New app helps firefighters respond quicker to emergency situations

ISHPEMING– When it comes to responding to an emergency situation, time is of the essence.

For firefighters in the City of Ishpeming, they’re able to respond to fires and other calls they’re paged to quicker and more efficiently than ever, thanks to technology.

Two months ago, the Ishpeming Volunteer Fire Department purchased an app called ‘I Am Responding.’ For $300 a year, the app will relay information from central dispatch right to their phones or the fire station.

The app shows firefighters the fastest way to get to the scene and where the fire hydrants in the city are all located.

“It takes your mind off of things when you can come into the hall on a call in the middle of the night and you have a little bit of a foggy head, you know who’s coming in to the hall, you have a map to and from the incident and you know what you’re getting into,” said Jon Devold, a firefighter with the department. “The nature code, whether it’s a structure fire or a vehicle accident, that info is put in there and the address right from central dispatch. We have more information now prior to getting on–scene than we ever had before,” Devold added.

‘I Am Responding’ also allows the fire department to keep track of the amount of calls they receive and the locations of where the emergency situations occur for up to one year.