First Responders

The city plans to use $75,000 from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security to launch its new service that aims to expand the work of EMS responders so they can provide more care and reduce patient hospital visits.

Mayor London Breed announced the first three cameras will be deployed to monitor high-crime zones when police officers can't. The city also recently rolled out police-operated drones and automated license plate readers.

Researchers at the University of Montana found a correlation between rising temperatures and increased 911 calls. That not only impacts vulnerable populations like seniors, but stretches first responder resources.

City and county police agencies across Maryland are moving to encrypted radio systems to protect witness and victim privacy, as well as officer safety. But some say the switch affects community trust.

Law enforcement agencies nationwide are losing officers faster than they can recruit them. Automated license plate readers and using drones as first responders are just two solutions that can act as "force multipliers."

With 70 fires currently burning in the Western U.S., the federal government's firefighting leadership teams have all been dispatched to incidents. It's a reflection of persistent recruitment and retention challenges.

Designating emergency medical services by law would go a long way toward addressing the many issues they face, including workforce shortages and funding deficits that make it difficult to help in critical situations.

Apalachee High School staff just this year started wearing badges with a form of ID from Centegix that allows them to alert administrators and first responders of an emergency, including Wednesday's deadly shooting.

San Antonio firefighters reached a tentative contract agreement last month that would increase firefighter and paramedic pay by 20 percent over three years, which the city plans to achieve by cutting spending elsewhere.

The Jefferson County Communications Center in Colorado has adopted a new platform to improve emergency operations. The new system uses artificial intelligence to improve efficiency.

Crime continues to drop this year in unincorporated Jefferson Parish, part of the greater New Orleans area. The sheriff’s office already fields roughly 30 drones, but is considering adding first responder drones.

Emergency dispatch workers face a flood of calls that don’t require immediate assistance, or don’t even seem serious. Versaterm’s newest product aims to reduce that problem — and the stress on call takers — via software and AI.

Law enforcement agencies across the country are buzzing about drones, but what’s the real impact? Government Technology got an exclusive video look at how one rural sheriff’s department is using UAVs to change the game.

Two tech firms are adding updated radar to unmanned aircraft, hoping to give police and firefighters better eyes in the sky and options for longer automated flights. The deal could help agencies with staffing woes.

New high-resolution images of a wildfire west of Loveland, Colo., that were captured by a stratospheric microballoon could help first responders validate real-time fire data. The project documented the state’s largest wildfire of 2024.

Safety measures in newer vehicles can also make it harder for responders to get to victims after a crash. Firefighters from Mapleton, North Mankato and Minnesota Lake learned how to get people out of a variety of vehicles.

The state’s Flood Inundation Mapping Alert Network website, updated this year, now offers a quicker, more seamless look at data from state and federal agencies. It can now predict in real time when areas will rise to flood stage.

As the U.S. becomes more diverse, emergency call centers are responding to more non-English speakers. Prepared and its competitors are using AI to power more capable, real-time translation.