August 18, 2009 - Dwight Hayes
A major fire or accident can quickly overwhelm the
capability of the regular on-duty shift personnel to handle
the situation. When it does, additional help is
needed, and fast. A fast and reliable method of
notifying off duty and volunteer personnel can save life and
property. Over the years Arab fire chiefs have relied
on bells, sirens, radios, and phones to try to reach as many
as possible when the need arose. Arab Fire Chief Ricky
Phillips thinks he may have found the best system available
right now.
Phillips recently came across an
automated calling system that allows off duty personnel to be
reached within minutes no matter where they are as long as they
have a cell phone. The calling system, provided by a
company called One Call Now, allows 911 dispatchers or
fire officials to call up to 50 off duty personnel
simultaneously with a 90 second recorded message with
instructions. While most of the calls are directed to the
firefighter's cell phone, the system can actually call up to 6
numbers for each person. The system provides post call
reports to verify who was reached and when. The report
will show if the call was answered by a human, voicemail, or if
there was no answer. It will also continue to call an
unanswered or busy number for a pre-set number of attempts or until the
call is answered.
One Call Now, based in Troy,
Ohio, says it's large scale, secure telephone server can dial up
to 60,000 calls an hour and can be used for a wide variety of
notification needs.
Phillips said the service, which
costs the fire department $250 per year, has already paid for
itself. Although only in service for about 2 weeks, it has
already been used three times. The first call was to the
fire that destroyed one of the Hinds Motors buildings on August
8th. Phillips said the average response to an "All Call"
prior to the new system was two firefighters. Phillips
said, "Ten off duty personnel responded to the Hinds fire and we
needed everyone of them." The system was also used when
the Twin Lake Golf Club Pro Shop was struck by lightning and for
a Haynes Road mobile home fire.
Phillips said the call report is a very valuable
tool. "It gives us immediate feedback regarding who was
contacted, who responded, and who was not reached."
Phillips said that the system works especially well because
almost every firefighter carries a cell phone wherever they go.
In addition, the system has been configured to call from a
number that can be designated as an emergency number instead of
the regular fire department business number. Firefighters
can tell at a glance that the call is urgent and not a routine
call.
Long
time residents of Arab may remember the large siren that sat on
a now demolished water tank immediately behind the old city hall
building. The siren, referred to as "Roscoe", was sounded
to summon volunteer firefighters whenever a fire was reported.
In addition to fire duty, the siren was often used to warn of
tornados and even to signal the start of parades.
The department took it's first steps
into electronic technology when a system called a Plectron radio
monitor became available and several volunteers bought a unit
for their home or business. The Plectron was a one channel
radio could be monitored continuously or was capable of being
triggered by a radio signal. The radio receiver, about the
size of a large shoe box, was a precursor to scanners and pagers
but was limited due it's size and need for electricity.
A hotline phone was used for many years.
Dispatchers could simply lift the handset setting off a
continuous ring at a designated number. The system was
only effective if the firefighter was at home or business.
While beepers were used for a short time, the
advance in cell phone technology and portable Walkie Talkie
radios quickly replaced their use. Most recently
firefighters have primarily relied on the radios. The
drawback to radios was the weight, bulk, limited range, and
routine radio traffic noise. Prior to the current
automated calling systems it was very difficult for 911
personnel to place an individual call to 15-20 phones during an
emergency.
Phillips said
the calling system will allow the fire department to better
serve Arab. The system can be expanded to a wide range of
notification needs and can even be configured to ask for a
response from the person called.
For more information about One Call Now visit
www.onecallnow.com
