Lawrence County Fire & Rescue Addresses Rise in Automatic Crash Notifications

Lawrence County Fire & Rescue reports that automatic crash detection notifications—alerts sent from smartphones or in-vehicle systems after an impact—are becoming increasingly common, often outnumbering fire alarm responses. Officials said many of these calls are false alarms, caused by phones falling from vehicles, being dropped or thrown, or triggered during off-road recreational activity. Despite the frequent false alerts, emergency crews respond to each notification with the same diligence as any 911 crash call.

On Wednesday, November 5, Lawrence County Fire & Rescue units were dispatched to three separate automatic crash notifications.

• The first occurred shortly after 9:00 a.m. near Highway 43 South and Lambs Ferry Road, where responders found a phone that had fallen from a vehicle.
• The second, shortly before noon near Highway 64 East and Pulaski Highway in the New Prospect area, involved a two-vehicle head-on crash. Crews extricated one person and two patients were flown to level-one trauma centers.
• The third, around midnight near the 2300 block of Fall River Road in the Crossroads community, was confirmed as a crash with serious injuries. One patient was flown to a trauma center.

While preparing the release Thursday evening, units were again dispatched to another automatic crash notification on Old Florence Pulaski Road in the Leoma area. Crews arrived within minutes to find a vehicle that had left the roadway and struck a tree. Minor injuries were reported. Lawrence County Fire & Rescue emphasized that while many automatic crash notifications turn out to be accidental, the technology is an important life-saving tool. Officials ask residents to notify 911 immediately if their device accidentally triggers an automatic crash alert.