Hershey Volunteer Fire Department

Improving Hershey's ISO Rating with First Due

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Rodney Sonderman

Fire Chief

Location

Hershey, PA

Response Area Population

27,968 People

Personnel

67 Volunteer Firefighters

Q&A

ISO prior to First Due

First Due

What was your last ISO audit like before First Due?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

Our last ISO audit was done in 2016 and when I brought out the map books, they saw that they were so outdated. I essentially got to a score of point something, 0.2 or 0.3, for the pre-plans. It was very painfully obvious that one person was doing pre-plans and either the books were heavily marred or nobody had ever brought them out whatsoever.

Hershey's ISO Process After First Due Implementation

First Due

How did your ISO audit change after implementing First Due?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

We got full credit for the pre-planning section this time around on our ISO audit. The evaluator came out and started looking through First Due.  I was instantly able to show him not only the 800-plus commercial properties in the community, but the over 12,000 properties in our town. I was able to show them with that hard data that we've got over 12,000 data points and pre-plans already populated. I could also show the critical infrastructure and the last dates that we've been on the property.

I was able to show them with that hard data that we've got over 12,000 data points and pre-plans already populated.

I was able to show them with that hard data that we've got over 12,000 data points and pre-plans already populated.

In The Field

First Due

It seems like First Due made a significant impact on the ISO side. What are you seeing in the field?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

Why collect all this data if you're not actually going to use it? Having a solution that's functional and being able to provide that data in real time is really helpful and very important to us. We've since added incident response calls, so people are getting the alerts to the calls. That data is then merged over with the pre-planned data. We can now see all of this critical information and it's actually being used. The ISO evaluator was really impressed. For example, we have a couple of properties such as the hospital. The hospital from the outside looks like one giant building, when in fact it's seven or eight individual buildings that are all connected together. Being able to use the different layers in First Due shows where the different zones are. That really showed him that we were paying attention to those data layers and knew our properties.

Having a solution that's functional, and being able to provide that data in real time is really helpful and very important to us.

Having a solution that's functional, and being able to provide that data in real time is really helpful and very important to us.

Working with the First Due Team

First Due

I know you credit a lot of the success you have found through your work that you're doing with our team. Can you tell me a bit more about what that has been like?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

It has been awesome working with our Client Success Manager, Mitch Clark at First Due. He gets a lot of the nuances of the system to get down to that granular data level. With him being a firefighter and being in the field, he understands when I use the terminology that firefighters use, he's not thrown off by it. He understands the importance of how to deal with those things and make it functional for the crews that are responding. You know, it's one thing for me to be a chief and sit at the desk and have this great program that works. But if it doesn't work for the people in the field, it just doesn't work. That's way more important than me improving some ISO score that's on a piece of paper.  It's way more important that the guys get the information that they need.

It has been awesome working with our Client Success Manager, Mitch Clark at First Due. He gets a lot of the nuances of the system to get down to that granular data level. With him being a firefighter and being in the field, he understands when I use the terminology that firefighters use, he's not thrown off by it.

It has been awesome working with our Client Success Manager, Mitch Clark at First Due. He gets a lot of the nuances of the system to get down to that granular data level. With him being a firefighter and being in the field, he understands when I use the terminology that firefighters use, he's not thrown off by it.

Exploring First Due for the Future

First Due

What are your plans for First Due looking forward?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

We currently don't conduct fire prevention activities like fire inspections since we are a private volunteer organization, but I would like to integrate our system with the Derry Township. It would be great if we were both on the same system. Wouldn't it be awesome if we share the same system? They wouldn't have to pay for a system that our department is already paying for, or maybe we could share the cost. It’s the culture of working together instead of working against each other.

Products

End-to-end Solutions for the Fire Service

Pre-INcident
Planning

Fire
Prevention

NFIRS

ePCR

Mobile
Responder

Scheduling & Personnel

Community Connect

Assets & Inventory

Pre-Incident Planning

Automatically aggregate critical information on every structure in your response area so you have pre-plans on every structure within weeks with no effort from your team.

Every Structure

Pre-Plan in Minutes

Analyze & Manage

Respond

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Fire Prevention

Complete any type of inspection using intuitive and flexible checklists with full integrated pre-planning for company level inspections.

Next-Gen Inspections

Virtual CRR

Enterprise Management

Responder Friendly

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NFIRS

Document fire company responses with fully scalable, NFIRS and NFORS compliant reporting system designed for ease of use by field responders. Automatic submission to state and federal regulatory bodies.

Next-Gen Incident Reporting

Automation

Compliance

Sophisticated Reporting

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Assessor
Data
PATIENT Data
Pre-plan information
CAD Integration
Schedule and Assignments

NFIRS

PROVINCE/
LOCAL /
STATE

NFORS

EPCR / NEMSIS

And
More

ePCR

Equip your agency with Next-Gen medical reporting with powerful automation, extensive configurations, and seamless integration.

