Joe Francica, Editor-in-Chief and Vice Publisher, Directions Magazine, writes about the role ESRI's GIS technology played in supporting firefighting efforts.

Russ Johnson, the public safety industry manager for ESRI and a former 30-year member of the San Bernardino fire force, described the assistance ESRI provided coordinating support for incident managers..."By the third day, when there was more command and control structure built around the incidents, that’s when we were effective in providing data, data storage and building maps that provided the answers to strategic operations," he said.

GIS data and analysis were used for a variety of mission-critical tasks such as where to build firelines, informing citizens of the fire's status, routing emergency vehicles, determining shelter locations, and deploying resources.

Read the article in Directions Magazine

Read more about the Southern California wildfires and how GIS played a critical role.