In April, the State of California passed a bill to spend $536 million on wildfire prevention. The money is earmarked for forest and vegetation management, clearing brush around rural homes, and retrofitting older buildings in high-risk areas with fire-resistant materials. Lawmakers rushed the bill ahead of the normal budget process since reservoir levels are at an all-time low and drought conditions are seeing no end in sight.
What does Senate Bill 85 mean for California utilities? It means an uptick in the use of contractors and utility service providers, especially vegetation removal teams. To stay ahead of potential danger and property loss, the fuel on the forest floor must be cleared and trees trimmed. There’s no other way to get the job done than rely on outside help. But how do you manage an increasing number of external crews? How did you keep rosters straight between contractor and utility? How do you get crews to the right areas and job sites? And just who documents it all?
With solutions like ARCOS Resource Assist, Resource Assist Lite, Crew Manager and Mobile Workbench, the daunting task of managing contractor and utility service provider crews becomes a snap. How can each app help?
- ARCOS Resource Assist removes the bottleneck of communication between utilities and USPs. It allows USPs to submit rosters quickly in an agreed upon format while providing utilities a pre-approved list of contractors that can be quickly matched to any work ticket and job specifications. Utility Service Providers can sign up here.
- ARCOS Resource Assist Lite is a free version of Resource Assist. Some functionality is removed, but it’s still a strong application that can connect everyone together so they can speak the same language.
- ARCOS Crew Manager can work hand in hand with Resource Assist. It can help quickly identify which crews, vehicles and equipment are available for work and improves the ability to assign, manage, and track these resources. It provides full situational awareness and allows users to know who is available, where they are and how much money is being spent.
- ARCOS Mobile Workbench can help send crews where they need to be. It’s a powerful work ticket/order and job management system. It’s designed to get daily jobs done more efficiently by combining the ability to manage both people and work in one system, improving work completion and reducing operations and & maintenance costs.
And one of the best features of the ARCOS Resource Management Platform is that it keeps a record of everything. Documentation for regulators, FEMA, auditors, or state envoys are easily retrievable from ARCOS’ one source of historical truth. To find out more, contact ARCOS and better mitigate the 2021 wildfire season.
