Comprehensive resource app for firefighters & paramedics
Deployed field resource app used by firefighters and paramedics to look up drug protocols and fire hazard data in real-time county-specific emergencies.
Architecture
Data flow from user interface through API layer to persistence and cloud deployment
The problem
Firefighters and paramedics in the field need to look up drug administration protocols, hospital locations, and building hazard classifications quickly, often in high-noise, low-light conditions with gloved hands. Existing solutions were PDFs or cluttered web pages designed for desktop use.
Design constraints
The UX problem drove every technical decision. The interface had to work under genuine stress conditions: one-hand operation, large tap targets, high contrast, minimal navigation depth. No feature could require more than two taps to reach.
- Maximum two-tap depth to any piece of information
- County-based filtering as the primary navigation axis
- High-contrast color coding for hazard severity levels
- Offline-capable reads for poor-signal environments
Architecture
Firebase Firestore was the right choice here, no backend server to maintain, real-time sync for protocol updates pushed by administrators, and offline persistence built in. I normalized the data across three collections (protocols, hospitals, hazards) with county as the shared foreign key, allowing fast filtered reads without joins.
What I learned
Building for stress users is a different discipline than building for casual users. Every interaction has to be forgiving: fat-finger friendly, never requiring precision, always showing the most likely option first.