Every morning before dawn, Rick Robinson checks the laptop that’s mounted inside his Everett Fire Department rig. The software on the laptop is supposed to show the current location of every city fire truck and ambulance.
A few months ago, it wasn’t working so well. Emergency rigs were missing from the screen.
The fire department in October launched New World Systems, emergency-dispatching software that is being used in nearly every police and fire vehicle in Snohomish County. The multimillion-dollar project is perhaps best known for its bumpy start, though leaders say they’ve made a lot of progress in the past nine months.
The software was to blame for the lengthy delay of backup crews to the June 4 riverfront warehouse fire.
One promise with New World was that the software would provide live, around-the-clock GPS tracking of emergency rigs. That was a big deal for firefighters, because it meant crews could be deployed based on their locations at any given moment.