A new resource is seeking to inform local residents about emergency calls in real time.

Lexington County Firewire launched in December, offering updates on calls to which fire services are dispatched. So far, the service, which operates via a Facebook page, has posted more than 500 incident calls and weather alerts and garnered more than 4,200 followers.

The posts include the audio for each call, the station responding, and the date and time of the incident.

According to Ian Carey, the owner and founder who said he produced the software used for the service, the Firewire’s purpose is to inform residents and motorists within the county about active emergencies. He said residents don’t realize how many incidents actually occur and that they are often only alerted about the newsworthy ones.

“[The public] should really be as aware as possible of what's going on around them and avoid incidents,” Carey said.

Firewire is not affiliated with local emergency services and law enforcement and plans to stay that way.

“As far as administration and emergency management system and all that stuff, we stay away from them,” Carey said “Because they have rules and regulations that we just can't follow to keep doing what we do.”

Mark Davis, the county’s fire chief, told the Chronicle that Firewire isn’t endorsed by the Lexington County Fire Service

He explained that the service uses VHF and 800 mhz radios to receive and transmit calls for service from the Lexington County Dispatch Center, and if a citizen has a VHF or 800 mhz scanner they may intercept these calls and reproduce it through a media platform. 

“I recommend our citizens follow the County of Lexington’s social media platform for information regarding calls for service to have accurate and timely information,” Davis said.

According to Carey, the software is one of a kind and very personalized, taking one to two months to set up for an individual county. 

When preparing a county, Carey starts by using a scanner to listen in on a frequency. That frequency is recorded and sent to the custom software to see if there are tones. Carey told the Chronicle that these tones in the frequency are what dispatch the different departments and EMS services, saying that each service has its own set of tones.

Once setup is complete, calls are automatically posted to the Facebook page, and on-scene audio is posted when available.

The Firewire software is currently being used in six counties, with Facebook pages run by Carey’s affiliates. The Lexington County Firewire is the only one currently operating in South Carolina.