New technology guides first responders

— -- Navigating backcountry roads in places like Hawkins County, Tenn., can be a challenge for ambulance drivers, even if they know the territory.

That's why since March 31, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, purchased locally for $200 each, have been in use in the county's five ambulances, says Chris Christian, with the Hawkins County Emergency Medical Service (EMS).

The rural squad is one of a growing number of first-responder organizations small and large across the USA equipping vehicles with satellite navigating and vehicle-tracking technology, says Ed Plaugher, director of national programs for the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

While no national statistics are available on how many first responders use satellite navigating devices, their use of automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems — which build on GPS technology to transmit a rescue vehicle's location to a command post — has increased more than 20% per year since 2000, says Clem Driscoll, president of C.J. Driscoll and Associates, a marketing consulting firm in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.

Nationwide, about one-fourth of ambulances, 15% of fire vehicles and 10% of police cars are equipped with AVL systems, he says.

"It's no longer just about finding the address," Plaugher says. "It's also about finding the closest vehicle."

High price tags and slow political processes have caused some larger city departments to lag in adopting the technology, says Theodore Collins, president and chief executive officer of InterAct Public Safety Systems, a North Carolina company that provides AVL and dispatch software.

Last month in Washington, D.C., rescue workers responding to a 911 call about a seizure confused an address on G Street with one on G Place, says Demetrios Vlassopoulos, battalion fire chief of communications. The victim, Jeremy Miller, 35, later died.

In total, 34 minutes and 15 seconds elapsed from the first 911 call to when the patient was delivered to a hospital less than 2 miles away, he says.