Oklahoma City’s 911 dispatch is evolving with the help of a new app

After launching the GoodSAM app in November, Oklahoma City’s Fire Department said on Friday that it has proven to be a good investment. 

“Once you call 911, we're able to get a live link sent to your phone and it's essentially a one-way video feed to our fire dispatchers,” said Scott Douglas, Public Information Officer at the Oklahoma City Fire Department. 

Douglas said the GoodSAM app allows dispatchers to have eyes on the scene with the click of a link. 

“We're getting great rates of people approving it. We have [a rate of] just over 90% that people approve it. So, you're not forced to do this. It's something that you have to agree to,” the PIO explained. 

In one incident, “Somebody saw smoke and thought it was a grass fire, but once they had the GoodSAM link and dispatch was able to see what was going on, it was actually a house fire,” allowing dispatchers to allot more resources to the scene faster. 

“Any type of technical rescue situation that may be hard to describe, if we could get a video feed to the individual that's trapped or in trouble, that's just a great resource for us,” OKCFD shared. 

The department explained that the app is used in various situations. 

"We're using it for everything. Hazmat situations — a lot of times people have a hard time explaining; is it a fuel spill or is it a chemical spill?” 

The fire department said people who call 911 while driving do not receive links. 

OKCFD added that it pays $40,000 a year to use the app, but it does not use it for medical calls because medical calls are dispatched to EMSA, a separate agency. 

An EMSA spokesperson told News 9 that it has no plans to strike a deal with the creators of the app at this time.