The Round Table
departments
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?
Frank Deuble, Jr., Asst. Chief, Albuquerque, N.M.: We have been part of the 911 system for approximately three years. The answering point is currently the City of Albuquerque Police Dispatch Center. We share this system with the Albuquerque Fire Department, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, as well as the City Police. Equipment improvements have somewhat reduced the initial start up problem of delayed contact with the calling party, which resulted in a longer overall response time. We continue to experience a higher than average number of false alarms than before the 911 system was adopted.
A multi-million dollar communications center is currently under development that will bring all agencies together for the first time. Once this system is in place, a fair evaluation of 911 will be possible.
Darrell K. Trotter, Asst. Chief, Ann Arbor, Mich.: The Ann Arbor Fire Department has been using the 911 emergency telephone number system for almost three years. The calls are answered at the police dispatch and then the fire department is advised as to which phone line the call is on.
To date, we have had only minor problems.
Richard C. Lamb, Chief, Indianapolis, Ind.: In Marion County, we have a countywide 911 system. However, our department has it’s own dispatching system, and dispatches for an adjoining Township. There are two other fire communications systems in the County.
The 911 system in Marion County sends all 911 calls for the EMS Services to the County Hospital. At that point, their dispatchers decide whose jurisdiction their call is in and then places a direct call to one of the three other agencies or goes cross-channel via radio communications. If the call is for fire, 911 receives the call and it is then plugged into the Indianapolis Fire Department’s Communications Center. If the call is out of their jurisdiction, they will give, via direct phone lines, the call to one of the three agencies.
The only problem that I see with the 911 system here is that the calls pass through too many agencies. It would appear to me that a proper 911 system would be similiar to that of the Chicago, Ill. Fire Department. Their system is superb.
Also, for what it is worth, I conducted a survey at one of our local Interstate Exchanges, whereby I spoke with twenty-five travelers, which included truck drivers, salesmen and tourists, and asked, “If you had an emergency and needed help, who would you call?” Twenty-three said they would dial “0” for operator, one said that he would ask the service station attendant, and one said that he would call 911. Maybe the 911 system has not been publicized enough.
I feel that if the 911 system is to function properly for our area, there needs to be one and only one Central Communications Center.
Dudley P. Martin, Chief, Dekalb County, Ga.: Dekalb County Fire Department implemented 911 in October of 1977, and serves only fire and emergency medical services at this time. Police services are not covered under 911 because of the nine municipalities located within Dekalb County that provide their own police service and police communication centers.
The Emergency Medical Service, operated in the Dekalb Fire Department, services the entire county. Fire service is provided for the entire county with the exception of the City of Decatur and that portion of Atlanta lying in Dekalb County.
All 911 incoming lines terminate in the Fire Department Communications Section. The terminal equipment has the capability of immediate direct caller transfer to surrounding counties, fire and police agencies.
The Dekalb fire 911 system has proven beneficial to citizens by reducing frontend time in calling for help. They no longer have to remember or look up a seven-digit number. Thus, with this frontend time reduced, the overall response time for a fire vehicle or EMS Unit has also been reduced.
As in all newly implemented systems, Dekalb retained its old seven-digit emergency numbers. At this time, we are currently receiving 55 percent of all fire alarms on 911, and 52 percent of all EMS calls on 911.
Bill Maahs, Chief, Aurora, Ncbr.: We use the 911 emergency telephone number system in the Aurora Volunteer Fire Department. We are tied into an answering point located at the sheriffs office, where all emergency calls are received and rescue and fire calls are dispatched. The 911 number seems to work rather well in this community.
Jefferson W. Lewis, Chief, Washington, D.C.: In the City of Washington, all 911 calls are received at the Police Departments’ Emergency Communication Center. Fire and ambulance calls are transferred there to the fire departments’ communication center on the respective circuit for dispatching.
The 911 emergency telephone number system has been beneficial to our department. The majority of our dispatches are received through 911.
