Network Dependency Modelling of Emergency Service Facilities in Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

A study involving the use of a network modelling methodology on the relative criticality of emergency service facilities in the greater Auckland region in New Zealand. The research includes graph-theory network maps generated from available facility data supplied by St John Ambulance and Fire & Emergency New Zealand, as well as a set of prototype calculations intended to generate quantitative measures of the potential criticality of facilities under threat-agnostic scenarios. Tests of the prototype calculations were run using data supplied by both organisations, with inputs including the likes of: incident response data, force multiplication factors, and dependent linkages determined from business continuity planning and the network maps that had been generated. Limitations in the availability of data for certain variables meant that theoretical placeholder values had to be used alongside actual data to complete testing of the prototype calculations. Although background information on the NZ Police has been retained within the research document for contextual purposes as that organisation was originally the third main branch of the emergency services in New Zealand prepared to participate in the research, impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated social disruption meant that the organisation was unable to provide the necessary data to undertake scenario assessments. The results nevertheless were able to show that a quantitative rather than a qualitative approach to assessing critical facilities through the use of network modelling is a viable avenue for future research, with scenario results displaying alignment with qualitative judgements contained in existing organisational and industry literature.