Three words could save your life
In an emergency, time can truly mean the difference between life and death. Oshawa Fire Services is proud to be the first fire service in Canada to use a new location technology known as what3words to dispatch emergency help to exactly where it is needed.
what3words is a location technology that divides the world into a grid of 3 metre x 3 metre squares and assigns each square with a unique three-word identifier. The encoding is permanently fixed. For example, ///twin.medium.pebbles will take you to the bridge in the Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens.
Using the location technology, Oshawa Fire Services can now accurately and quickly dispatch emergency services to the precise location of an incident.
Mobile users can use what3words by downloading the free app or via an online map at what3words.com. During an emergency, Oshawa Fire Services communication dispatchers can text callers a link that will provide three words that when entered into the online find me map will show the dispatcher and the caller exactly where they are. Using a what3words address gives callers a simple way to describe precisely where help is needed, particularly in areas where there may be no address, no obvious landmarks or if the street address is not accurate.
The City of Oshawa’s fire department is the largest department in Durham Region serving approximately 166,000 community members and provides dispatch for Oshawa, Whitby and Clarington Fire Services, with alerting coverage for Brock, Scugog and Uxbridge Fire Services.
Oshawa Fire Services joins emergency services and 911 call centres around the globe using the UK-based technology which covers the entire world and never needs updating. Recently, Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Manitoba were able to locate a pair of hikers who became lost while exploring the rocky lakeside trails of Whiteshell Provincial Park in Canada’s first rescue using what3words.
The free what3words app is available for iOS and Android, and the online map enables people to find, share and navigate to what3words addresses in over 40 languages to date.
For more information on Oshawa Fire Services, visit www.oshawa.ca/fire and @OshawaFire on Twitter
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Quotes:
“Oshawa Fire Services is a provincial leader in fire safety and training and our City is excited to have the first fire service in Canada using this technology. We’re proud to offer this innovative and groundbreaking service to our community. what3words will tell emergency services exactly where you are. I would encourage everyone to download the free app – it could save your life!” said Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter.
“When a community member is in distress and seconds count, one of the most important things we need to identify quickly is their exact location. In Oshawa, where we have almost 410 hectares of trails and greenspace, as well as large rural and remote expanses of country north of the City, what3words is a powerfully accurate tool that will help us dispatch the right resource directly to the scene of any emergency,” said Oshawa Fire Services Chief Derrick Clark.
“Every day, people all around the world struggle to communicate their location to emergency services. This leads to crucial minutes and sometimes hours lost when trying to save lives. It can be even tougher to do this if you are in a rural area with no street addresses or landmarks. We recently discovered that over 30% of Canadians exercise more than once a week in areas like this - National Parks, mountains, beaches and lakes - and that number is set to rise during the coming months. By using a three word address, the public can be prepared, and if needed, know exactly where to ask for help.
We're delighted that Oshawa is the first fire department in Canada to use what3words, and look forward to seeing the impact in the coming months,” said Chris Sheldrick, co-founder and CEO, what3words.