GPS to be Installed in FDNY Vehicles
All of the fire trucks and EMS vehicles in New York City will have GPS units installed in them (from Firehouse.com).
New York, N.Y.-- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta today announced that all New York City ambulances and Fire Department apparatus including engines, ladder trucks, rescue companies and battalion vehicles will be equipped with the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system by the end of the summer.
AVL utilizes Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology to track the real-time movements of any equipped vehicle, helping dispatchers more accurately deploy emergency resources. AVL began in September 2005 as a pilot program with five engine companies on Staten Island and FDNY EMS units on Staten Island and in Southern Brooklyn. Under the system, EMS response times to the most serious medical emergencies (Segments 1-3) were reduced by 33 seconds.
This will be very useful in large, urban departments. The cost of the system will prohibit its use in smaller departments. In our fire department here, we don't need this type of system because our call volume isn't very high. We always know the location of our rigs.
