Image/Data Transmission Systems of the Italian Fire and Rescue Service in Emergency Contexts: An Overview of Methods and Technologies to Support Decision-Making

Within the global scheme of emergency response mechanisms, documentation and communication activities to support governing bodies are of particular importance, in order to assess “just in time” the best actions to take. We document to realize and observe a reality that is in close and urgent evolution, and we communicate in order to give information about events as they happen. Such activities require the simultaneous use of various technologies and know-how that an entity institutionally designated to provide highly skilled and urgent care in emergency situations must possess, in order to create systems that can be deployed with great speed and versatility, in the most difficult working conditions, while ensuring efficiency, information security, and operator safety. This paper describes the systems, technologies, and key features of telecommunications and documentation equipment in use at the Italian Fire and Rescue Service, for proper strategic assessments of emergency scenarios. In particular, the work focuses on the description of the solutions used for documentation and communication activities, by the Italian Fire and Rescue Service, during the recent major events of civil protection. To give an example, we describe the solutions adopted for monitoring events related to the earthquake in L’Aquila of 2009 and to the earthquake in Central Italy of 2016–2017, using also “Topography Applied to Rescue” techniques.