米兰体育 13 NEWS AT SIX STARTS. NOW. IT鈥橲 HAPPENED TO US ALL. YOU鈥橰E DRIVING DOWN THE STREET AND YOU LOOK UP AND THERE鈥橲 A FIRE TRUCK BEHIND YOU, AND YOU HAVE TO ACT VERY QUICKLY TO LET IT PASS YOU. THANKS SO MUCH FOR JOINING US AT SIX. I鈥橫 SHERI FALK I鈥橫 GUY RAWLINGS FIRST RESPONDERS AT ONE CENTRAL ALABAMA FIRE DEPARTMENT HOPE NEW TECHNOLOGY FIXES THAT PROBLEM. 米兰体育 13 AARON LEWELLYN VISITED THE FIRE STATION TO GET AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT HOW A NEW SYSTEM IS HELPING KEEP YOU ALERT ON THE ROAD. WHEN YOU鈥橰E DRIVING DOWN THE STREET. SOMETIMES HEARING THIS SOUND ISN鈥橳 ENOUGH. WITH ALL THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY, DRIVERS CAN GET DISTRACTED AND THIS REALLY HELPS OUT. IT鈥橪L TURN YOUR MUSIC DOWN, IT鈥橪L NOTIFY YOU OF AN ALERT, AND THEN IT鈥橪L LET THEM KNOW THAT EITHER THEY鈥橰E COMING UP ON US, OR THAT WE鈥橰E COMING UP ON THEM. FULTONDALE FIRE AND RESCUE WILL USE THE SAFETY CLOUD SYSTEM, SO WHEN THEY ARE ON THEIR WAY TO A CALL AND THESE LIGHTS ARE ON, DRIVERS WILL GET A NOTIFICATION RIGHT TO THEIR PHONE LETTING THEM KNOW THAT THEY NEED TO PULL OVER OR SLOW DOWN. KNOW THAT WE鈥橰E COMING AND KNOW, HEY, WE NEED TO TAKE ACTION INSTEAD OF SEEING US RIGHT WHEN WE GET UP ON THEIR BUMPER. FULTONDALE FIRE AND RESCUE CHIEF JUSTIN MCKENZIE TELLS ME 20% OF THE DEPARTMENT鈥橲 CALLS ARE CAR CRASHES, JUST DEPENDING ON THE DAY, DEPENDING ON THE WEATHER. BUT SOMETIMES WE RAN UP TO SEVEN WRECKS AT ONE TIME ON THE INTERSTATE, JUST DEPENDING ON HOW BAD A DAY IT IS. MCKENZIE SAYS THIS TECHNOLOGY IS PROVEN TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF SECONDARY CRASHES WHEN THERE ALREADY IS ONE ON LOWER SPEED ROADS. THIS NOTIFIES YOU UP TO A HALF A MILE IN DISTANCE OR ON HIGHER SPEED. LIKE THE INTERSTATE, IT CAN NOTIFY YOU UP TO A MILE IN DISTANCE. HE HOPES THE NEW TECHNOLOGY WILL GIVE DRIVERS MORE TIME TO MAKE ROOM ON THE ROAD FOR FIRST RESPONDERS. JUST LIKE SEATBELTS, JUST LIKE AIRBAGS, JUST LIKE BACKUP CAMERAS. JUST SOMETHING NEW THAT WE鈥橰E HOPING TO GET INTO. EVERY VEHICLE. PROTECTING NOT JUST THE FIRST RESPONDERS, BUT EVERYONE ON THE ROAD. WE DON鈥橳 WANT ANYBODY TO WRECK. WE WANT THEM TO STAY SAFE. IT STILL HAPPENS. SO WE鈥橰E HOPING TO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO KEEP US SAFER AND KEEP EVERYBODY ELSE SAFER.
Fultondale Fire & Rescue rolling out new technology to keep drivers alert and safe on the road
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Updated: 9:42 PM CDT Mar 25, 2025
New technology is on its way to the city of Fultondale, and it鈥檚 designed to keep you alert while driving.Fultondale Fire & Rescue is already using the Safety Cloud system in its administrative vehicles, but it will soon be ready to use in its fire trucks as well.When firefighters are on their way to an accident and their lights are flashing, drivers along the route will get a notification. It will either come to their phone or through their Apple CarPlay. Notifications will also be sent to drivers using Apple Maps or Waze. Right now, these notifications are only enabled on certain newer vehicle makes like Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Volkswagen and Ram.The notifications will pop up when firefighters are at least a mile away in high-speed areas of travel like highways and major streets. The goal is to help encourage drivers to slow down and move over when they know first responders are near.鈥淗ere in Fultondale, we have 150,000 people that passed through our city every day coming to and from work from the city of Birmingham,鈥� McKenzie said. 鈥淎nd then, because we have a major interstate 鈥� we have Highway 31 and other major thoroughfares 鈥� it鈥檚 very important to us. We鈥檙e running wrecks almost every day right now, and because of that, to keep our people safe and also keep the ones who live here that are bystanders, the ones who are passing through our city, we want to keep everybody as safe as possible.鈥�>> 米兰体育 13 ON-THE-GO: Download our app for freeMcKenzie said the system will be active and ready to use, hopefully in a week, for fire trucks.He told 米兰体育 13 the technology tracks data like response times and how many drivers are getting notifications, but that information won鈥檛 be available for at least another month.
FULTONDALE, Ala. — New technology is on its way to the city of Fultondale, and it鈥檚 designed to keep you alert while driving.
Fultondale Fire & Rescue is already using the Safety Cloud system in its administrative vehicles, but it will soon be ready to use in its fire trucks as well.
When firefighters are on their way to an accident and their lights are flashing, drivers along the route will get a notification. It will either come to their phone or through their Apple CarPlay. Notifications will also be sent to drivers using Apple Maps or Waze. Right now, these notifications are only enabled on certain newer vehicle makes like Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Volkswagen and Ram.
The notifications will pop up when firefighters are at least a mile away in high-speed areas of travel like highways and major streets. The goal is to help encourage drivers to slow down and move over when they know first responders are near.
鈥淗ere in Fultondale, we have 150,000 people that passed through our city every day coming to and from work from the city of Birmingham,鈥� McKenzie said. 鈥淎nd then, because we have a major interstate 鈥� we have Highway 31 and other major thoroughfares 鈥� it鈥檚 very important to us. We鈥檙e running wrecks almost every day right now, and because of that, to keep our people safe and also keep the ones who live here that are bystanders, the ones who are passing through our city, we want to keep everybody as safe as possible.鈥�
>> 米兰体育 13 ON-THE-GO: Download our app for free
McKenzie said the system will be active and ready to use, hopefully in a week, for fire trucks.
He told 米兰体育 13 the technology tracks data like response times and how many drivers are getting notifications, but that information won鈥檛 be available for at least another month.
