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Visability is transforming how Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) combat wildfires


—empowering them with smarter, faster, and more connected responses. What began as rudimentary command posts during WWII has evolved into today’s high-tech EOCs, coordinating complex emergency efforts across agencies and regions. At the forefront of this evolution is visability, delivering an intuitive hardware-light platform that gives emergency teams real-time situational awareness, seamless coordination, and powerful visual command capabilities—without needing to overhaul existing video wall systems. 

Before EOCs: A Reactive, Disconnected Fire Response Era 

In the absence of formal coordination, early wildfire response was fragmented and dangerously reactive. The catastrophic 1871 Peshtigo Fire, which burned 1.5 million acres and killed up to 2,500 people, highlighted the dangers of poor communication. Communities relied on church bells, horseback messengers, telegraphs, and bucket brigades—tools inadequate for large-scale disaster management.  

The priority was simple: suppress the flame. But with no centralized command or real-time data, decisions were made in isolation, often too late.  

The Birth of Modern EOCs: Building the Backbone of Wildfire Coordination

The 1970s marked a turning point. Following the the National Fire Prevention and Control Act, states began creating permanent EOCs equipped with backup power radio systems, and staffed dispatchers. California’s Office of Emergency Services (OES), expanded in the ‘70s, and became the model.

During the 1988 Yellowstone Fires, these EOCs were stress-tested—tasked with coordinating 25,000 firefighters across state lines. For the first time, satellite imagery and radio communication offered fire maps and weather data, though limited by slow processing and poor integration.  

Post-9/11: Standardization and Federal Investment

The September 11 attacks led to a dramatic increase in federal investment and standardization. By 2004, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) required EOCs nationwide to follow unified protocols, including the Incident Command System (ICS) integration.

EOCs now had to manage not just fire suppression but also mass evacuations, public health crisis, and billion-dollar damages—as seen during megafires like the 2003 Cedar Fire and the 2018 Camp Fire, which burned 273,000 acres and 153,000 acres, while taking 15 and 85 lives, respectively.

Today’s EOCs: High-Tech, All-Hazards Hubs

EOCs today operate at all levels of government, with expanded roles far beyond firefighting. Core capabilities include:


Situational Awareness

Live drones, cameras, GPS mapping, and satellites imagery projected across advanced video wall systems.


Multi-Agency Collaboration

Integrated communication tools used to break down silos.


Resilient Infrastructure

EOCs are designed to withstand various disaster scenarios, ensuring they remain operational during crises.

Public Communication

Alerts sent via Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), social media, and local sirens—lessons learned from events like the 2023 Lahaina fires.

Resource Allocation

Streamline prioritization of aircraft, personnel, and equipment.

Real-Time Data Analysis:

Predictive analytics drive smarter decisions for resource deployment.

As climate change intensifies disasters, EOCs are evolving into all-hazards response centers—managing not just fires, but also floods, smoke events, power shutoffs, and post-disaster recovery like FEMA coordination and debris removal.

Visability: Redefining Command and Control with Seamless Visual Intelligence

Visability is leading this transformation. Built for speed, security, and simplicity, visability gives EOCs a real-time, tailored operational view—integrating live feeds, analytics, and communications into a single, intuitive interface. No need to rip and replace. Many EOCs can keep their existing video wall systems while upgrading their performance.

Key advantages of visability include:

Hardware-Light Design

Easy deployment across control rooms, mobile units, and briefings.

Seamless Integration

Use with new or existing video wall displays, to unify all critical data wherever it’s needed.

Enhanced Accessibility

Without compromising cybersecurity or operational control.

Scalability

Serve local, regional, and federal EOCs, while coordinating a Unified Response with other agencies.

From the control room to the field, visability ensures that your team stays connected, informed, and ready—when every second matters. 

Trusted Globally.
Proven Daily.

Command centers around the world—from emergency management and law enforcement to utilities and transportation—rely on Activu and visability for mission-critical visualization and response.

In a world where wildfires are faster, hotter, and harder to predict, visability is the partner EOCs need to meet the moment—and prepare for what comes next.

See visability in action. Contact us today or request a demo to see how visability can transform your control room.

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Public Safety Case Studies

By Insight, Next-Gen Control Room, press on homepage, Public Safety Insight, Thought Leadership

About Activu

Vis/ability makes any information visible, collaborative, and proactive for people tasked with monitoring critical operations. Users of the platform see, share, and respond to events in real time, with context, to improve incident response, decision-making, and management. Activu software, solutions, and services benefit the daily lives of billions of people around the globe. Founded in 1983 as the first U.S.-based company to develop command center visualization technology, more than 1,300 control rooms depend on Activu. activu.com.