Grant Aims for Better Emergency Response in Kansas

A federal grant will make it easier for Johnson County firefighters and ambulance workers to respond to emergencies.

The grant of more than $500,000 is expected to equip all frontline fire and MedAct units, 66 units in all, with mobile data terminals by the end of the year.

The units are designed to build on the computer-aided dispatch system already in use by police departments. Among other things, the new technology will provide instant information about incidents that firefighters and ambulance crews respond to, including up-to-date maps, any previous call history and hazardous situations or materials at the site.

This is going to benefit all the citizens of Johnson County, said Jeff Johnson, deputy fire chief of Johnson County Fire District No. 2, whose department will help administer the grant along with the Johnson County Fire Chiefs Association and Johnson County Government. Johnson is the project officer for the grant.

Johnson said the technology will also help with information such as fire hydrant locations and with increased cooperation among fire departments.

There are times when we have no boundaries and we respond with other units, he said. This will make that easier.

Johnson County will pay a small portion just more than $27,000 of the $546,000 project. The rest will be paid by a regional grant from the Department of Homeland Security. Law enforcement officials throughout Johnson County already use mobile data technology.

Ron Graham, president of the Johnson County Fire Chiefs Association, said the technology would enhance the ability of firefighters and emergency medical technicians to quickly gather information about a call.

The (technology) will provide a means, other than voice communications, to relay critical information in a timely fashion, he said in a press release.

Overland Park Fire Chief Bryan Dehner said the technology would help responders be privy to all of the information they might have back at the station.

It gets all of the attainable information into the field quicker, Dehner said. (Responders) will have as much information at their fingertips as dispatchers, instead of instead of carrying a filing cabinet around.

Number of Johnson County fire and ambulance units to be equipped with mobile data terminals:

• Overland Park will receive software only, because its fire trucks have already been equipped with hardware.

Distributed by the Associated Press