London Fire Brigade Proposes Emergency Tweet Service
The London Fire Brigade has announced that it is considering opening an emergency tweet service, so that the public can tweet about a fire instead of calling 999.The London Fire Brigade has just published its most recent ‘London Safety Plan’, with the emergency tweets announcement coming soon after.
The emergency services are already using social media to respond to emergencies. For instance, after a fire broke out in London at the start of the year, firefighters turned to Twitter for information in the absence of an available helicopter.
"With over a billion people now using Facebook and half a billion using Twitter, it's quite clear that social media is here to stay," said Rita Dexter, deputy commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, about the proposed change.
"The London Fire Brigade is the biggest fire service in the country and we think it's important to look into ways to improve how we communicate with the public and how they can get in touch with us."
With BT handling, “over 30 million emergency calls each year”, continued Dexter, it is “now time to look at new ways for people to report emergencies quickly and efficiently and social media could provide the answer in the future.”
The Brigade were quick to point out that emergency tweets are just an idea at the moment, and that the general public should continue to ring 999 if they see a fire.
The Brigade intends to work with other emergency services such as the London Metropolitan Police and the London Ambulance Service to make this concept into a reality.
The London Fire Brigade Twitter account, @LondonFire, has 30,000 followers.
Would you tweet an emergency if you could?
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London Fire Brigade Proposes Emergency Tweet Service
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