When the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was planning to build the Punggol Fire Station, it used data analytics to decide on its location. With Punggol and Sengkang being two heavily populated estates, the SCDF needed to ensure that the location of the new fire station could effectively serve its catchment area.

Major Dennis Ng from SCDF’s Transformation Future Tech Department (TFTD) said that the SCDF used its in-house system, the Dynamic Resource Optimisation, to simulate the expected response times for the various operations in the new site, using these numbers to select the best location for the new facility.

This is to ensure that the operations of the new fire station, as with all other SCDF operations, can meet the force’s key performance indicators – 8 minutes for fire calls, and 11 minutes for medical calls, Major Dennis said.

The SCDF also uses data analytics to help design and regulate its training programmes. By analysing trainees’ data, such as heart rate and other vital statistics, SCDF can adjust the intensity of the training programmes accordingly to help trainees achieve optimum results.