PITTSFIELD, Mass. — First responders are collecting phone charging cords for those involved in a critical incident.

 

The Police joined with the Fire Department and Emergency Management in launching the "Crisis Cables" initiative. The project is designed so that if someone had to leave their home or be placed in a temporary shelter, cables are available.

 

"In late 2017, I was called in to assist with the Emergency Management operations for a large structure fire. Numerous residents had evacuated their homes and we were tasked with initiating sheltering operations for them. Nearly all of the residents had evacuated with their cellphones," Police Chief Michael Wynn said. 

 

"However, none had access to chargers. As the night wore on, and our residents were relying on their phones to call friends and relatives and update their status on social media, many of them started to experience phone failures, due to low batteries. While our shelter location had ample power, no one had power cords to charge with.

 

In that situation, PPD officers were able to recycle numerous power cables from a box of donated/recycled phones. Residents were able to charge their phones and to take the charging cords with them when they were relocated to their long-term sheltering location. Since then, I’ve assisted with numerous sheltering operations. Each time, residents manage to collect their phones, but few bring their charging cords. It is from these sheltering operations that the idea of Crisis Cables was born."

 

Anyone who has new or slightly used phone charging cords can donate them to the project by dropping them off at Police Headquarters. The cables will be sorted for the various devices and delivered by first responders to the scenes.