Software Engineering Students Develop Firefighting Software

Champlain College students are helping fight fires with an Internet-based software program designed to provide critical data about buildings to which firefighters have been called. The program, developed by students in Professor Shubhashree Thekahally’s Software Engineering Enterprise Development courses, was rolled out to the Colchester Center Volunteer Fire Department, giving firefighters access to data they previously flipped through documents to find en route to the scene. Laptops replace three-ring binders as firefighters call up such information as floor plans, hydrant placement, and the presence of sprinkler systems and hazardous materials. On a two- to three-minute run, gaining that knowledge quickly can be crucial.

According to Software Engineering Program Director Gary Savard, the software program is the first phase of a project that will next explore the capacity of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to help firefighters equipped with handheld devices navigate around hazards inside buildings. He draws satisfaction from the fact that the program was designed by students in two courses within his program, with responsibility resting squarely with the students. “We mentor them,” he says of himself and Thekahally. “Students have to run projects like they’re in a company. We’re more observers and team members.”

Savard notes that while the firefighters’ software is a prototype, it is attracting strong regional attention. “Everybody in the county at this point is interested,” he says. “This is something that could become a national product. I could envision this one day being sold all over the state or nationally and internationally.”

—EE