White Paper on Data Standardization for Hazardous Materials Response

Executive Summary
Over the past several years, the landscape of the “smart emergency responder” has been defined and priorities have been identified1 in support of a common operating picture (COP). A common theme across the broad studies has been the need for standardization in the data formats driving both system compatibility and interoperability. The goal of this strategy is to define a road map of how the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and its partners will implement a standardized approach to data transmission from multiple types of sensors capturing both discrete and continuous data streams in a hazardous materials environment. The standardization of data transmission will allow for the advancement of data ingest products capable of digesting the large amounts of data and displaying it in operationally relevant context.