NAPLES - The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office says new technology recently installed in deputies' computers may have saved the life of a vacationing tourist.

Sheriff's deputies rescued Carol Emmons who had fallen from her kayak Wednesday in the turbulent waters of Songo Lock in Naples. Emmons, 51, was clinging to a rope near a fishway shortly before 8 a.m. just upstream from a dangerous waterfall. Her daughter, who had also fallen in, was watching helpless from the shore.

Emmons was cold and exhausted when Deputy John Cross grabbed her arm and Deputy Howard Brown retrieved a rescue rope from his cruiser that was used to hoist her to safety. She was treated by Naples Fire and Rescue personnel for hypothermia and released.

The deputies were able to get to the scene quickly because they had seen the emergency call come across the laptop computers installed in their cruisers. The county recently added software that enables agencies dispatched by the Cumberland County Regional Communications Center to view each others calls via a wireless network that uses cell phone technology.

In this case, the dispatchers first call was to firefighters at the Naples fire station. The deputies were already at their cruisers at the attached substation, and were able to see the call on their laptops.

"In this particular case, they saw it was being entered into the screen," said Sheriff's Capt. Don Goulet. "Instead of waiting for the call, they were literally moments away so they responded and were on scene in time."