Innovative Firefighter/Inspector Saves Department Time and Money

Today’s fire departments have evolved beyond the task of putting out blazes, with much of the focus shifting from fighting fires to prevention. Inspections help ensure structure safety, and costs are frequently offset by fees. Accurate records, proactive time management and sound fiscal responsibility are key for smooth operations.

Enter Molly McLagan of River Falls Fire Department in Wisconsin. Molly is an innovator who helped eliminate errors when tracking inspection fees, saving time and energy and preventing fees from getting missed. She recognized a need to track fees in her departments fire inspections reports over time. As a veteran user of the software, she saw an opportunity and ran with it.

McLagan devised a method to reflect different rates for city/rural, sprinkler, fire alarm, re-inspection or annual inspections within the fees and payment section of ImageTrend’s fire RMS. By working with ImageTrend’s support team, she was able to refine her method to achieve the outcome she desired in a technically correct manner. Now, a monthly inspection fee report is run, generated by changing criteria to reflect the timeframe and inspector name as well as all the pertinent information regarding the inspection with the total to be paid. The solution is still flexible enough for inspectors to enter variations in the amount if needed. Accounting checks and balances deter misuse of the flexibility.

Using an innovative approach, McLagan leveraged the flexibility of ImageTrend’s solutions to help improve her department’s sustainability. Molly summed it up well: “This has saved loads of time and energy as well as eliminating errors.”