For many, the first snowfall of the season evokes tranquility. For first responders, however, that same flurry marks the beginning of a winter season in which weather can quickly transform everyday conditions into highly volatile or serious hazards. Obscured road signs, icy roadways, and high-powered winds can emerge, requiring rapid decision making and ongoing situational awareness.
Compounding the onset of winter storms are "extended fire years." Due to climate change, extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled over the past 20 years [NASA] and the fire season is extending beyond the summer. Rising temperatures after dark prevent fires from dying down as they once did, keeping flames active around the clock. The result is a convergence of two unpredictable and dangerous weather forces that threaten civilian safety and strain emergency response systems. Meeting this dual threat requires technology that can quickly adapt to changing conditions.
In the New Year, Next Generation 911 (NG911) technology will be critical to ensure accurate, rapid data is delivered to responders during weather-related emergencies. In this blog, we’ll explore how field responders are leveraging mobile intelligence to make proactive, informed decisions when seconds can make a difference.
Responders cannot control when a wildfire ignites or when a blizzard occurs, but they can control how quickly they arrive, how prepared they are, and how safely they operate. To do so, they need powerful technology to support decision making and speed of response. RapidDeploy's Lightning Mobile App does just this, extending NG911 capabilities directly to the field. Powered by Radius Mapping, Lightning provides law enforcement, fire, EMS, and telecommunicators with a live, shared operating picture and layered intelligence, directly on their devices, that moves with them as conditions evolve. From precise location data to real-time video from the scene, responders gain enhanced situational awareness and seamless interoperability across agencies. Mobile field intelligence has become the foundation of modern day emergency response, ensuring responders arrive prepared, informed, and ready to act.
In a wildfire, a ten-minute delay can mean the difference between a contained brush fire and an uncontrollable blaze. In a winter storm, those same minutes determine whether rescuers reach a stranded motorist before they develop hypothermia. Lightning delivers mission-critical information to responders from the moment the call comes in; precise caller location, incident type, known hazards, and the position of other responding units. By eliminating the time it takes for information to trickle from the Emergency Communications Center (ECC) to the field, Lightning ensures responders know exactly what they're walking into, can select the right equipment, and can plan their approach before they arrive on scene.
When a blizzard obscures visibility or wildfire smoke clouds important landmarks, callers might struggle to describe where they are. Lack of precise location information can quickly become dangerous when seconds matter. Mobile field intelligence eliminates this uncertainty, delivering caller coordinates directly to responders' phones and tablets.
During multi-agency emergencies, knowing the location of responders can be just as critical as the location of callers. Lightning pinpoints where responders are in real-time through both Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and mobile device location––whether they're in vehicles or on foot––creating a shared operating picture that shows where active personnel are positioned. If a wildfire changes course or a road closes unexpectedly, teams can strategically allocate resources based on their proximity, or redirect units away from dangerous conditions. This visual coordination reduces communication overhead, streamlines multi-agency operations, and creates safer conditions for responders.
Before NG911, responders heading to an emergency had to piece together critical information from multiple sources: updates from telecommunicators, sourcing building layouts, waiting for information about hazard warnings. In fast-moving weather events where conditions shift in minutes, this fragmented approach costs time and creates information gaps. A firefighter might not know that the wind shifted the fire, putting them in a dangerous position. A patrol officer might attempt to drive through a blocked route, costing valuable time.
Lightning breaks these barriers by consolidating everything into a single, real-time mobile view. Powered by Radius Mapping, the app overlays authoritative GIS data directly onto the operational map, providing layers of intelligence such as aerial imagery, weather patterns, and flood zone information. Field teams can make note of hazards as they develop through Map Markups––flagging road closures, downed power lines, or shifting fire perimeters so everyone can immediately see these updates. When available, indoor floor plans for schools, hospitals, and large buildings integrate seamlessly, giving responders spatial awareness ahead of time.
This unified intelligence eliminates the cognitive burden of juggling multiple systems, accelerates decision making, and strengthens interoperability. During the 2023 Maui wildfires, which destroyed over 2,200 structures [FEMA], Radius Mapping was essential for the team on the ground. Telecommunicator Johnel Davila detailed how Radius Mapping helped them to facilitate communication, track responder locations, and make critical resourcing decisions as conditions changed rapidly. With Lightning, this same level of intelligence is available for responders in the field.
When critical data points such as precise caller location, responder positions, real-time hazards, critical infrastructure, and environmental data come together in one unified view, first responders are able to proactively respond to emergencies and better serve their communities.
During weather emergencies, traditional voice calls don't always tell the complete story. Lightning enables multiple ways to communicate that best serve the caller, responder, and situation.
Live video streaming from cell phones provides immediate visual information about conditions on the ground, revealing important details. A caller might share footage of a fire spreading from campgrounds; a person trapped in their vehicle during a blizzard might show footage of what’s happening outside; someone tending to an injured civilian can show telecommunicators the extent of their injuries. This level of visual intelligence helps responders determine their strategy and enables telecommunicators to guide civilians through immediate survival actions.
Beyond video, text-from-911 has emerged as a critical tool when voice communication is impossible or dangerous. For someone with limited battery life, texting might conserve power while maintaining contact with 911. Additionally, real-time translation capabilities in over 130 languages ensure that language barriers never delay emergency response, allowing all callers to communicate critical information.
By enabling video, text, and translated communication simultaneously, Lightning gives responders unprecedented situational awareness and transforms how public safety responds to the unpredictable nature of weather emergencies.
Next Generation 911 infrastructure, such as Lightning and Radius Mapping, has become a critical foundation for a new wave of transformative technologies that will define the future of emergency response. Built on cloud-native technology, NG911 enables responders to receive texts, photos, and videos, pinpoint caller locations with precision, and connect seamlessly across jurisdictions. But what makes this infrastructure so essential is that it positions agencies to immediately leverage the emerging capabilities arriving now and in the years ahead. For weather emergencies in particular, where conditions evolve rapidly and traditional infrastructure can fail, these tools will mean the difference between a reactive response and one that is proactive–potentially saving lives.
The future of emergency response is at our doorstep. AI systems can analyze 911 calls in real-time, enhance audio quality during thunderous wind, identify critical keywords in distressed calls, and even predict wildfire spread patterns based on incoming data. Drones can now act as first responders, providing aerial intelligence of fire perimeters and flood zones before ground crews arrive, delivering medical supplies to snowbound communities, and giving responders eyes on the scene when roads are impassable. Video analysis will offer unprecedented situational awareness, automatically detecting hazards and guiding resource deployment. Agencies that invest in NG911 infrastructure today position themselves to adopt every advancement as it arrives, ensuring they're ready for tomorrow’s emergencies.
To learn more about how NG911 is shaping the future of emergency response, download our Ebook: The Future of Emergency Response.
As winter storms intensify and wildfires burn almost year-round, these unpredictable forces demand a new standard of emergency response. Mobile intelligence provides that foundation, delivering real-time data, location precision, and unified coordination needed in the face of critical weather conditions. As agencies begin to adopt advanced AI-powered capabilities, responders will be even better prepared to effectively respond to unpredictable situations and ultimately help save more lives.
