MERCED, Calif. (KMJ/KFSN) — Residents will benefit from a new alert system at the Merced Fire Station.
Officials say it’s helping dispatchers and firefighters improve response times to emergency calls.
Large monitors are mounted on the walls throughout the station.
Then when a 911 call comes in, both dispatchers and EMS teams can see important information in real time, such as the type of emergency, location details and how many minutes it’s been since the call first came in.
Casey Wilson, Merced’s interim fire chief, says the previous alert system was about 15 years old and was due for an upgrade.
In times of emergency, a fast response is critical because every second can mean life or death.
“In four to six minutes of your brain being deprived of oxygen, there can be detrimental impacts to the body,” Wilson said. “Specifically, brain damage. It’s important that we process the calls quickly and that we get to emergency scenes quickly to make sure that we can reduce those effects in the event that somebody’s having a heart attack or they’re not breathing.
The new alert system was paid for with voter-approved Measure C funding of a half-cent sales tax in Merced.
