VIDEO: Lubbock Fire Rescue has rolled out a new system to connect first responders to people in the middle of an emergency even faster than before. LFR’s new station paging alert system is now tied into its computer-aided dispatch, or CAD. Just like before, when people call 911, CAD first finds the closest units available to respond and identifies the type of emergency call.
“Now, with this new station alerting system that’s tied into it, so once it determines the closest units to respond, it will then send out an automated message and alert to those stations,” LFR’s Derek Delgado said.
That automated message could sound something like this, “Engine 20 respond to structure fire at Kohls,” an example LFR showed KCBD while displaying the new system. Firefighters can hear those messages through speakers, and even if they have headphones on, they can see LED alert lights in the dorm hallway and a strobe light in the gym. There’s also a rolling ticker board in the bay that shows crews where they’re going and the type of call.
“That’s going to allow us to get in the mindset of, hey, we’re just going to a medical call. We don’t have to get in full bunker gear as if we’re going to a structure fire,” Delgado said. “Or, hey, you’re going to a structure fire. Get bunked out and get ready to go inside of a burning building.”
Before this week, dispatchers would manually click each button for the units that need to respond, wait for the tone and talk over the PA system. That process is now automated. Delgado says after about a one-week trial, he department is already seeing a 30-second cut in response time.
