HEREFORD and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service is the latest to consider formally supporting an app that is said to have already saved a number of lives.

The What3words free app divides the entire planet into 57 trillion squares, each measuring three metres by three metres.

Each is given a sequence of three words, and the combination can be used to pinpoint the exact location where someone is.

For instance Worcester News can be found at elaborate.types.fields while Worcester Cathedral can be found at status.crew.third.

This is crucial information for emergency services, and some operators have asked people to download the app to help find people.

Already through the app the police found a 65-year-old man who became trapped after falling down a railway embankment, officers found a group lost in Hamsterley Forest at night, firefighters were able to help a woman who had crashed her car but was unsure where she was, and Humberside Police even were able to quickly resolve a hostage situation after the victim was able to tell officers exactly where she was being held.

Already 35 English and Welsh emergency services have signed up to support the system, with firefighters saying they prefer it as it cuts out confusion.

The clever app was created by Chris Sheldrick's as a solution to his postal-related problems growing up in rural Hertfordshire.

Having attempted to give longitude and latitude co-ordinates that failed to catch on, so instead he came up with a simple combination of words as a way to find a location.

A spokesman from Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service said: "This is something that the service is actively considering and a meeting has been arranged with a representative from What3Words next month."

The app can be downloaded for free from the App Store on iPhone devices, or the Play Store on Android phones and tablets.

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