After a trial period, Räddningstjänsten Medelpad has adopted live video as a regular part of their daily emergency response work - and is already saving large amounts of time and resources.
When distances are long and resources are scarce, finding new ways to work more efficiently can be crucial.
Bliksund's live video solution IncidentShare has helped Räddningstjänsten Medelpad in northern Sweden do just that - and the results already speak for themselves.
After a successful trial in the fall of 2023, the solution went live in January 2024. Since then, the fire service, which covers a large geographical area in the region of Mittnorrland, has been using IncidentShare across their fire stations.
"After the trial period with IncidentShare, we had no doubt that it was a tool that could help us a lot in our daily work. And now that we've been using it for a year, we have to say that it helps us a lot. I'm really positive about IncidentShare, and using live video in a job like ours is definitely the future," says Magnus Rudberg, incident commander and functional area manager at Räddningstjänsten Medelpad.
Räddningstjänsten Medelpad streams from many different devices, including bodycams, cell phones and drones. All video streams are sent directly into IncidentShare.
Making long distances shorter
Räddningstjänsten Medelpad covers a large geographical area around Sundsvall in northern Sweden and has incidents up to 500 kilometers away. IncidentShare has proved to be a great help for both the local incident commanders on site and the regional managers who coordinate the response across the region.
Anton Hörnqvist is unit manager and regional incident commander at Räddningstjänsten Medelpad - a role where he is often responsible for prioritizing and supporting operations throughout the region, without necessarily being physically present at the incident. In this role, it's crucial to get a clear and quick overview of the situation.
"We often have very long distances to cover, so being able to send a link so that colleagues on the scene can share live video directly from their mobile phone's camera is a great help. When I can see what's happening, it's much easier to assess the situation quickly and make the right decisions. It saves me both misunderstandings and many hours of travel time, which I can instead spend on other tasks," explains Anton Hörnqvist.
A concrete example was a fire in a store building in the northern part of the region. A local incident commander was faced with a rapidly developing fire and had a five-hour drive to the scene. He contacted the regional incident commander to get an assessment of whether it made sense to drive all the way - or if he could get support in another way.
At the rate the fire was progressing, it would be over before he got there. So instead, we connected him directly to the video link so he could follow and advise live from a distance. The great thing is that you can send the link to any phone - regardless of system, technical ability or whether you're in the contact list. It's extremely easy to access," says Anton Hörnqvist.
Live video in everyday life - not just at fires
Räddningstjänsten Medelpad does not only use IncidentShare for emergency incidents. A significant part of the rescue service's work is also about control tasks and supervision - for example, in connection with permits for storing explosive gases in stores. Here, live video can replace the often long drives to the often very short visits:
"For these tasks, we often drive a long way to be there for a short time, as it may just be a matter of checking control numbers and whether labels are placed correctly. It makes a lot of sense to use live video in these cases - especially for smaller stores and small licenses, because it saves us a lot of resources that we can use better elsewhere," says Anton Hörnqvist.
A tool with great potential in the future
After the positive experience in Medelpad, both Magnus Rudberg and Anton Hörnqvist hope to scale the use of live video to the entire rescue region Mittnorrland, as they both see great potential in the solution.
"We work in an everyday life where we have to use resources wisely. When we can avoid unnecessary driving and still ensure quality and safety, it's a powerful tool that I see great potential in," says Magnus Rudberg.
Anton Hörnqvist agrees and concludes:
"We can already hear that it's something that's being talked about a lot. Every time we use it and share our experiences, it paves the way for us to use it even more in the future.
