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On September 22, 2005 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted a demonstration of two prototype tactical decision aid computer interfaces in the city of Wilson, North Carolina. Members of the City of Wilson Fire Department, Wilson Memorial Hospital, Honeywell Inc, and NIST participated in the demonstration. Sensor and other building information from a simulated fire on a third floor wing of the hospital were displayed in realtime on the Honeywell ONYX FIRSTVISION 1 fire panel and on laptop computers positioned in the hospital, on a fire truck, in the Wilson fire command van and at a Wilson fire station. The objective was to have the members of the Wilson Fire Department evaluate the first responder information displays using a simulated real-time incident. The displays are designed to provide real-time building and emergency information to emergency responders, incident command, and dispatch centers. The concept of transmitting real-time building information to emergency responders was well received. The participants concerns with these systems centered on standardization, information overload, and reliability.Transmission of real-time building information from a laptop computer located at the Wilson hospital to a laptop computer located in a fire truck, and laptop computer located at the Wilson fire station using a cellular connection was tested. The XML format worked well with no observable degradation in the received information content.The evaluations and recommendations suggested by the participants for improvements of the current displays are presented in this document.

This report describes the results of computer model calculations using the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) that were performed to provide insight on the thermal conditions that may have occurred during a fire in a onestory restaurant on February 14, 2000, in Texas. A FDS model scenario was developed that represented the building geometry, material thermal properties, and fire behavior based on information and photographs from investigations by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the City of Houston Fire and Arson Bureau, the City of Houston Fire Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). The results from this model scenario are provided in this report. The FDS (version 2.0) calculations that best represent the reported fire conditions indicate that a fire originating in the office area of the restaurant spread into and throughout the attic space between the ceiling and roof. Upon the arrival of the fire department, the model results show this space had become a high temperature, oxygen depleted environment. Temperatures in this area ranged from 400°C to 1000°C (750°F to 1800°F) with an oxygen concentration of approximately 2 %. The FDS model also indicates that the use of positive pressure ventilation, as illustrated in this scenario, did not have a marked effect on the intensity of the fire. Additional simulations were performed to provide insight as to whether or not lifting a ceiling tile just inside the entry door used by the initial firefighting crew could have given them an indication that there were flames within the attic area. In this simulation the FDS model predicted that this would have indicated the presence of fire in the attic area.