Perhaps the most pervasive lifestyle changer of the past 25 years is the cellphone. Many people seem to be connected if not by the hip, then at least by the thumbs, to these ubiquitous devices. eDispatches leverages them as tools to offer alerting capabilities in addition to their conventional uses. According to a spokesperson, “In recent years, we have added [the features of] availability and response. Responders can set their availability throughout the day before calls occur, so the department can see who is or is not available. Additionally, once a call is dispatched, personnel can identify if they are going to the station, scene or not going on the call.” Real-time tracking enables the incident commander to know the number of firefighters who are available as well as their identities and proximity to the scene. Because cellphones have evolved to combine functionality that formerly was provided by a number of disparate devices—in other words, the smartphone—eDispatches touts not having to carry separate electronics for personal and fire service purposes as a comparable benefit…
Axon and RapidSOS recently announced a partnership that will enable 911 centers across the U.S. to have free access to location data, incident alerts and streaming video from Axon devices and share that information with first responders in the field.
RapidSOS CEO and founder Michael Martin said there are three components to the partnership with Axon, the industry leader in body-worn cameras and TASER devices that entered the computer-aided-dispatch (CAD) market last year with the launch of its Axon Respond product.
Through the partnership agreement, Axon will share data with the RapidSOS 911 web portal that is used by more than 2,500 emergency communications centers (ECCs), RapidSOS data will be shared with Axon Respond devices in the field, and Axon’s new CAD platform will have access to all RapidSOS information. The partnership makes sense for both public-safety-focused companies, Martin said…
The highly unusual circumstances of the past year have provided many new lessons for political leaders and emergency managers. The overarching lesson is that the unexpected can happen at any time and local, regional and national government must be prepared to respond rapidly in a collaborative manner with the private sector and residents.
Comprehensive emergency management must involve not only timely, effective responses, but also detailed and actionable communication, which includes life-safety information. State-of-the-art technology is playing a critical role in the U.S. and abroad, making it easier for multiple agencies and emergency personnel to work together to respond to and manage dangerous natural disasters, including wildfires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, extreme weather and other critical events…
In a retrospective study of trauma patients over 65 years of age attended by KSS, it was found that, although a number of these patients had sustained a minor injury through seemingly innocuous mechanisms, a high proportion of this group required advanced clinical interventions and subsequent tertiary level care at a major trauma center.
The study also identified that dispatch time to these patients was typically longer, in particular in instances when KSS’s critical care was requested by an ambulance crew already in attendance…
To understand if Americans believe mental health is a pervasive issue and how first responders should respond to emergencies involving mental health, Rave Mobile Safety partnered with independent research firm Researchscape to survey more than 1,000 American adults nationally in April 2021…
Mary-Kate Smith was rescued just in time after her kayak overturned last summer
Mary-Kate Smith was out kayaking off the coast of Connecticut last August when she overturned.
“I was very scared, didn’t know what to do, or where to go,” she says.
Only four months earlier another kayaker had drowned in the same area. That incident had alarmed the mayor of coastal city Stamford, who asked the local emergency services to look at new safety technologies.
Carbyne, a cloud-based emergency communication platform, was installed in August. It enables a 911 dispatcher to send a text message to the caller. This includes a link, which once opened starts a video chat…
Learn about current efforts to continue to protect the 4.9 GHz Band for public safety as well as recent filings, key decisions impacting these efforts, and how you can support PSSA’s initiative to protect the 4.9 GHz band for public safety.
