Columbia fire chief candidate wants to utilize AI; CFD is open to the idea, spokeswoman says
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
As the city of Columbia continues to mull over its four options for its next fire chief, one of its four candidates said he would like to bring AI technology to the department.
Brian Schaeffer has served as the assistant fire chief and fire chief of the Spokane Fire Department since 2005. On Thursday, he was asked during a candidate forum about some ideas he would like to implement in the Columbia Fire Department. Schaeffer said he wants Columbia to be at the forefront of technology utilizing artificial intelligence.
“There’s a lot of technology out there that we can leverage to improve the outcomes of people that call 911 for help,” Schaffer said.
The Spokane Fire Department partnered with Darkhorse Emergency AI. The company uses data to help identify performance problems and pinpoint the best deployment decisions. Case studies from the company’s website claim the platform can be used to make budget decisions, respond to requests from the City Council, find the best stations to assign new staff members to maximize efficiency and find ways to protect the city’s people and property.
“Just like you would on Chat GPT except instead of web pages or documents it’s going to response time data,” Schaeffer told ABC 17 News on Thursday. “Where they came from, how long it took them, where they responded from, were they in their district, where they were out of their district, how long they were out there and what interventions did they do? All of that information is out there.”
A Columbia Fire Department spokeswoman wrote in an email to ABC 17 News that the department is open to the idea, but stated it does not currently use AI.
“While we do not currently have a staff member dedicated solely to data analysis, the department as a whole is constantly monitoring response times and other important data to ensure we are providing the quality emergency service our community has come to expect from us,” CFD spokeswoman Katherine Rodriguez wrote. “We do not currently use AI technology to help gather data, but we would be open to the idea - following a thorough cost/benefit analysis, of course.”
Schaeffer said Darkhorse can also be useful in helping with coming up with more efficient routes when there are changes to roadways or construction impacts.
“What AI will do is take that information, also take information similar to what you have with Ways, of all the traffic patterns, all the changes to arterials and to the workflow or road roadway network throughout the past years and actually make predictions based on future changes like if a new highway goes in and allows you to run scenarios based on all of that data,” Schaeffer said.
Columbia has multiple constructions projects coming to the area, including the Improve I-70 Project beginning in July and a new roundabout at Fairview and Chapel Hill roads.
Having data analysts is not uncommon for emergency response teams. Roy Thorsby currently serves as a data analyst for the Columbia Police Department.
