San Diego Fire-Rescue Launches New Website to Track Emergencies

The nature of every 911 call answered by San Diego fire-rescue and the address where the emergency is taking place can be seen by the public on a new website, the department announced Monday.

The website—sdfiredispatch.org—was created to cut down on the number of calls to 911 by people who hear sirens and want to know what's going on, according to Susan Infantino, communications manager of the San Diego Fire- Rescue Department.

"Fire dispatchers are on the front line of emergency response," she said in a statement. "Answering questions from curious callers not only delays them from doing the important job of emergency dispatch. It clogs the phone lines and could delay a legitimate 911 call from getting through."

The website is updated every five minutes, 24 hours a day. It does not list specific patient information.

-City News Service