WAYS NG911 CAN IMPROVE YOUR DEPARTMENT The potential benefits of an NG911 system are significant—from safer firefighters to better service for your community 5
C hief Brian Fennessy is impa- tient to see antiquated 911 systems upgraded. NG911 is not available yet in Southern California where he heads the Orange County Fire Authority. But Fennessy has experienced first hand the urgent need to support emergency responders with 21st century technology. He’s spent years battling worst-case scenarios, from earthquakes to urban blazes to raging wildfires. As the former San Diego Fire Chief, Fennessy faced the third most destructive wild- fire in California history back in 2003. It quickly spread into the city with a deadly toll: 14 civilians—many killed trying to flee in their cars—and one firefighter; 2,820 destroyed structures and almost 280,000 burned acres. Most of the destruction occurred in the first 12 hours when the overloaded 911 call center went down. Even Fen- nessy couldn’t get through to dispatch. “Nobody was able to communicate by radio, all you got was a tone. There was no real cellular communication,” recalls Fennessy. “People in its path were not warned.”
Here are some of the major benefits firefighter leaders and their services can expect by moving to NG911: IMPROVING FIREFIGHTER SAFETY With NG911, a 911 “call” will take very different forms: Staff at PSAPs—911 call centers—will be able to receive, process and store text, pictures and videos from citizens. Even better, that information can be quickly relayed to firefighters and other responders, giving themmore precise information, including the po- tential for improved location accuracy. Many of these improvements are in the future. And turning the future into real- ity requires NG911. NG911 will most significantly improve firefighter safety through increased situational awareness. It creates a digital infrastructure to receive and transmit a variety of rich information. For example, streaming back real-time information from building sensors from a high-rise on fire about where people are trapped. These locations can be mapped and shared in an emergency operation or dispatch center and simul- taneously shared with those on site. “The single most important thing we’re trying to achieve is the location of firefighters in an event. Currently, all we have is a verbal mayday,” explains Chief Werner. When NG911 can receive ac- curate location data from sensors in the 1
911 service to a system that allows improved, internet protocol (IP)-based communication between citizens and first responders. NG911 will improve response times when calls are transferred from other referring agencies, because a caller’s location is automatically matched to the appropriate 911 call center, or public- safety answering point (PSAP), serving that area—limiting delays and misdi- rected calls. It includes the ability to provide ad- ditional information—such as critical medical data—about a caller to dis- patchers, allows for texting directly with 911 telecommunicators, and adopt- ing digital and mobile innovations such as smart sensor data transmitted from buildings. It’s a faster, better and more cost-effective system that helps limit property loss and save lives. “If you have NG911, you can transfer in- formation—video, photos, schematics— sent in real time to multiple agencies,” explains Charles Werner, a member of the National Council on Public Safety UAS and retired Charlottesville, Vir- ginia, fire chief. “I do think it will revolutionize emer- gency response,” adds Fennessy, “by enhancing information… and making higher-quality decisions so we’re send- ing the right level of resources.”
He believes that NG911 could help transform emergency response.
Simply put, NG911 means upgrading technology across the United States from the decades-old telephony-based
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