VA issues first responders field credentials | 04.05.2007 | 07:07:44 | Views: 5738 | ID: April 5 '07: Virginia first responders in the City of Alexandria and in Arlington County are the first in the country to receive First Responder Authentication Credentials for quick field identification and response, WTOP reported. The FRAC cards, as they are called, are encoded with vital biographical and technical information and can be read by a wireless device. Mark Penn, the emergency management coordinator for Alexandria told WTOP radio, "Cards will actually have the attributes of the person, whether they're a firefighter or a paramedic or a technical rescue technician." More than 2,000 cards were issued to first responders, EMS and other emergency services workers through a joint effort between the Department of Homeland Security's National Capitol Region, the Department of Transportation for Virginia, the Office of Commonwealth Preparedness and Arlington County, the local news radio station reported. When used in the field, the cards will provide the "data [that] can then be used to confirm the qualifications of first responders, allowing emergency response commanders to dispatch them quickly and appropriately," WTOP reported.
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