City Mayor Andy Berke
photo by Hollie Webb
County Mayor Jim Coppinger
photo by Hollie Webb
A Minnesota-based company GeoComm will help make sure that every address matches those used by emergency first responder GPS technology.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger said, "When you're dealing with an emergency response, when minutes and seconds actually matter, this is something that as time goes on, you will see that it will save lives."
County Mayor Coppinger said he wanted the public to be aware of the GeoComm technicians and vehicles that will be out verifying addresses.
Each vehicle is clearly marked.
He said, "It's really important that people know this because they will be, particularly in the unincorporated areas, you're going to see these on some of the rural roads where people don't see much traffic at all."
He said, overall, this will simplify the emergency response process.
Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke agreed, saying, "We want our first responders to go to the right location as quickly as possible to help insure the safety of our residents...It's all about making the lives of our citizens better."
Mayor Berke said that he personally grew up at an address that he did not find out until much later did not match what emergency responders had listed for that location. If an emergency had happened, this small difference could have cost precious time.
He said for residences where the address was in questions, those residents would receive a packet in the mail so that they could verify their location to the 911 Control Center.
Mayor Berke said of the first responders, "They literally save lives everyday. There are not many people in the world that can say that."