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First Responders

Stories that highlight or include the work of professionals that are first to respond to emergency situations. Includes law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs).

The looming release of iOS 18 promises to bring improvements to emergency call handling and dispatching. Nashville, meanwhile, has begun using a new 911 call platform designed to make life more efficient for emergency call takers.
The company, which already serves the federal government, has released a data-based product to other public agencies. The goal is to help officials with flood response, management and recovery operations.
One of North Carolina's largest counties is deploying a new emergency communications system from Hexagon. The exec running the 911 center — now the new president of NENA — details what will happen and what’s at stake.
The National Safety Council reports that 29 children died in hot cars in 2023. Efforts like the Henderson, Nev., Fire Department's Check Your Seats in the Heat campaign teach that these tragedies are preventable.
Following issues when 911 dispatch was disrupted by telecom outages, the state has signed a five-year deal for RapidSOS's public safety tech platform to streamline services and ensure critical communication.
A proposed Emergency Response Standard would increase training requirements for firefighters, which could prove too costly for volunteer brigades or mean some volunteers have to drop out of the programs.
Thanks to Apple, rich communication services are in the news, and now a new partnership could help spread those tools deeper into the public safety space. RapidSOS is coming off a major funding round.
If approved by the full county board in June, the project will bring together dozens of local law enforcement and fire agencies at a new $53.8 million Regional Operations and Communications Facility.
Police departments and emergency dispatch centers need more workers. Gov tech suppliers are rushing to the rescue, promising new software, data integration and other tools to make up for vacant positions.
Two new tools from the public safety tech provider, fresh off an Innovation Day, offer AI assistance during emergencies and wider, unified views of data vital to first responders. The move reflects wider gov tech trends.