Savannah River Site Fire Department turns 400+ paper pre-plans into searchable data
Savannah River Site Fire Department is digitizing 400+ pre-plans with First Due, giving crews faster access to critical facility information across a complex federal site.
The crews have expressed how easy it is to see what they need to know—and how quickly they can get the information they need.
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Operational Impact & Key Outcomes
400+ pre-plans moving online
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Faster access to critical details
Hours of scheduling work reduced
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The Story
Background
Savannah River Site Fire Department supports tenants across a U.S. Department of Energy site near Aiken, South Carolina. Its career crews operate in a complex federal environment that includes restricted facilities, hazardous materials, radiological considerations, EMS response, training, and specialized drills.
Challenge
Pre-plans were entirely paper-based. Crews pulled binders from apparatus or battalion chief vehicles and searched long narrative documents for critical details. Some plans for large facilities exceeded 20 pages, making important response information difficult to find quickly. Scheduling also relied on paper and FileMaker Pro, with reconciliation sometimes taking eight to nine hours.
Solution
Samantha Leonard is leading the migration of more than 400 pre-plans into First Due by the end of 2026. She drafts plans in the platform, works with crews during facility walkdowns, updates drawings, and routes plans to fire protection engineers for technical review. Engines and battalion chief vehicles now carry iPads so crews can search by facility, view locations on a map, and open concise, response-ready information in the field.
Results
Crews can access the information they need far faster than with paper binders and long narratives. The department is building a sustainable annual review process for pre-plans, while First Due scheduling has reduced a manual eight-to-nine-hour reconciliation workflow to a much faster digital process. The broader deployment connects pre-planning with response, staffing, training, reporting, inspections, hydrants, assets, CAD, and other operational needs.
About
Savannah River Site Fire Department
Quick facts
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Put critical pre-plan information in crews' hands before they arrive.
First Due Pre-Incident Planning helps Fire and EMS agencies build actionable plans, map hazards and access points, and deliver response-ready information directly to crews in the field.
In their own words:
- How were pre-plans handled before First Due?
- They were entirely paper-based. Crews pulled binders from apparatus or battalion chief vehicles and searched narrative plans that could exceed 20 pages.
- What changed when crews started using First Due?
- Engines and battalion chief vehicles received iPads, allowing crews to search for a facility, view it on a map, and access concise response information much faster.
- How does the department build and review pre-plans?
- Samantha drafts each plan in First Due, assigns crews to complete facility walkdowns, updates drawings, and sends the plan to fire protection engineers for technical review.
- Why is digital pre-planning especially important at Savannah River Site?
- The federal site includes facilities with restricted access, hazardous materials, radiological considerations, complex layouts, and specialized response requirements.
- What impact has First Due had beyond pre-planning?
- Scheduling workflows are faster and easier to manage, replacing paper and FileMaker Pro processes that could take eight to nine hours to reconcile.
- What is next for the pre-planning program?
- The priority is to migrate all 400+ pre-plans by the end of 2026 and continue improving the annual review and update process.
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