After four years of research and planning, the Danbury Fire Department is welcoming its newest member, a station alerting system.

The announcement was made Wednesday during a news conference at the fire department's headquarters on New Street.

The cutting-edge technology known as Phoenix G2, created by US Digital Designs and Honeywell, replaces the station's decades-old system. To make the system feel more personal, the Danbury Fire Department named it Samantha.

"The old model used a very loud jarring system because the sole purpose was to wake people up. That's all it wanted to do," Jeff Nolet, captain of the Danbury Fire Department said.

This new system uses ramping tones and progressive lighting for any incoming alerts. There were over 60 tones from which to choose. If firefighters are asleep when a call comes in, they would wake up in a healthier way instead of being startled.

"Who hasn't been woken up at 2 in the morning from your kids, your dog, whatever, and you're kind of out of it, you're kind of groggy. You don't want that guy responding to you. You want someone who's ready to roll," Nolet said.

When first responders receive an alert, the system displays where the incident is and who is responding. They have two minutes to get dressed and get out of the station.

Brian Cruz, the senior sales manager of US Digital Designs by Honeywell, said the alerting system is installed in 5,000 fire stations in the U.S., and internationally in Canada and Italy.

"Most of the people that do work for US Digital Designs and for me and my sales team are all ex-fire service, fire chiefs, firefighters, EMS, 911 dispatchers, that have joined the US Digital Designs team because of their passion for that industry, for helping people," Cruz said.

Goosetown Communications installed the software throughout the station, including the weight room, kitchen, hallways and sleeping areas.

"It's a really great feeling to be able to have a part in keeping everyone in the area safe. It seems as though Danbury is really leading the way in what they're doing," said Gary Nevue, project manager of Goosetown Communications.

The City of Danbury invested $481,343 in American Rescue Plan Act funds specifically for the station alerting system. Total investments related to the project exceed $1 million.

Nolet said the number of calls the fire department receives varies each night, but firefighters come to work with the expectation that they'll be on a call after 10 p.m.