Story originally published by Calhoun Times

Wreck and hazard scenes are often dangerous for not only motorists on area roadways but also for first responders working the scene. A new piece of technology, however, is helping to keep all parties more safe.

In a recent presentation to the Gordon County Board of Commissioners, County Fire Department Deputy Chief Byron Sutton explained how a small device added to some of his department’s fleet can help save lives and prevent chain-reaction wrecks.

The Safety Cloud system by a company called Haas has been used by the Gordon County Fire Department for several months now, alerting nearby motorists when GCFD vehicles are responding to emergency situations.

“We’ve been using this since July,” Sutton said.

A small black transmitter box that can be added to any fleet vehicle initiates a signal zone within a certain radius of an emergency vehicle when emergency siren and lights are turned on.

“It’s all about collision prevention,” Sutton said. “How can we let the motoring public know that we are coming and/or that we are on the scene?”

The alert is received by certain navigation apps such as Waze and Apple Maps, and even transmits to some newer model vehicles directly.

“It broadcasts automatically over a cellular network and the approaching motorist gets plenty of time for notification, usually about half a mile or 30 seconds.”

Sutton said the device knows when an emergency vehicle is moving and when it is sitting on scene parked in place.

“They’re notified when we’re moving to an incident, and when we’re stopped,” Sutton said. “It’s continuously broadcasting.”

Each device takes up a minimal amount of space inside an emergency vehicle, using three wires total to operate.

“The device that is in a truck is about the size of three cell phones stacked up,” Sutton said.

Sutton said several fire truck manufacturers now put these types of devices in trucks straight from the factory, and aftermarket installation is currently easy and affordable as well.

According to Sutton, this type of technology is especially important on vehicles that respond to calls locally on Interstate 75.

“We have put it in Engine 1 which is at headquarters, Engine 5 out of Resaca, and our Battalion car — simply because those are the ones that are responding out on the interstate,” Sutton said.

These devices don’t take any extra work or attention from emergency responders, according to Sutton, not adding distractions to already tense situations.

“It’s passive for the personnel,” he said. “They don’t have to do anything to turn it on. It comes on with the siren and begins to broadcast.”

Safety Cloud also lets headquarters personnel see where the department’s vehicles are through a dashboard system, and keeps records for reporting and statistics keeping purposes. But its main purpose is always safety.

“Our objective is to keep traffic moving as best we can, and to keep our responders from getting struck,” Sutton said.

As far as cost, Sutton said the system per vehicle costs about the same as a personal cell phone bill each month.

For more information about Haas and the Safety Cloud system, visit haasalert.com online.