Fire distric mulls over new traffic device

Holley-Navarre Fire District is considering installing a traffic signal control system to speed up response time.

Sheldon Pafford, technical sales representative with Temple, Inc., gave fire department commissioners a presentation of the Opticom Emitter system during an Aug. 22 meeting. The Global Positioning System formatted system would allow fire engines to control traffic lights when responding to calls. He said countless cities in Florida were already using the technology, including Orlando and San Destin.

Not only can the system sense a fire truck approaching a light, it can also begin changing traffic lights farther down the engine’s route by sensing the engine’s blinkers.

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