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Happy 27th Birthday to the PDF!

by | Jun 15, 2020

Happy 27th Birthday to the PDF!

by Jun 15, 2020Blog

PDFs are still being used by Fire Crews even though better solutions exist, it’s time for the PDF to retire. 

That’s right. On June 15, 1993, Adobe first introduced the PDF, a digital file that is used across operating systems, “hassle free”. (Adobe claimed it as a hassle free tool, but as you read on you’ll see it’s just not the case for Fire Crews.) The PDF is a tool that many fire departments are still using for their pre-plans as these PDFs sit in the fire engine’s three ring binder, or are stored locally on devices.

Here are some other fun facts that happened in 1993:

  • Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls defeated the Phoenix Suns 4-2 to capture Jordan’s 6th NBA Championship.
  • The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 to win their second consecutive World Series.
  • Jurassic Park was the highest grossing movie of the year.
  • Schindler’s List won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
  • Bill Clinton became the US President.

 

Today, most new Firefighters would have to Google this information, as they were not alive to remember these events!

Times have changed in the last 27 years. Michael Jordan has come out of retirement and then retired (again) this time purchasing a very large percentage of the Charlotte Hornets. There have been three US Presidents since Bill Clinton, and one election that saw his wife, Hillary, run for President. And the Toronto Blue Jays have not won a World Series since, although, the Toronto Raptors are the 2019 NBA Champions and (at the time of this blog post) there is a chance they could be counted the 2020 NBA Champions.

With the world changing—especially in the past few years—there is a modernization opportunity in fire departments to leverage real, actionable and instantly accessible visual information.

The PDF has had a good run, and is useful in other ways, but the years of Fire Crews having to read textual based PDF documents to gain situational awareness, during an emergency, should be long gone. 

Today, highly visible, detailed and interactive capabilities are here. Smart Mobile technology allows your data to be organized, accessible and easily digestible at a glance when seconds count. Up to date data / information available within one or two clicks is critical: it ensures the crew’s attention is on the emergency and the appropriate response, rather than fumbling in a file directory, trying to read a multi-page PDF or worse not accessing it at all. 

 

If your fire department is ready to put aside the 27-year-old PDF and move to a less costly modernized pre-planning and inspection program, designed to fit the needs of the 21st century, click below and request your demo.

Request A Demo
27 is still young, but we think it’s a fantastic age to retire, and unlike Jordan, stay retired. 

Happy Birthday To The PDF!

Prepare first responders with a pre-plan and smart mobile devices

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About the author

Riley Bond, Account Executive, APX Data

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