AI for Emergency Services: Faster Decisions When Seconds Count

Ambulance, fire and rescue and coastguard services make rapid decisions with incomplete information. AI is being tested to help, always under human command.

In an emergency, contact your local emergency number.

• Call triage support: prompting call-handlers with questions and flagging possible cardiac arrest or stroke.
• Transcription and translation of calls.
• Location finding from phone data and descriptions.
• Resource allocation: suggesting which units to send.
• Demand forecasting to position crews.

• Route planning around traffic and hazards.
• Drone imagery: searching for people, mapping wildfires or assessing floods.
• Predictive modelling: fire spread, flood extent and storm impacts.
• Wearable and building sensors that warn crews of hazards.
• Training simulations for incident commanders.
• Hazard identification from building plans.

• Report drafting and records.
• Learning reviews: finding patterns across incidents.

• Human authority: commanders and call-handlers make the decisions.
• Reliability: tools must work in poor conditions and fail safely.
• Bias: triage systems must be tested across languages, accents and communities.
• Privacy: location and health data are sensitive.
• Cybersecurity of emergency systems.
• Over-trust: don't ignore human judgement when a system says otherwise.

Know your local emergency number, keep medical ID on your phone, and give clear information when you call. Follow the call-handler's instructions.

AI can sharpen situational awareness and speed. Emergency decisions remain with trained people.