CHENANGO COUNTY – The Chenango County Emergency Management Office is considering new software that may allow its department heads to more effectively coordinate members in emergency situations.

At a meeting of the county’s Safety and Rules Committee earlier this month, Chenango Emergency Management Director Matthew Beckwith explained that the “IAmResponding” software system will let him and other members of the department know immediately who is responding to calls and dispatches, where they’re responding, and when they will be responding.

The program, which can be downloaded as an app on department members’ cell phones, could help save critical time and reduce response times for fire departments, EMS agencies, SAR and technical rescue teams, and any other incident response teams when responding to emergencies.

“One of the struggles we have is that we have several members from various departments,” Beckwith said, noting that people of different departments serve on special response teams for the county, such as the HazMat team and search and rescue team. “Sometimes we have a tough time knowing if they’re coming and when.”