NFCC unveils AI approach to tackle exclusion and improve access

At the 2025 NFCC Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Conference, artificial intelligence featured prominently, not as a futuristic concept, but as a live, practical tool reshaping service delivery across the fire and rescue sector.

The National Fire Chiefs Council officially launched its Document Transformation Suite, an AI-enabled platform which allows users to translate documents to and from 75+ languages while preserving document layout and formatting, and also to convert long or complex documents into easier to read formats.

Developed in partnership with CityTrax, and built on secure, UK-based infrastructure, the suite enhances the reach of a fire and rescue service into its multilingual communities, supports more inclusive communication, and enhances accessibility, contributing directly to NFCC’s Member Strategy goal of reducing exclusion and reaching vulnerable communities.

Sessions on fleet optimisation with Zeefleet, threat intelligence, and wildfire modelling further demonstrated how AI, when applied responsibly, can strengthen operational efficiency, decision-making, and foresight. Importantly, NFCC’s ethical framework for AI, published last year, was repeatedly cited as foundational. Speakers called for AI that is transparent, value-led, and aligned with public trust. NFCC’s ongoing work with services is supporting knowledge sharing and the development of guidance and tools to do just that.

Behavioural data scientist Ganna Pogrebna closed the event with a clear message: “The future of AI in fire and rescue is not autonomy. It’s alignment.” That principle echoed throughout the conference, reinforcing NFCC’s strategic commitment to inclusive design, evidence-based tools, and innovation that enhances – not replaces – human decision-making.

The industry will once again be gathering at the NEC, Birmingham for The Emergency Tech Show, co-located with The Emergency Services Show on 17-18 September, check out the full exhibitor list here. NFCC will be hosting a panel at ETS expanding on AI entitled ‘Confident approaches to using AI in fire and rescue services’.

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