The San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District's Fire Chief Richard Price has earned the nickname of Chief 2.0, thanks to the importance he places on using technology to better serve the community.

The most recent evidence of that is a Fire Department iPhone application now available for a free download at the Apple Store. 

The application gives iPhone users real-time access to fire and emergency incidents, including the response status of emergency vehicles being dispatched and an interactive map of incidents. Users can also listen to the radio version of the dispatch.

Users can also select the type of notification they receive on their iPhone, for example, they can select to get only structure fire notifications or vehicle accident information.

The iPhone application was designed by District personnel with a partnership with students at the College of Informatics at Northern Kentucky University. They worked with features found on the District's Webby-nominated website, FireDepartment.org.

Chief Price said one goal of the iPhone application is to help residents stay better informed.

"The Fire District will use our new iPhone application to communicate with residents and Community Emergency Response Team members during a disaster," said Chief Price. "We are dedicated to keeping our community informed and I am very excited about adding this new tool to the many ways we are communicating with our residents."