DIEPPE, NB The Dieppe Fire Department has been granted a 90 second head start on saving lives.
“Ninety seconds can mean the difference between life and death,” Deputy Fire Chief Conrad Landry said.
For two weeks now, the department has been test driving new software that alerts them as soon as a 911 call comes in. A television screen in the fire hall shows a map of Dieppe. When a 911 call is made, a little red phone pops up on this screen, showing where the call is coming from.
While the dispatcher is getting the information from the caller, firefighters are grabbing gear, jumping in trucks, and getting on the road.
“Before, we were missing that gap from the time when the 911 call came in until they dispatched us. It can be up to a minute and a half,” Landry said.
The whole system cost the department about $12,000, but for a station that takes 1,500 calls a year – about five calls a day- they say 90 seconds makes it all worth it.
“Recently we had a baby potentially not breathing and we were already on route and responding,” Landry said.
It’s called Pre-Station Alerting, and Dieppe is the second city in the country to use it. The other is Ajax, Ontario. It’s a live system, so the city’s natural gas lines, hydrants and roadblocks are all mapped out. Trucks are equipped with laptops so fire fighters can bring that information on the road.
“When we’re on our way to the call we can see our mapping system so we can see where the house is, what’s the closest cross street so we can plan our routes to get there quicker,” said firefighter Claude Richard.
They say fire can double in size within a minute. In March, a fatal fire took the life of a paramedic in Dieppe. This system could have made a difference – but it’s sure to make a difference in the future.
“We could have been there a minute and a half before, we could have known how the house laid out, we could have known the hazards in that house. So the firefighters could have had a different plan,” Landry said.
“If you stop learning in this job, you’re going to fall behind fairly quick. So by embracing new technology and embracing change you can change with the times and become a better firefighter,” Richard said.
Citizens in Dieppe are encouraged to call the Dieppe Fire Department if they want to add information about their property to the system. Or if they have loved ones who use oxygen or are in a wheelchair, that type of information will help firefighters know what they’re dealing with before they even get to the location.
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