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FIRE AND RESCUE

An app for on-call firefighters that shows who is coming, on which appliance, and with what kit.

On-call (retained) fire stations run on a pager, a crew WhatsApp group and a whiteboard in the appliance bay. Sinkaos puts the crew, the appliances, the equipment and the incident itself on one map that works offline and leaves a clean record for the debrief and the IRS return.

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AFTER THE ALERTER

The alerter goes off. Then the phone calls start.

On-call firefighters have about five minutes from the alerter to the station, from a day job, a school run or bed. About a quarter of firefighter capacity in England, counted in full-time equivalents, is on-call, and most of it covers rural and small-town stations where the crew is also the community. Who is riding second appliance tonight? Is the light portable pump back from the workshop? In many stations the detail lives in a group chat, a spreadsheet on the watch manager’s laptop and the memory of whoever was at the last drill night.

On the ground it gets harder. Storms and flooding take out mobile coverage exactly where the work is. The district council wants to know which streets are done, a neighbouring station turns up on a different talk group, and the next day someone has to piece the night together for the incident report from notes, radio messages and photos on six phones.

FLOOD NIGHT

A wet night in a riverside village, from the flood warning to the kit check.

  1. 17:50
    The warning lands on the map
    A Met Office amber rain warning and the river level gauge upstream sit next to the village map as live context. A watch is set on the gauge at the level where cellars start to flood.
    Weather and warningsSensorsWatches
  2. 19:05
    Fire control mobilises the station
    The alerters go off from fire control as they always do. In Sinkaos the crew set their status to responding, so the officer in charge sees six on the way, two stuck at work, and which of them can drive the appliance.
    StatusCompetences
  3. 19:20
    Tasks by street, not by shouting
    The officer in charge splits the low streets into sectors and assigns pumping and sandbag tasks. The council’s emergency planning officer sees the same picture from the civic centre.
    SectorsTasksGuests
  4. 21:10
    No signal by the weir
    A crew logs a flooded basement with a photo, plus a fallen tree blocking the lane. Both wait in the phone’s queue and arrive when the crew climbs back up, placed on the timeline at 21:10.
    ObservationsOfflineTwo timestamps
  5. 23:40
    Relief crew takes over
    The relief crew from the next station read the evening from the timeline: what is done, what is still pumping, which road is shut. Nobody has to hang around to brief them.
    TimelineHistory
  6. Sat
    Report and kit check
    The officer in charge exports the timeline and tracks to write up the incident and the IRS return. Pumps that ran for nine hours go on the maintenance list and used consumables are booked out.
    ExportMaintenanceInventory
Sources screen: a live drone feed, an orthophoto layer, a camera offline since 19:12, a river gauge chart at 182 cm rising towards the 200 cm watch threshold, and the area weather with a heavy rain warning.
River gauge, warning and drone feed for a flooding incident. Demo data.
ON STATION

Built around how an on-call station really works.

Who is coming, and as what

Availability and status (responding, in attendance, unavailable) next to each firefighter’s competences, so the officer in charge knows there is an LGV driver and two BA wearers before the bay doors open.

Appliances and equipment

Each appliance with its call sign, stowage and readiness. Pumps, chainsaws and hose with tests, defects and servicing, so nobody plans around a pump that is still in the workshop.

Drill nights and competences

Drills, courses and revalidations with reminders before something lapses, and a matrix of who is in date. As useful when planning the training year as on the night of a shout.

Maps that work without signal

Offline maps of your station ground, hydrants and open water supplies as your own layer, and coordinates in WGS 84, UTM or MGRS.

One picture with the council

The council’s emergency planning team joins as a guest and sees the streets, tasks and road closures without ringing the officer in charge.

A record you can hand over

Every report, task, photo and track on one timeline. Replay the night or export it, then complete the incident report from facts.

LIMITS

What Sinkaos does not do for a fire station.

MOBILISING
It does not mobilise the crew
Fire control still turns you out through its mobilising system and your alerters. Sinkaos is not a mobilising, alerting or availability system for a fire and rescue service.
RADIO
It does not replace the radio
Airwave or its successor stays the way to say “stop” on the fireground. Sinkaos adds positions, photos and a written record of the night. See Sinkaos next to radio and paper.
INTEGRATION
No link to fire control systems
There is an API and webhooks, but no ready-made connection to any fire and rescue service mobilising or incident recording system. Talk to your service and to us before you plan around one.
INCIDENTS AND MORE

Work stations run in it.

Flooding and stormsFallen trees and blocked roadsWildfires and field firesRoad traffic collisionsMissing-person searchesMulti-agency exercisesVillage fêtes and showsEquipment inventoryTraining records
QUESTIONS

Questions on-call crews ask.

Does every firefighter need a new device?
No. Sinkaos runs on the Android phones and iPhones crews already carry, and the officer in charge can use the web app at the station.
Can a neighbouring station join an incident?
Yes. Invite them by link or QR code as guests of that one operation. They see what their role allows, and their access ends when the operation closes.
Does it work when the mobile network is down?
Yes. Each phone carries its map, tasks and crew list. Reports and photos queue on the phone and send when there is a link. A laptop at the station or on the command unit can run a local field node over Wi-Fi.
Can we keep equipment and training records in it too?
Yes. Inventory, appliances, maintenance, courses and competences live in the same workspace between shouts. If your service already holds these records centrally, keep that as the official copy.
How does it fit the wider command structure?
Sinkaos sits alongside it. Our guide to how the UK emergency services work together covers who leads what at a multi-agency incident, and incident command explains the levels.
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Try it on your next drill night.

Early access is free. We will set up your first operation with you, including your appliances and station ground.