PROVO, Utah — First responders in Provo and Orem will be able to arrive at emergency situations even faster now thanks to a major tech upgrade that involves AI.
The tech upgrade comes as Provo recently opened a brand new city hall and public safety building and as the city appointed a new fire chief.
Jeremy Headman, the new chief, will oversee the dispatch center and said he knew it was time for a major upgrade.
"We've had the same dispatch system for 25 years," he explained. "It was time for us to upgrade with the latest technology."
The new technology is called the Phoenix, GR voice alert dispatch module. It's designed to assist dispatchers during an emergency call by reading details out loud in just seconds.
"I remember early in my career, the dispatchers had to locate the emergency on a map and figure out which station was closest to know who to dispatch, now the computer does most of that work for them," Headman reflected.
Dispatchers are still an essential part of the process and while the new upgrades will not take the human element out, they will improve efficiency.
Headman says they aim for a five-minute response time and every second counts when responding to serious situations.
"Dispatch will receive the call, they'll enter the information and the computer will kick out the response," Headman said.
The update will especially come in handy at the beginning of 2024, when Provo and Orem officially combine their public safety dispatch services to serve a bigger area of Utah county together.
