ICE, baby

"The 'In Case of Emergency' Campaign, better known as 'ICE,' is now being encouraged by the Durham Fire Department for use in the City of Durham. 'Since we are a part of the emergency management community, we are joining other communities from across the country to urge people to program the acronym 'ICE' in their mobile phone address books, then enter the number of the person to contact in case of an emergency,' said Bruce T. Pagan, deputy fire chief for the Durham Fire Department. 'In an emergency situation, our responders will then be able to quickly contact next-of-kin.'

The ICE campaign, launched in May in Great Britain, has rapidly spread across the world due to the London bombings earlier this month and Pagan feels that ICE is quickly catching on in the United States. 'Emergency management officials in Florida, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and other states are publicly supporting the ICE concept,' said Pagan. 'Now, the City of Durham Fire Department is also supporting the ICE concept and we are encouraging our residents to use this simple identification method on their cell phones.'

According to Pagan, paramedic offices nationwide are now being advised to search for ICE on the cell phones of the people they're treating. 'The ICE acronym allows emergency responders to quickly access next-of-kin names from a cell phone's address book,' said Pagan. 'This identification may save valuable time, since many people identify family members only by name which can make finding next-of-kin difficult.' DFD officials have suggested that for residents that have more than one emergency contact name to type ICE1, ICE2, ICE3, and so forth." Durham, NC - City of Medicine