RACINE COUNTY, Wis. — In an incident near Cunningham Road and Durand Avenue in the town of Dover on Sunday morning, technology played an important role in alerting authorities to a severe car crash.

 The Racine County Communications Center received an emergency alert just before 12:30 a.m. on Sunday.

However, this wasn’t a typical call from a person. It was an automated message from the driver’s Apple Watch, providing information about the accident.

Ronald Molnar, the fire chief at the Kansasville Fire and Rescue Department, emphasized the importance of this notification.

“It is bone chilling when that call comes in and you can’t ask, ‘Where are you?’ ‘Are you hurt?’ ‘What happened?’ There is a very minimal amount of information to work with,” said Molnar. 

Despite the minimal details provided by the automated alert, it was enough to prompt an immediate response from rescue crews.

Within minutes, first responders reached the crash site, thanks to the alert from the Apple Watch and dispatchers in Racine County.

“Upon arrival, rescue crews found the vehicle severely damaged. All the airbags were deployed but no driver inside. It was later determined that the driver had exited the vehicle,” said Molnar.

First responders learned the driver not only left the roadway, but also hit two large trees.

The driver was located, assessed and stabilized. They were then transported to a Mount Pleasant Hospital.

The driver is expected to make a full recovery.

This isn’t the first time technology from an Apple Watch, has played a critical role in rescue operations for Kansasville Fire and Rescue. Molnar said this incident marked the second time in approximately six months that the department responded to an emergency call initiated by an Apple Watch.

“In both instances, these crashes were in the hours of darkness and without the Apple Watch notifications, who knows what the outcomes would have been?” said Molnar.