MAURY COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — First responders know when an emergency happens every second counts.
Firefighters in Maury County are crediting an iPhone alert with helping them save lives.
On Jan. 1, around 9 p.m. a driver on Frye Road near Butler Road somehow left the road and plunged into Carter's Creek. The driver's phone was thrown from the car, but an iPhone crash notification detected what happened and automatically called 911.
Crews from Fire Station 12 arrived at the rural scene in just 6 minutes and were able to help the driver. When they arrived, the person was out of the car and was conscious. They were taken to the hospital as a precaution, but are expected to be okay. It is unknown what caused the crash.
"We were so grateful to receive the iPhone crash notification," said Savannah Maddison, the Public Information Officer at Maury County Fire Department. "We were able to find the exact coordinates of the vehicle."
Crash detection alerts are designed to detect severe car crashes. The iPhone or Apple Watch will sound an alarm and display an alert. If the user is able, they can call emergency services, or if they are unable to respond, the device will automatically call emergency services after a short delay.
Officials in Maury County estimate they receive hundreds of calls from iPhone crash notifications a year. However, in some cases the notification is sent incorrectly.
"If they have a phone crash notification, and they don’t need services, then grab the phone and deactivate that notification to make sure we aren’t sending you resources you don’t need," said Maddison.
Still, Maddison said she believes the benefits of the notifications outweigh the risks, and it can help save lives.
"If you are ever unconscious or in an emergency, we will be able to find your exact location if this is enabled," said Maddison.
On iPhone and Apple Watches set up to work with crash detection, the feature is turned on by default. Users can also alert their emergency contacts and share their Medical ID with first responders. To share their location, location services for Emergency SOS must be turned on. Find more information online.
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