A new service is now available for people in the event they have an emergency that needs firefighters.
Grand Forks Fire/Rescue is now offering Community Connect, a free online service so people can get critical information to emergency personnel as an emergency is happening, stated a post on its Facebook page.
People, whether they are private residents or businesses, can log on and create a profile and add any important information that would be helpful in an emergency.
All a person needs is Internet connection and a phone number and email address to create a profile. All information is secured and can only be released to personnel when an emergency call is made.
Some examples of critical information include:
- How many bedrooms a home has,
- Number of family members and their contact information,
- Livestock or pets on the property, including names and veterinary care contact information
- If any family members have disabilities, health concerns or don’t speak English,
- If there are any hazardous materials on the property,
- Gate and door codes,
- Where water and electricity shutoffs are located, and
- Emergency meeting place location.
“We had several reasons for going with this service, some of them technical,” said deputy Fire Chief Morgan Strohmann. “When someone makes a 911 call, it goes to Kelowna and they updated some of their software on their side and it enabled us to use a different vendor and through them, we discovered Community Connect,” he said. “We saw it was pretty beneficial and a lot of other communities are using it. The value of it is almost immeasurable.”
Positive feedback on the service has been swift, he said, with people saying they would definitely want firefighters to know about pets, children and hazards if they aren’t home if a fire starts.
The fire department already has pre-planning with businesses, which includes knowing where shutoffs for power and water are located. Community Connect extends that to private residents.
A link to Community Connect is available on Grand Forks Fire/Rescue’s Facebook page.
