CURRENT PRESS RELEASE

Publicity Release
Date: April 22, 2003
To: News/Features Editors
From: Elk Grove Community Services District (CSD) Fire Department

SMART ALERTING TECHNOLOGY AIDS ELK GROVE FIREFIGHTERS

Elk Grove, CA - In a field where the main goal remains "putting the wet stuff on the red stuff," technology is coming to the aid of fire service responders in surprising new ways. The Elk Grove Community Services District (CSD) has purchased a new Fire Station Alerting system for two of its fire stations that will help improve the reliability of the alerting system and reduce the noise for adjacent homeowners.

The system at Fire Station 71 on Elk Grove Boulevard was installed last August and has served as a test case for the new system designed and installed by ComTech Communications of Sacramento. ComTech developed the new system after working on Elk Grove's old system and listening to the needs expressed by firefighting personnel. ComTech's creation combines the functions of two older units into one and adds additional enhancement features. Based on the system's tested success in Elk Grove, ComTech hopes to launch their product nationally in the coming months.

"The system has worked extremely well for us here," said Elk Grove CSD Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Zehnder. "It offers better notification to the crews and shaves off a few seconds here and there which is good since in our business, every second counts."

Fire stations across the country are responsible for managing their own alerting technology. Alerting technology works in conjunction with radio and phone dispatching transmissions relayed from the 9-1-1 emergency center. Alerting technology cues firefighters of an incoming emergency dispatch using special lights and sounds. The new Fire Station Alerting system expands on these standard features to include activating fire station lighting and reset functions.

"The automatic shutoff feature has helped us to be a better community neighbor," explained Zehnder. "With the old system, the exterior fire station radio speakers would blare traffic until someone returned to the station to manually reset the system, now it shuts off automatically within a few minutes of the crew's departure."

Additional upgrade features also enable the system to automatically shut down fire station appliances when firefighters are called away during meal times or during peak energy use periods.

Elk Grove CSD Fire Department plans to retrofit four other fire stations with the Fire Station Alerting system within the next year. The Fire Department will also be sharing its experience with the new Fire Station Alerting system with other Fire Department's across the country through a streaming media feature on the ComTech web site at www.comtechcom.net.

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Contact: Kristyn Staby
Public Information Officer
Elk Grove CSD Fire Department
(916) 686-5426 (office)
(916) 814-2161 (pager)
kristynstaby@egcsd.ca.gov
www.egcsd.ca.gov

ComTech Contact: Dave Johnson
(916) 568-7800
sales@comtechcom.net