Keeping Fire and EMS Operations Running During Technology Disruptions

Fire and EMS departments rely on digital systems for dispatch, emergency communications, incident management, patient care documentation, and daily operations. But what happens when those systems fail?

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Digital Capabilities Resilience Guide & Toolkit provides a practical framework to help fire and EMS leaders prepare for technology disruptions, maintain mission-essential services, and safely restore operations.

Developed by the IAFC Terrorism and Homeland Security Committee, this 2026 updated guide emphasizes operational readiness and leadership decision-making—not just cybersecurity and IT protection.

What You’ll Learn

The guide outlines five phases of digital resilience to help departments strengthen continuity of operations:

1. Operational Size-Up: Identify mission-essential services, technology dependencies, and backup procedures.
2. Prepare: Establish leadership responsibilities, train personnel, evaluate vendors, and test contingency plans.
3. Sustain Operations: Maintain dispatch, communications, incident command, patient care documentation, staffing, and other essential functions during outages.
4. Restore: Safely return systems to service, validate their reliability, and reconcile records created during disruptions.
5. Improve: Apply lessons learned to strengthen policies, training, and future operational readiness.

Six Ready-to-Use Planning and Response Tools

The guide includes a practical toolkit to help departments assess readiness, test backup procedures, and manage disruptions.

• Mission Capability Map: Identify critical operations, supporting technology, manual alternatives, and acceptable downtime.
• Mission Capability Validation Exercise: Test whether personnel can perform essential functions without normal digital systems.
• Mission Capability Validation Record: Document exercise results, identify gaps, and track corrective actions.
• First 60 Minutes Checklist: Guide operational decisions, notifications, and continuity actions during the first hour of a disruption.
• Capability Continuity Decision Matrix: Prioritize essential functions when multiple systems fail simultaneously.
• Digital Disruption Tabletop Exercise: Strengthen coordination among fire, EMS, law enforcement, emergency management, IT, and community partners.

How Fire and EMS Departments Can Benefit

Fire chiefs, command staff, emergency managers, and EMS leaders can use this resource to:

• Protect emergency response capabilities when dispatch, communications, or station alerting systems fail.
• Maintain patient care and incident documentation through tested manual procedures.
• Reduce operational downtime by identifying and validating backup processes before disruptions occur.
• Strengthen leadership readiness through clear decision-making authority and defined responsibilities.
• Improve interagency coordination during widespread technology outages.
• Build long-term resilience through exercises, after-action reviews, and continuous improvement.

Strengthen Your Department’s Digital Resilience

Don’t wait for a cyberattack, system outage, or technology failure to discover gaps in your department’s operational readiness.

Download the Digital Capabilities Resilience Guide & Toolkit to assess your department’s preparedness, test continuity procedures, and strengthen your ability to protect your community when critical technology becomes unavailable.