Inventory System

[FyrnResQ]

Hi all. I've been recently tasked with doing inventory (primarily PPE) of equipment issued to our personnel, but since we're doing PPE, we figured we might as well expand it to all of our equipment (nozzles, tools, etc).

What software or other tracking system do you use to manage equipment issued to your firefighters? I'm looking into bar code system now, as most of our newer stuff has bar codes, however, I'm also worried about wear and tear rubbing those tags off.

Interested to hear your feed back. Thanks!

[tree68]

There are fire department management programs that include inventory. They tend to be pricey, but generally have lots of other stuff (like NFIRS reporting) that overall make them worthwhile.

Failing that, set up a database, your choice of vendor (you probably already have one on a computer). You can include sizes, dates of manufacture, dates of issue, serial numbers, you-name-it. With a database you can sort on any field, so if you want to find out who's wearing a 52 jacket, it's easy. Also makes it easier to re-order, unless you're changing brands or the FF has hit the cookie jar a few too many times.

I'd actually set up a separate database for equipment, as you'd probably have too many fields if you tried to do both in one. The equipment database can include date of acquisition, manufacturer, price, location, etc.

[jonnyirons2]

Wow, that is impressive knowledge coming from the North Country!