Scanner addicts who enjoy tracking emergency calls will be relieved to know Santa Barbara County will continue to support the PulsePoint emergency app one more year.
Last week, the app stopped displaying emergency calls for Santa Barbara County Fire Department and other agencies after county officials decided to end support.
An online petition asking County Fire Chief Eric Peterson to reconsider the cancellation had drawn 71 supporters as of this week.
But after an outcry from a few dozen users, the app will return soon, Capt. Dave Zaniboni said Tuesday.
“Our intent is we’re going to support the program for another year and evaluate it,” Zaniboni said.
Two years ago, county officials heralded the app for smartphones as a way to save lives.
The app targeted citizens and off-duty professionals trained in CPR, with alerts informing registered users when someone within 1,000 feet has a cardiac arrest.
Users could obtain CPR instructions as well as the location of the nearest automated external defibrillator, or AED, and instructions on how to use the device to restart the victim’s heart.
“I have no doubt in my mind it’s going to save lives,” Peterson said during a June 2015 press conference announcing the two-year, grant-funded pilot project.
Administering CPR in the minutes before first responders arrive more than doubles that person’s chance of survival.
After two years of use, a review of data revealed no documented cases of the app being used as a lifesaving tool during a cardiac emergency, county officials found.
Instead, residents used the app to identify where emergency crews were heading to and why.
“A decision was made to discontinue it because it was going to cost us money,” Zaniboni said, estimating the cost at between $8,000 and $10,000.
Not all agencies in the county participated, with Montecito Fire Department opting out due to its high number of celebrity residents.
Zaniboni urged people to obtain CPR training through the American Heart Association or American Red Cross.
“We want to emphasize that nothing replaces the importance of bystander CPR,” Zaniboni said.
The PulsePoint app worked for both iPhone and Android users.
However, iPhone owners weren’t left in the dark with PulsePoint disabled since they could use a firefighter-created free app, Dispatch SBC, that provides details on Santa Barbara County Fire Department calls.
One man allegedly claimed the PulsePoint app saved his wife’s life by alerting her to a fire nearby, Zaniboni said.
However, other programs — Aware and Prepare — are set up to provide more timely alerts to emergencies, Zaniboni said, urging residents to sign up for the that program. To sign up, click here or download the Aware and Prepare app.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.