The Round Table
The Emergency telephone number 911 is no longer new and many fire departments have adopted It. However, there is still some criticism of this type reporting system.
Accordingly, does your department use 911 and if so, are you tied into an answering point shared by other fire departments or agencies?
Has the use of 911 proved beneficial to your department? If not, do you have any criticisms?
Jack Willis, Chief, Wheat Ridge, Colo.: Our county contains many thousands of acres of undeveloped mountain terrain as well as heavily populated urban cities. There are twenty-three fire protection districts and six major police departments serving the area.
After seven years of planning, including three engineering studies, all of the public safety agencies involved have agreed to procede with the implementation of 911. We will have a joint RSAP which will be equipped with a computer-aided dispatch system. The calls will be transferred from the RSAP to individual dispatch centers by a CRT with back-up telephone circuits. Costs will be shared by all agencies on a usage basis.
The major problem that we encountered in developing a 911 system was the fact that fire protection district boundaries overlapped city boundaries and the local Telephone Company has office and exchange boundaries which do not conform to any of the public safety areas. The telephone offices have differing switching systems, some of which cannot provide desired features such as automatic ring back and forced disconnect.
I do not feel that the system is as good as it should be, but I am convinced that it is as good as it can be considering the limitations of the existing telephone capability. I would prefer that the dispatch center for each city receive complaint calls directly so that each call can be processed by the agency which is directly involved. The Bell System says that this is impossible. A computerized readout on a CRT is not as efficient, and certainly not as personal as direct contact By eliminating the necessity for the consumer to memorize or look up a seven digit number, we will add, at considerable expense, an intercept operator. We will lose that personal contact with unit dispatching and we will sacrifice a few seconds of vital time while the complaint taker determines the proper jurisdiction and relays the message.
The public has been made aware of the federally sponsored 911 concept and is making demands on local enforcement and fire jurisdictions for its implementation even though local telephone company inadequacies and other major problems may exist. Some of these problems may lead to less than the desired level proficiency in emergency call processing, and could, in fact, become less efficient than existing seven digit systems.
Joe W. Provost, Chief, Clackamas, Ore.: We do not use the 911 emergency number in this area. The fire departments that serve the four large districts and three small cities are dispatched from a central dispatch complex. The number one problem of this area is that it is served by three different telephone companies and has five or six different exchanges.
The State of Oregon Public Utility Commission controls the toll and rate charges. Rates on leased lines within an exchange are minimal. Rates on lines from one company running into another company’s area are just out of sight. For example: one telephone company within a local exchange – $6.00 per month; one telephone company through two exchanges – $52.00 to $60.00 per month; two telephone companies – $125.00 per month.
The 911 emergency number is fine if you live in a small town with one telephone company and one exchange. The Commission sets the rates just as if we in the fire service were a large company or corporation. They do not take into consideration that here in the West, the fire service is soley tax-supported and nonprofit.
W.T. Miller, Chief, Baton Rouge, La.: The 911 system has been in existence in the City of Baton Rouge since September 12, 1972. We have found that the 911 number is proving to be more beneficial each year. Our records indicate that the number of calls being received over the 911 number had increased by 57 calls during the period of 1977 compared to 1976. This has been mainly because the 911 number is a nationally recognized emergency number where aid can be obtained immediately.
It is easier to educate the public to use one number for emergencies than several different numbers. The 911 system, if properly supervised and the public properly educated, can be an asset to all emergency agencies.
The City of Baton Rouge 911 number is located in a separate office in the Communications Center for the Police, Fire, Civil Defense, Department of Public Works, and other agencies of the government. The employees assigned to operate the 911 system are under the supervision of the Baton Rouge Police Department.
We deem 911 a success in the capitol city of Louisiana, Baton Rouge.
Steve Paulsell, Chief, Columbia, Mo.: Our department uses the 911 emergency telephone number system along with all emergency agencies in the area. All services are presently dispatched by our newly formed Joint Communications Center.
The 911 system has proven to be very beneficial to us. However, the far edges of our county cannot use the system because of telephone exchange difficulties. The telephone company has indicated that 911 can be extended, as soon as a decision is made as to where the burden of the cost should lie.
Jim L. Cary, Communications Supervisor, Lincoln, Nebr.: The Lincoln Fire Department, Communications Division, uses the 911 emergency telephone number system. The Communications Division is the answering point for 911 in the City of Lincoln, and all of Lancaster County. The Communications Division, manned by uniformed fire department personnel, have operated the 911 system in the area since September of 1970.
The communications personnel have been instrumental in all phases of the development of 911 here, working with the local telephone company, and all agencies linked to the system. They have also participated with local emergency medical service task groups, to help provide effective and proper response of emergency apparatus and manpower to handle these incidents.
I believe that 911 has been beneficial to our department as it has proven that our communications personnel, with their previous firefighting and fire dispatching experience, can handle many other responsibilities and continue to function in all types of emergency situations they encounter, via 911 today.
Since 1970, we have added two dispatchers and one communications supervisor, making a total of nine in our Communications Division. We are now in the final stage of moving our 911/Fire Communications to a co-located center with the Communications of police, sheriff, and ambulance dispatch, all together in part of the Civil Defense area of our CityCounty building.
R.L. Fagan, Captain, Montgomery, Ala.: The Montgomery Fire Department uses the 911 emergency telephone number system, and has two tie lines from the police departments 911 complaint desk. These lines are capable of monitoring all seven in-coming 911 lines.
The use of the 911 lines have proved most beneficial in the past. My main criticism of its use, is the fact that when controlled by police department operators, these operators delay connecting the fire department operators to the calling party until they get information for their police units and at times they forget to transfer the calls altogether.
I believe that 911 should be answered by switching personnel only, and not by fire and police department operators until it is determined which department the caller needs.
Alfonso Lujan, District Chief, Albuquerque, N.M.: The Albuquerque Fire Department has for several years shared 911 with the police department, sheriff department, ambulance services and county volunteer fire department. We share an answering point located at the Police Building.
All 911 dispatchers have been informed that when a caller needs the fire department, the call will be transferred to the fire department switchboard immediately. We have found that response and dispatch is quicker by doing the above.
Steve Childress, Chief, Fairbanks, Alaska: The City of Fairbanks Fire Department uses the 911 emergency telephone number system and is tied into an answering point shared by other fire departments.
The 911 emergency number has proved to be beneficial to our department.
