The operational problem
For a volunteer emergency response team, the best station is not necessarily the geographic centre of the service area. Responders begin from home, a response vehicle may need to be collected, preparation time must be considered and volunteer availability can change substantially between incidents.
The challenge therefore required a model that represented the whole response process, rather than simply measuring straight-line distance from a station to an incident.
Methodology
I combined historical and simulated incident locations with responder locations and travel-time information to compare potential station sites. The model tested multiple operational strategies and different volunteer-availability scenarios, allowing each candidate location to be assessed under both favourable and constrained conditions.
- Processed real and simulated incident data.
- Modelled responder travel from home and vehicle-based response requirements.
- Compared candidate locations using repeatable response-time metrics.
- Tested changing volunteer availability using scenario and simulation methods.
- Compared alternative response strategies instead of assuming one fixed operating model.
Analysis & decision support
The output was designed to support a practical location decision. Rather than producing only a single ranking, the analysis compared response times, coverage, reliability and sensitivity to changing conditions so that the operational trade-offs between sites could be understood.
What the project demonstrates
The project brings together programming, quantitative analysis, optimisation, simulation, data interpretation and operational problem-solving. It also demonstrates my ability to translate a technical model into findings that can inform a real-world organisational decision.