Hood River Fire & EMS is beginning to utilize geographic information systems as a strategic tool to help preserve property, natural resources, and lives. GIS will help Hood River firefighters in planning strategic response to fires and developing tactical actions for specific buildings. It will also allow firefighters to be able to share and view information to and from other county and state resources. Hood River Fire Chief Leonard Damian says because their mission is location dependent, GIS has emerged as an important information platform to improve firefighter response and safety.