The voluntary Community Connect registry can give first responders information about a household while they're on the way to a 911 call.
When firefighters enter a burning home, they may know the address and what a caller was able to tell a 911 dispatcher. What they don't necessarily know is where the bedrooms are.
Greenville Fire-Rescue says a voluntary registry available to city residents can help fill in those blanks before firefighters arrive.
Community Connect allows residents to provide information about their homes and the people who live there. That can include the number and ages of household members, bedroom locations, medical conditions, mobility limitations, pets, utility shutoffs and other information that could be useful during an emergency.
Sylvia Peace with Greenville Fire-Rescue told KETR that information about a home's layout can be especially valuable during a fire.
Firefighters searching a smoke-filled house may otherwise have to work their way through the building looking for occupants. Knowing where someone normally sleeps could instead help responders determine where to concentrate their search or whether they may be able to reach someone through a bedroom window.
The registry can also include information about residents with medical conditions or limited mobility. Families can provide details that may help first responders interact with a child on the autism spectrum or a person with Alzheimer's disease or dementia.
Residents decide how much information they want to provide.
According to Peace, Community Connect is tied to Greenville's emergency response system. When a 911 call is dispatched to a registered address, firefighters can access the household's Community Connect information from the iPads carried aboard fire apparatus while crews are responding. Peace said the information isn't simply available for firefighters to browse when there isn't an emergency call associated with the address.
Residents can update their information as circumstances change, and the system sends an annual reminder asking participants to review their profiles. Greenville Fire-Rescue can also assist people who don't use the internet or aren't comfortable entering the information themselves.
Peace said participation remains lower than the department would like. While Fire-Rescue has particularly encouraged older adults and households that include people with disabilities or special needs to participate, she said the department would like to see households throughout Greenville register.
Community Connect is available only to addresses within the Greenville city limits because it is integrated with the city's computer-aided dispatch system.
In the accompanying interview, Peace explains how firefighters use the information, what residents can include in a profile and how the registry could save time during an emergency.
