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?
Stanley R. Fickes, Chief, Takoma Park, Md.: Montgomery County, which is where our department is located, uses the 911 system. We are tied into an answering point that is shared with the county police.
There are delays in our receiving a call due to the following:
- Our department is located on the boundary line of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
- The corporate limits of the City of Takoma Park are divided with approximately two thirds in Montgomery County and one third in Prince George’s County.
- Fire department response areas are pretty much defined.
- The C&P Telephone Company does not have such defined areas in their exchange numbers and as a result , approximately one half of the telephone exchanges in the Montgomery County portion of the city go directly to Prince George’s County.
- We are dispatched on all calls from
Montgomery County EOC. Therefore, the following occurs: 911 is dialed and goes into Prince George’s Central which channels the call to the Fire-Rescue Section. Fire dispatchers secure information and then have to relay same to Montgomery County dispatchers, who in turn alert our department for response. The above is not only true for Takoma Park but also affects the Hillandale and Burtonsville Volunteer departments as they are close to the dual counties line, and the same overlapping of telephone exchanges exist.
It is my understanding that the telephone company cannot technically or economically change their exchange numbers to alleviate the problem. Several meetings have been held with officials of the telephone company to resolve the situation, but to no avail.
W.B. Frith, Manager, Sheridan, Wyo.: Our department has been involved with 911 for almost four years. It is a county-wide system with an answering point located at the local police headquarters. In addition to dispatching for police and ambulance emergencies, the system dispatches for one paid city fire department, one paid rural fire department, and four volunteer fire districts.
While 911 provides an easier way for the public to summon emergency services, it has generated certain problems for the local fire service. Major problem areas are: It causes a delay between the time the 911 operator gets the call and the time the Fire company is notified; police dispatchers are accustomed to dispatching to a specific address or intersection and many times do not obtain the proper information for responding to these rural locations; and sending fire equipment outside its areas of service without notifying the fire service that does have responsibility in that area.
In our particular situation, 911 has proven to be less than satisfactory.
Myrle K. Wise, Chief, Denver, Colo.: Fire Chiefs have always realized that there was a great need for a quick, easy way for citizens to call for emergency help, especially when they are excited or confused, in a smoke filled room, or in a dark place.
At first, many of us advocated dialing “O”, but this took a considerable amount of time, especially on holidays when the operators were busy and took a long time in answering.
Next, we thought of dialing “Fire” on the phone, but it would be hard to read the letters on the phone if a person were in a dark place or in a smoke filled room. In addition, this would only take care of emergencies relat ing to fire situations.
We have the 911 system in Denver and I think that it is ideal for this purpose. It’s easy to remember, easy to dial, and can be used for any emergency that the person may be having.
In Denver we do not need a dime to use the telephone. All a person has to do is pick up the telephone and dial 911, and the operator will immediately switch the call to the agency involved. This makes every telephone, on every corner, available to the public as a fire alarm box, thus making it easy to call for emergency help. This has worked very well in Denver and undoubtedly, is responsible for saving many lives and many thousands of dollars in property loss.
We are very pleased with the way this system works and feel that it is very good compared to the other means of dialing for emergency help, such as dialing seven digits and trying to recall what the digits are for a particular emergency agency, or placing fire alarm boxes on street corners.
K.M. James, Chief, Winston-Salem, N.C.: The Forsyth Volunteer Fire Departments are not using the 911 emergency number because the various phone exchanges in the county are not able to convert to the system. However, the City of WinstonSalem, has converted to this system for police and fire calls. City residents can reach ambulance services through a conventional number.
Many people feel that the 911 emergency telephone number is not a perfect system because the caller does not actually speak to a fire or police operator, but to a series of operators who in turn contact the appropriate emergency service operator.
James Machuga, Chief, Commerce City, Colo.: The South Adams Volunteer Fire Department and the police department of this county are tied into an answering point located in the Adams County Communications Center.
The 911 emergency telephone number is the best thing that ever happened.
Marion K. Collier, Chief, Greenville, Miss.: At the present time the police department has the 911 emergency number, which they will turn over to us in the case of a fire. I feel that this system causes many false alarms due to the way it is set up. The 911 telephone number, which comes through the police department, is not at all beneficial to us (the fire department ). I do not feel that we need the 911 number since we already have a fire reporting number.
Evans Hart, Chief, Canton, Miss.: The Canton Fire Department has been using the 911 emergency telephone number for the past five years and has been reasonably satisfied with it. We are connected to the Police Department Communications Center which answers all emergency calls.
I feel that the use of one emergency telephone number actually helps the public in remembering it. However, our only problem with this system is that we have been unable to have crank calls and false alarms traced by the telephone company. They say it is not possible to do so with this number.
