A monitoring system receives data from embedded systems that are located within a building. The embedded systems may be contained within components (e.g., sensors, switches, etc.) that are situated within the building. Rules are defined for interpreting the data. The monitoring system interprets the data based on the defined rules to obtain location information and/or event information. The location information includes possible locations of victims within the building. The event information includes events that have been detected by components within the building. The location information and the event information may be provided to one or more emergency response systems.