Pine Mountain Georgia Fire Department News

October 20, 2011
Firefighters Train with Project Lifesaver

While the Project Lifesaver equipment has not yet arrived, firefighters and police officers spent October 19-20 training to use the equipment when it arrives.

Pine Mountain Police Department and Fire Department worked together to obtain a Department of Justice grant that purchased the Project Lifesaver system and provided training. In addition, the fire department received a grant from State Farm Insurance that will fund purchasing the personal locator transmitters used in the system.

Project Lifesaver is targeted toward those suffering from Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism, traumatic brain injury and other issues that can cause a person to wander away and become lost.

Training on the Project Lifesaver system was provided by Lt. Bill Riley, of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.

Participating in the training program were two firefighters and four police officers. West Point Fire Chief Mitt Smith, whose department is already using the Project Lifesaver system, was present for the first day of class.

The first day of training involved classroom instruction. The second day involved working with the transmitters, receivers and antennas.

During the training, each firefighter and police officer had to find three hidden transmitters within an allocated amount of time, and all succeeded. The sight of police officers and firefighters walking around with antennas drew considerable stares from passing motorists.

A live search was held with the instructor serving as a missing person. While firefighters and police officers remained at the Pine Mountain Public Safety Center, Riley drove about two miles away, and carrying a transmitter walked away.

Though inexperienced at using the Project Lifesaver equipment, one of the teams found Riley in only 35 minutes. The other team had also established a strong signal from the transmitter and would have found him in a few moments.

In addition to learning how to use the system, one police officer and two firefighters attended additional training to become Project Lifesaver instructors.

Project Lifesaver is a radio tracking system that includes a small transmitter – about the size of a wristwatch -- worn by an individual who is subject to wandering away. The transmitter emits a radio chirp every second.

Public safety personnel utilize both omni-directional and directional antennas to track the chirp to the transmitter -- and hopefully the missing person.

While missing people have been found in as little as five minutes, the goal of Project Lifesaver is to find missing persons within a hour, before they begin suffering the effects of exposure.

Searching for missing people is primarily a law enforcement function but Project Lifesaver can be utilized by police officers, firefighters, EMS and anybody else with the proper training and desire to help.

In small cities and towns such as Pine Mountain, with small police departments, it just makes good sense to work together and provide the best customer service possible.

As soon as the Project Lifesaver equipment arrives, Pine Mountain public safety officials will begin efforts to locate those people and families that can benefit from the program.

To learn more about the Project Lifesaver system visit www.projectlifesaver.org

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