You may recall that I bought an iPhone 3GS last month. I’ve been downloading apps (and deleting the ones I don’t like) like a madwoman ever since. Of course, being a FireMom and writing this blog, I had to check to see if there were any apps that included fire trucks or resources for firefighters or their families. I have found three free apps that may be of benefit (or entertainment) to firefighters, young and old. All links will open in the iTunes store in your iTunes program.
1. Fire Trucks by Ernest Properties. Keep your littlest firefighters amused for at least fifteen minutes (while simultaneously turning all heads if you happen to be in public) with this free iPhone app. It’s quite simple to function. Upon loading the app, a picture of a fire truck loads. By pressing the four corners of the photo, a different fire siren sound loads. An air horn and various sirens make it a rather noisy app but fun for little fingers. Pressing anywhere on the photo provides the noisy fun but the corners have their own separate sound. Adult firefighters who have reviewed the app complain that it doesn’t sound like a fire truck or that it needs other pictures instead of just the one. The truth is, if you’re an adult, this app really wasn’t intended to keep you entertained for hours. The name of the app, however, is misleading as with only one picture, the trucks are not plural. All the same, it is a great “we have 15 minutes until we get where we’re going and we need something to occupy the kids but we’ve already played I Spy 2059906 times” app. Plus: sirens! Woo!
2. Fire Truck Lite by EleganSoft Inc. If you like those little plastic puzzles where you move around the pieces to eventually show the intended picture, this app is for you. The easy level is really quite easy. The medium level is quite easy to handle. But when they say hard, they mean hard. The pieces are made to look like wood which is a unique twist on an electronic game. The point of the game is to get the big square piece with the fire truck to the bottom, middle location. To do so you move the other pieces that contain a car, a truck or a bus around and around and around to achieve that goal. When you succeed, the fire truck sprays water (which is also made to look like wood which is kind of… different) and you’re given an encouraging, hero-type message like, “You put out the fire! You’re a hero!” This free app also has a full, paid version ($0.99) but I’m cheap. (Also, you may not be able to see but that picture tells you that I have made 89 moves with 9 hints on a hard puzzle. I’m not too proud to tell you that hard really does mean hard.)
3. Emergency Radio Lite by EdgeRift, Inc. If you’re a fire family, you know what a scanner is. For those of you not attached to fire (or police) service, you might not know that a scanner lets you listen to emergency calls and the communication between various members of the police or fire service. We have one in our living room that allows me to find out where FireDad is on scene. This particular app is a lite version allowing you to listen to six channels. They include: Chicago Fire, Denver Police-Fire-EMS, Hawaii Police, Miami-Dad Fire-Search-Rescue, New Orleans Fire and San Jose Police & Fire. To be fair, the full version of this app was one I almost considered downloading until I learned that my county is not supported. (On any of the available scanner apps, not just this one.) There are some complaints that Denver’s channel has streaming issues but my guess would be that’s more about the host of the channel and not the app itself. My favorite part of the app is that it lists the codes. I now know that 11-26 in Chicago means that they have located an abandoned bicycle. Interesting. (I’m currently sitting here and listening to Chicago and I’m just really amused with myself.) The full version is currently on sale for $0.99. (Sure, cheap, but useless if it doesn’t include your city/county.)
There are some firefighter related games and a few other useful apps (not free) that I have not yet downloaded though I plan to in the near future. I will let you know about them as I get to them. If you have a firefighter related app or know of one that you think I should include on the blog, please leave a comment below. Your opinions on the above reviewed apps would also greatly help those considering downloading one or more!
