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Oklahoma Forestry Services is breaking new ground in firefighting..



Oklahoma is the first state in the country to use a cutting-edge app to fight fire. It's called "Collector."



As hot, dry weather makes its way into the metro, fire crews are on high alert for wildfires.



"That's the perimeter of the fire right there, so we're starting to roll up on the fire and we need to have some vital information,??? said Mark Goeller, Fire Management Chief of Oklahoma Forestry Services.



And thanks to the new collector app, fighting wildfires just got a lot easier. The app allows firefighters to view structures, types of terrain, map out fires and attack plans, and add photos or videos of flames... All on one screen.



"It also shows water sources, we can place on their structures that need to be protected. It's got an address look up feature,??? said Goeller.



The Oklahoma Forestry Services tested the app out while fighting a wildfire last year, and decided to implement it statewide. You do have to have a license to download the app.. Right now 80 firefighters from around 30 departments in Oklahoma have the tool on an iPad or smart phone.



"It's the ability to communicate things clearly and to be able to have somebody else see what you see. And there's very little guess work as far as a picture goes,??? said Goeller.



All the crews who have the app can view fires that are being fought by other users... Speeding up communication amongst multiple departments... Officials say it saves precious time when wildfires threaten homes.



"It could be the difference between a house burning or not, it could be number of acres that are burned. It's again, lives and property is what it's all about,??? said Goeller.



We're told the forestry services plans to buy more licenses for the app so they can distribute it to even more fire departments in the coming months.