Need help installing a child car seat, or finding out whether your fire extinguisher is still good?

Have you tried the Ripon Consolidated Fire District’s new app?

This week the agency released a cell phone application – which can be downloaded on both the Apple and Android App Stores – that will allow residents to both find out more about the agency that provides both their fire and EMS services and the sprawling district that the agency is tasked with protecting.

And you don’t have to go any further than Fire Chief Dennis Bitters’ welcome message to recognize one of the things that makes the Ripon Consolidated Fire District unique.

“As a full-service agency, we have full-service personnel who are able to respond to all types of emergency calls,” Bitters wrote. “We are very proud that the majority of our personnel live in the community and district we serve.

“Our highly-skilled staff strive to continually add that ‘personal touch’ which is one of the reasons RCFD is well-known for providing high-value service and care to the Ripon community for the last 100 years.”

The app also contains information about the district’s “Staff Our Station” campaign – which aims to secure the funding to staff the district’s third fire station on River Road and ensure sustain Ripon’s in-house ambulance service – as well as a map that shows the location of the agency’s three stations. Only one of those stations – the headquarters location on Stockton Avenue. – is currently staffed.

Information about forms and permits, upcoming events, links to the district’s social media accounts complete with current posts, and a staff directory all have dedicated tabs on the app, and a built-in weather app shows the current, hourly, and daily weather for Ripon.

For the last decade, government agencies across the country have been utilizing technological platforms as a way of promoting wider engagement with the community – an idea born out of a digital government strategy promoted by the Obama administration. More than one-third of all traffic to official government websites comes from mobile apps.

To find the app on either the Apple or Android App Store, visit the app store from a mobile device and search for the Ripon Fire District. The correct app will have a red square icon with an American flag adorned Iron Cross with the No. 2 inside.

For additional information visit the Ripon Consolidated Fire District’s website at www.riponfire.com.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.