Those with physical disabilities or have other critical information about their households are being encouraged to add to a registry available to Haverhill Fire Department personnel in the event of an emergency.
City Councilor John A. Michitson introduced firefighter Ryan Fairbanks during Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council. Fairbanks explained how the program called “Community Connect” works.
“Community Connect is a free, secure and easy-to-use platform that allows you to share critical information about your household that will aid emergency response personnel when responding to your residence. By voluntarily providing information about your household that you feel is important for the fire department to know, we can better protect you and everything you care about during an emergency,” he said.
Information would be available to first responders on a dashboard before they arrive. Fairbanks presented a video explaining the type of information they could use.
“Things like, how many occupants to expect at your home, if anyone has access or functional needs or speaks another language, whether or not you have pets or livestock, structural details like where the bedrooms are or even where hazardous materials may be located,” the announcer noted.
Fairbanks provided reassurances of privacy. He explained data collected is used only by emergency personnel, and the program uses the same security and encryption standards found in online banking.
He told councilors that residents will be able to sign-up online and the program should be up and running within the next two weeks.