NEMSIS Data Collect 3.4 Compliant

Intuitive User Interface

Field Configuration

Connected Device Integrations

LEARN MORE

Mobile Responder

Complete mobile response functionality enables your crew to receive notifications immediately from dispatch - status, track vehicles / personnel and route to an incident.

Respond

Access Critical Data

Share Information

Available Anywhere

Learn More

Reinvent Cross Agency Collaboration

Seamlessly Share Critical Pre-Plan Data with Neighbors

EMS

dispatch

AUTOMATIC & MUTUAL AID

OEM

POLICE

YOUR FIRST DUE
ENABLED AGENCY

Scheduling & Personnel

Schedule personnel with simple drag & drop functionality utilizing a best-of-breed scheduling platform.

Improved Scheduling

Automation

Compliance

Enterprise Management

Learn More

Any shift
type

Fully
integrated

Any device

Community Connect

Community Connect allows Residents to create a Household Life Safety Profile in minutes and empowers your agency with the marketing engine you need to get the word out and drive on-going engagement.

Engage Residents

Engage Businesses

Automate Processes

Respond

Learn More

Assets & Inventory

Real-time insight and statistics into apparatus & equipment health, usage and compliance - seamlessly linked to First Due Scheduling, Incident Reporting & more.

Enhanced Asset Management

Next-Gen Vehicle Checks

Work Order Management

Powerful Automation

LEARN MORE

Trusted Nationwide

From Volunteer Agencies to America's Largest Cities

Asheville Fire Department

Asheville, NC

Charlotte Fire Department

Charlotte, NC

Fairfax County Fire Department

Fairfax, VA

Fort Worth Fire Department

Fort Worth, TX

Ft. Lauderdale Fire Rescue

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Mesa Fire and Medical Department

Mesa, AZ

Reno Fire Department

Reno, NV

Seattle Fire Department

Seattle, WA

Tackling Hershey's ISO Rating with First Due

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Hershey Volunteer Fire Department

Fire Chief

Rodney Sonderman

Hershey, PA

Location

27,968 People

Response Area
Population

67 Volunteer Firefighters

Personnel

read all
Q&A

ISO prior to First Due

First Due

What was your last ISO audit like before First Due?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

Our last ISO audit was done in 2016 and when I brought out the map books, they saw that they were so outdated. I essentially got to a score of point something, 0.2 or 0.3, for the pre-plans. It was very painfully obvious that one person was doing pre-plans and either the books were heavily marred or nobody had ever brought them out whatsoever.

Hershey's ISO Process After First Due Implementation

First Due

How did your ISO audit change after implementing First Due?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

We got full credit for the pre-planning section this time around on our ISO audit. The evaluator came out and started looking through First Due.  I was instantly able to show him not only the 800-plus commercial properties in the community, but the over 12,000 properties in our town. I was able to show them with that hard data that we've got over 12,000 data points and pre-plans already populated. I could also show the critical infrastructure and the last dates that we've been on the property.

In The Field

First Due

It seems like First Due made a significant impact on the ISO side. What are you seeing in the field?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

Why collect all this data if you're not actually going to use it? Having a solution that's functional and being able to provide that data in real time is really helpful and very important to us. We've since added incident response calls, so people are getting the alerts to the calls. That data is then merged over with the pre-planned data. We can now see all of this critical information and it's actually being used. The ISO evaluator was really impressed. For example, we have a couple of properties such as the hospital. The hospital from the outside looks like one giant building, when in fact it's seven or eight individual buildings that are all connected together. Being able to use the different layers in First Due shows where the different zones are. That really showed him that we were paying attention to those data layers and knew our properties.

Working with the First Due Team

First Due

I know you credit a lot of the success you have found through your work that you're doing with our team. Can you tell me a bit more about what that has been like?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

It has been awesome working with our Client Success Manager, Mitch Clark at First Due. He gets a lot of the nuances of the system to get down to that granular data level. With him being a firefighter and being in the field, he understands when I use the terminology that firefighters use, he's not thrown off by it. He understands the importance of how to deal with those things and make it functional for the crews that are responding. You know, it's one thing for me to be a chief and sit at the desk and have this great program that works. But if it doesn't work for the people in the field, it just doesn't work. That's way more important than me improving some ISO score that's on a piece of paper.  It's way more important that the guys get the information that they need.

Exploring First Due for the Future

First Due

What are your plans for First Due looking forward?

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Sonderman

We currently don't conduct fire prevention activities like fire inspections since we are a private volunteer organization, but I would like to integrate our system with the Derry Township. It would be great if we were both on the same system. Wouldn't it be awesome if we share the same system? They wouldn't have to pay for a system that our department is already paying for, or maybe we could share the cost. It’s the culture of working together instead of working against each other.

read more

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