Welcome to the Innovation & Technology Services Division, a central hub where cutting-edge solutions and technological progress converge. As a dynamic team, we focus on communications and distributing and repairing equipment such as Radios and Gas Detectors. From password resets to climbing 400-foot communication towers to repair communication systems, our team is diverse in their skill sets. We harness the potential of technology to empower our personnel and provide forward-looking ingenuity, ensuring Smith County ESD2 Operations team can provide unparalleled service to the community.

Mission

Our mission is to provide efficient, reliable, and cost-effective Information Technology Services, contributing to efficient incident response and productive government. To improve citizen transparency to government information and services. We will accomplish this through the application of technology and related information resources and by providing planning technical support for district-wide data processing.

Goals

With the population growth, changing risk factors of the District and increased demand for emergency services that has led to more reliance on information technology services, our Strategic Plan focuses on the following 6 areas of Information Technology at Smith County ESD2:

• Continuing the build out high speed and reliable internet to our rural stations
• Enhancing the speed and availability of internal services provided to citizens, our staff and volunteers
• Enhancing our IT Infrastructure to meet the rapidly growing technology demands of the District
• Increasing citizen transparency through Electronic Access to District Information
• Providing Best in Class Management of Data Security and Integrity
• Providing Disaster Recovery and Continuity of Operations Services

Services Provided

Radio Communications
ITS Staff is responsible for issuing, programing, and maintaining radio equipment owned by ESD2 and insuring crews have good communication in the field.

Life Safety Equipment
Equipment such as Gas Detectors, Thermal Imaging Cameras are issued and repaired by ITS staff.

Access Control & Surveillance
All ESD2 facilities are secured with electronic access control systems, and video surveillance systems. We are responsible for installing & maintaining the system and for managing personnel access.

Records Management Systems
ITS researches, procures, configures, hosts, and provided support for several different RMS such as our Fire Records Management System used by Operations and our Financial Records System used by the entire agency.

Apparatus Tracking & Navigation
ESD2 IT Staff installs and maintains equipment and services enabling apparatus to be tracked and visible in realtime. Apparatus locations can be viewed by other apparatus, via TVs in stations and a website.

Internet, Telephone, Email, & Fax
ITS staff provides internet, phone, email, IM, and fax services to the ESD, and all of its locations. Some stations are serviced via an internal microwave system.

Website & Intranet Systems
ITS staff is responsible for the hosting, design, and maintenance of the ESD2 website. Each department maintains there own information and documents.

Station Alerting & Incident Alerts
ITS staff installs, configures and maintains Station Alerting Systems that notify firefighters of emergencies.

E-Meeting System
The ESD2 IT Department is responsible for the procurement, configuration, and maintenance of the Electronic Board Meeting System.

ID Cards & Accountability Tags
ITS Staff print and issue ID cards and Accountability Tags (Fire ground passports) to ESD2 personnel as well as to outside VFDs and Government agencies for a fee.

IT Equipment

PCs, Servers, Pagers, Printers, Phones, Tablets, Laptops, and more are issued, tracked, updated, and repaired by ITS staff.

Support
ITS Staff provides support to ESD2 personnel, both remotely and onsite for all equipment and services provided by ESD2 ITS.

Open Record
ITS Staff respond to most of the open records request submitted by the public.

Fit Testing
ITS staff perform SCBA Mask fit-testing on all operations personnel at the time of on-boarding and once a year thereafter.

Management Structure

The Information Technology Services Department of Smith County ESD2 operates under the Smith County ESD2 Board of Commissioners and serves as an agent of the District offices led by elected officials and appointed department heads.