CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) — First responders in Champaign County might begin to see a little extra help soon.

Champaign County is planning to launch a new system which aims to help first responders. METCAD 911 will use what’s called an automated fire alerting system. This new setup will help create faster response times for police, firefighters and EMT’s.

METCAD Deputy Director Jeff Wooten said that right now, the system is run through call takers who transfer emergency calls to the dispatchers to put the information out.

With this new system, that responsibility would shift. Call takers will put the alerts and information into the computer to be transferred over the radio.

“Now we’re going to be doing final testing to ensure that everything is pronounced the way that we want it. Make sure, you know, the local pronunciations and things of that nature. Make sure that we’ve got all the apparatus identified correctly in the system and we should be ready to go later this spring,” Wooten said.

He said not only will it help out first responders, but also make things easier for the METCAD employees because of staffing shortages. He says they’ve been working on this for a little over a year. Their target launch is the end of April or beginning of May.