Susan is an automated alert for College Station, Texas, firefighters that is saving them 15 to 18 seconds in response time, according to a department spokesman.
"A fire doubles in size every 30 seconds," said Bob Radtke, communications manager for the College Station Police Department, which houses the city's dispatch center. "Fifteen seconds is a very long time to be on fire. If you are in a situation where that's happened to you, 15 seconds can be an eternity. Just a few seconds might make the difference for firefighters being on time or too late."
Susan comes over the station's PA system as soon as a 911 operator enters minimal information needed to respond to an emergency into the system. Fire department spokesman Bart Humphreys said Susan and the Westnet system have helped firefighters reduce their "turnout time," the amount of time from when a station gets alerted to when the trucks get moving, to less than 90 seconds 86 to 87 percent of the time. That's up from 80 percent before the system was installed.
Firefighters installed the $558,300 Westnet alerting system a year ago with funding from the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant and the city of College Station to replace a previous alerting system built in-house that was proving difficult to maintain and upgrade.
While the new system has its benefits in improving how firefighters do their jobs, it's also aimed at keeping them healthy.
The alerting system in the stations includes dorm remotes that allow firefighters to program alerts for specific units. Therefore, a paramedic could program the dorm remote to only go off when the ambulance gets called out, allowing him to continue sleeping if he's not needed on a call. Once an alert does come through in the middle of the night, however, it's in low tones and a soft voice, instead of a bell that previously "jolted you out of bed," Battalion Chief Thomas Goehl said.
"It's designed to be easier on the guys' heart and blood pressure," firefighter Andy Throne said, noting that the leading cause of death among firefighters is heart disease.
Not only has the new system benefited firefighters and the people they protect, it's streamlined the process for dispatchers, Radtke said. It also allows them to stay on the line with someone who might need instructions for CPR instead of having to put them on hold to dispatch a unit. That's when Susan takes over.
Firefighters will continue working to tweak California-born Susan's pronunciation as needed.
One day, they hope to teach her to put the emphasis on the first syllable of highway.
©2014 The Eagle (Bryan, Texas)
