Firefighters using Twitter to track emergencies

I've been following a developing story on GetSatisfaction.com about T-Mobile turning off Twitter. The most interesting part of the story came from a post by Brian Humphrey, a firefighter with the LA Fire Department. He's been using Twitter to publicly log emergencies and communicate with people around the city. This is a rare example of government embracing new technology to augment their official systems.

From an article on Governing.com:

It has set up searches on various sites, not just Twitter, using key words such as "explosion," "fire," "fire department," "bombing" and "terrorist." Then, as Humphrey puts it, "you don't visit your favorite Web sites, they visit you." For instance, he knew about the Minnesota bridge collapse before the first fire truck arrived. That's because some people stuck on the bridge started twittering. The LAFD picked up the buzz.
...
Humphrey says he investigates every digital tool he learns about to see if it can benefit the LAFD. "We can no longer afford to work at the speed of government," he says. "We must remain relevant to the people we serve.

You can keep up with LAFD on Satisfaction here or keep up with emergencies in LA here. Pretty cool. I hope T-Mobile doesn't kill this innovation.