Copenhagen’s Fire Department marks ten years of live streaming

03 / 2022

Ten years ago, the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department become the first emergency service to use live streaming. It all started with a single camera, and today they live stream from most incidents, with great success.
First fire action
A news broadcast with live helicopter video of a fire in the Copenhagen suburb of Valby became the launch of live streaming for the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department. That evening, as Magnus Mattsson watched footage of the fire that he had struggled to extinguish together with
his crew, he realised just how good an overall perspective could be gained from the air.

“When I saw the news broadcast in the evening, I thought ‘Damn, those helicopter shots give a good view of the fire.’ I really wished I could have seen them during our efforts. That was an eye opener for me, and from that day on I was determined to implement live streaming in our service,”

says Magnus Mattsson, fire service inspector and head of SIKS (special reaction force) with the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department.

“When I first presented the idea to our alarm call centre, I was almost thrown out. Today, I get told off if I forget to start live streaming at an incident. We’re highly dependent on the solution today,

says Magnus Mattson

Magnus Mattsson, fire service inspector and head of SIKS with the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department.

The first in the industry

Although it was an eye opener for Magnus Mattsson, that did not mean that everyone else saw the same possibilities that he did.

“You have to remember that ten years ago, when I first got the idea of using live streaming in the emergency services, we had never seen live streaming used that way before. It was back before GoPro, and in general, mobile phone coverage and the technology were not nearly as developed as they are now. So there was a certain amount of scepticism,” says Magnus Mattsson.

In collaboration with the software company Incendium, however, and with persistence and great commitment, it proved possible to implement Incendium’s live streaming solution, IncidentShare, which has since evolved to be an indispensable tool for the emergency services.

“When I first presented the idea to our center of operations, I was almost thrown out. Today, I get told off if I forget to start live streaming at an incident. The solution is now a natural part of how we deal with operations,” says Magnus Mattsson.

From 1 to 20 cameras

It all began with a single helmet camera that Magnus Mattsson shared with a colleague – whereas today, the service streams video from more than 20 cameras as often as they can.

“Today we use live streaming throughout our organisation; all our operations commanders and team leaders have helmet cameras, all our vehicles have cameras fitted to them, we have drones that we live stream from, and we also have live streams from members of the public who call 112,” says Magnus Mattsson.

According to Christoffer Nygaard, operations and development manager of the 112 alarm and operations centre of the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department, live streaming has many advantages for the service, one of which is that it creates a common situation picture.

“Live streaming allows us to establish a common view of the situation for everyone involved in the incident. This means, amongst other things, that the management at the center of operations can keep track of exactly what is happening at the incident site. That gets things moving quickly and allows us to act proactively”
Christoffer Nygaard, operations and development manager of the 112 alarm and operations centre of the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department

He goes on to say that they use live streaming every single day, and that the recordings can subsequently be used to evaluate, improve and streamline their workflows. If you ask the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department whether they will still be using the solution in ten years’ time, the answer is prompt:

“Definitely. We will certainly be using Incendium’s solution in ten years’ time. There is no doubt that it is a tremendous help to us, and that it’s the way forward,” says Magnus Mattsson.

Does this sound like something you could use on your workplace? Call us here:

Asger Plæhn

Asger Plæhn

Sales and Marketing Manager, Incendium A/S

Asger is responsible for sales for Incendium’s customers in regard to emergency responses. If you have questions about how SMS-to-Video can help your workplace do not hesitate to call.

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