A growing number of California cities are now charging an extra fee when people call 911 for a medical emergency, forcing some to shell out hundreds of dollars in addition to their ambulance bill. Kristine Lazar … [Read more...]

Local fire departments will face a considerable expense in switching over to the province's new emergency communications system which is set to come into use next summer. Premier Brian Pallister this week told municipal leaders that the province is paying all of the $380 million … [Read more...]

During the week that I wrote this article I spoke at the Southern California Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers Annual Fire Protection Engineering Symposium. The topic of my talk was “New Technologies for Fire Alarm Systems.” I also discussed how I believe … [Read more...]

ROGERSVILLE — Questions surrounding the Emergency Medical Dispatching certifications of several Hawkins Co. Emergency Communications District dispatchers resulted this week in all staff having to be re-certified by an onsite instructor, and a full training audit of all staff … [Read more...]

The FCC adopted rules that will help first responders locate people who call 9-1-1 from wireless phones in multistory buildings. The rules will help emergency responders determine the floor level of a 9-1-1 caller, which will reduce emergency response times and ultimately save … [Read more...]

PITTSBURGH - Allegheny County's state-of-the-art 911 center is where more than a dozen dispatchers respond to thousands of calls daily. When they dispatch an ambulance or police to a scene, most times they do so on a spectrum of the radio system known as the T-band. "That … [Read more...]

LAWRENCE, Mass. — Lawrence firefighters know their safety depends on being able to communicate. Now there's a new tool to help them do so, a van packed with communications equipment that can let fire departments from all over talk to each other during an emergency. "It's … [Read more...]

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police arrested a man after he allegedly threatened to kill a 9-1-1 operator during a call, according to an arrest affidavit. On Wednesday, Nov. 6, police were sent to a Motel 6 at 1901 Airport Commerce Drive in southeast Austin for a check welfare call. … [Read more...]

Hall County’s former 911 director resigned effective Oct. 21 after an internal affairs investigation into her unauthorized use of a state crime information database to check the status of warrants on her husband. Kim Nelson, who had worked for the county since 2001, had been … [Read more...]

As Mayor David Condon’s administration ardently and publicly advocated for the city to join a new emergency communications system, its own staff privately flagged possible violations against the union that would soon represent former city fire dispatchers. According to emails … [Read more...]