A Connecticut fire department is rolling out a new dispatch system that aims to ease stress

Описание: (6 Mar 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Danbury, Connecticut - 22 January 2026
1. Drone exterior of Danbury Fire Department ++SILENT AT SOURCE++
2. Close, new alert system speaker with flashing lights UPSOUND: "Truck one respond to sick person at Three Old Lantern Road"
3. Tight, flashing red light
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Asst. Chief William Lounsbury, Danbury Fire Department: 
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED BY VIDEO++
"The new system has reduced and she'll continue to reduce firefighter stress from the sound of the tones going off. The information is delivered clearer so you're not struggling to understand what's being said and overall you're reducing that level of stress that's involved with this very stressful job as a firefighter."
5. Wide, Firetruck bay with new alert system in the ceiling
6. Tight, flashing red light UPSOUND: "Engine 27 and truck two respond to first alarm at 19 New Street"
7. Old speaker used by the old alert system UPSOUND: audible tones used by old alert system
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Asst. Chief William Lounsbury, Danbury Fire Department: 
++SOUNDBITE COVERED BY VIDEO++
"The old system was extremely jarring, especially for the major alert tones. We have a, you know, it's like the disaster tone, I'll basically call it. When that tone goes off, it gets everybody's adrenaline pumping, your cortisol levels go up. And if that tone goes off, you now, once, twice, three times a day, that has an effect, you know a long-term effect on firefighters' health and safety."
9. Various, scanner radio used by the old alert system
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Kevin Lunnie, Danbury Fire Department: 
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED BY VIDEO++
"I wear a smart watch that measures heart rate, a lot of people do now, tracking fitness and all kinds of things, and you notice a huge jump in your heart rate. It's just kind of overwhelming response in your body when the major alert tones would go off."
11. Captain Lunnie putting on a jacket to respond to a fire call
12. Various, new alert display system with scrolling text and count down timer
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Asst. Chief William Lounsbury, Danbury Fire Department: 
++SOUNDBITE COVERED BY VIDEO++
"So then when an alarm comes in, it'll give you, it will scroll across like an old ticker tape idea with where the call is, what the incident is and what apparatus is being dispatched to the call. It also gives a countdown timer, so it will tell you from when the call starts to how long it is until you're actually turning out of the station in an effort to encourage the firefighters to make sure they're within industry standards to get out of the station from the time of dispatch to rolling out of stations. We'd like to see 90 seconds or less."
14. Firefighter responding to the new alert system putting on gear
15. Scrolling of smartphone app of new alerts UPSOUND: "We can go to the actual call..."
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Kevin Lunnie, Danbury Fire Department: 
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED BY VIDEO++
"And when I'm here, it's nice because on the way down to the firetruck, there's a lot of noise. I can pull up my phone and look at the CAD notes so it's a real-time connection to the computer-aided dispatch system. So if dispatchers enter more information, you can look at it right on your phone. If you're in an apartment building and you're like, oh, it is 2 o'clock in the morning, what unit are we going to? You can pull your phone out and you can see what unit you're going to."
17. Smartphone app of new alert system UPSOUND: "Engine 26, squad 21, car 30..."
18. Firetruck pulling out of the station


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