In an emergency, seconds count, and information is power.

That’s especially true here in Northeast Michigan, where the downside of our natural, rustic beauty is that it can take paramedics, police, and firefighters more time to reach a scene than it might in a denser urban area.

The more emergency crews know before they reach a scene, the more efficiently they’ll be able to perform, and that can mean the difference between life and death.

That’s why we agree with Alpena emergency officials’ push for locals to download the Smart911 smartphone application.

The app allows users to input as much or as little information as they like to make available to emergency crews en route to them. Everything from medical history to the location of the key hidden under the front mat to the phone number for a son or daughter to coronavirus test results can be stored in the app.

It’s like the 21st century equivalent of a medical alert bracelet. To us, the Smart911 app is just smart. We choose to live in this place where we get some space between us and our neighbors, and we know that comes with certain risks. But we should do all we can to mitigate those risks, and the Smart911 app seems an important means toward that end.

We encourage readers to consider downloading the app for themselves or, for those of us not so tech-savvy, having a more proficient relative do so for us.