A couple of months ago I was telling you about the terrific job that the San Ramon Valley (California) Fire Protection District was doing with their website. (Read our Morning Lineup from May 13 HERE.) Not only is it innovative and informative, but it pro-actively reaches out to the citizens and keeps them fully informed on their fire/rescue department’s activities. Part of our report mentioned that the department was close to releasing an iPhone app that will connect anybody who is interested with the dispatch center and ongoing activities.
Yesterday (Tuesday) the FD issued a press release announcing the availability of the app for immediate download. They report on their website:
iPhone users can look forward to the FireDepartment.org iPhone application that provides a virtual window into the San Ramon Valley Fire’s 9-1-1 dispatch center. This application will allow users to have real-time access to emergency activities occurring in their community.
Users will be able to view active incidents, including the response status of emergency vehicles being dispatched to the call. The application will even have an interactive map that will pinpoint where the incidents are located.
This application will allow users to choose to be notified of incidents as they are dispatched. Then they will have the option to listen in on the live emergency radio traffic on what will now be the modern version of a traditional fire scanner. Users can also select the type of notification they receive on their iPhone, for example, they can select to get only structure fire notifications or vehicle accident information.
“The Fire District will use our new iPhone application to communicate with residents and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members during a disaster,” said Fire Chief Richard Price. “We are dedicated to keeping our community informed and I am very excited about adding this new tool to the many ways we are communicating with our residents.”
This initial download is for iPhone and iPad applications only, but a previous announcement said that apps will soon be released for Droids and other smartphones also. Here’s the best part, the app is available free of charge to anybody, including you. To try the application for yourself, simply search “fire department” at the Apple App Store or visit the link below to install the application on a compatible device.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fire-department/id376052787?mt=8
Take a couple of minutes to watch this video of the app in action:
Don’t know about you, but I just love this kind of innovation.
Now we need to go back to an old innovation and get this equipment checked out. I’m going to get the coffee started. I’ll see you back in the day room. No outside drills today because of the excessive heat.
Also on FireGeezer…
- Morning Lineup – January 31 – January 31, 2011
- Morning Lineup – April 14 – April 14, 2012
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