district, out-of-district, and fire-related mutual aid calls) for the previous month, with 2006 and 2005 year-to-date comparisons. Period comparisons like the 2005 and 2006 YTD numbers will be a new feature available for reports in FH 7. The Yearly Statistics page provides links to reports for annual fire loss information, incident types, and rates of frequency per incident category. Users can display this type of data from FH reports such as "Incident Type Report (Summary)" and "Dollar Value Saved & Loss Analysis." Thank you to Rod Conway, Deputy Fire Marshal at Keizer Fire District for sharing their creativity.

ACS FIREHOUSE Software Notes

Farewell, Congratulations, and Good Luck: We bid a fond farewell to our longtime director, Chris Trout. Chris decided to pursue new opportunities outside ACS Government Systems. Chris departed in August. We wish him well. With Chris's departure, Sanjay Kalasa was promoted to Business Unit Director. Jason Trotter was promoted to the FH Regional Sales Manager. Congratulations to both. Good luck in your new roles!

FHETS/ ACS Client Forum:  FHETS 2006 was another outstanding success. This year's event was held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC August 27-30. We conducted a combined 2006 ACS Client Forum and FIREHOUSE Education and Training Seminar. 380 FIREHOUSE Software users attended. We would like to see our attendence be over 400 in 2007. We've asked four FH clients who've attended past FHETS conferences to join the FHETS planning committee for 2007. Several requests and comments for future FHETS events have already been received. By popular request, the 2007 FHETS will be held independently of the ACS Client Forum. We are exploring location options and dates for the fall of 2007 at this time. Information circulating about Orlando, FL. being the next destination is incorrect. We will post updates on the FIREHOUSE Software website when they become available. 

"Because it's what we do...."
A reception was held at the FHETS/ACS Client Forum in Washington D.C. August 29th for everyone in attendance. Dave Stanton, Conference Manager for FHETS, took the microphone to announce that a fire chief wanted to "Pass the Hat" at the reception to help Fenton Dawson's family. Mr. Dawson was an ACS staff member who perished in the Comair disaster at the Lexington, KY. Airport just days before the ACS/FHETS client forum. Fenton was a loving husband and father of two children. The gentleman responsible for this request was Acting Chief William Dubbs of the Chambersburg Fire Department, Chambersburg, PA.

"Pass the hat" is a term common to firefighters because it's what they do...they help people on and off the job, and they do so with passion and enthusiasm.

It was a very poignant moment as clients from all areas streamed out of the reception to drop money in the box and express their deep sorrow. People were very generous and caring. The total amount collected was $1,528.00, and the money has been deposited to the Chase Bank account established exclusively for the Dawson family. 

Thank you, Chief Dubbs, and to ALL who donated.
 

FireVISION Distribution
The first quarter of our email only distribution of FireVISION went out with mixed reviews. For the initial email distribution of FireVISION in July, we used the email address we had on record for each department with active support contracts. Approximately 900 of the 6,300 emails we have on file were undeliverable for one reason or another. We realized this meant a couple of things. First, we don't have an email address for ALL of our active clients. Second, some email addresses confirmed as valid are being returned because of spam and junk mail filters. Although when you call in we try to update department information, sometimes we might let one get by.

We are pursuing an option on our website for anyone to subscribe to our quarterly newsletter. If all goes well, you should see the new feature added to www.firehousesoftware.com by the end of 2006. In the meantime, if you know of any colleagues who did not receive this edition, or the last edition of FireVISION, please forward the newsletter to them. Mention they can join the newsletter subscription from the directions at the bottom of the newsletter. Please review the bottom of the newsletter for instructions to unsubscribe or modify your email profile if needed. If you have any questions or concerns related to the newsletter distribution, please email: FHdocumentation@acs-inc.com.

We thank you in advance for your patience as we pursue this new direction for FireVISION.