East Haven Fire Department's 911 Center

THE 911 CENTER

Over the last few months I have worked hard to educate each of you to specific parts of the fire department. We have talked about the daily schedule, the volunteer companies, staffed and volunteer apparatus and additional resources we utilize. I hope that each of you has been finding this column educational and that you have learned something about the East Haven Fire Department that you didn’t already know. I also ask that you continue to share this blog with other East Haven residents. I also ask that you click the "recommend" button on this blog to recommend it to other PATCH readers

This week we are going to take a look at the section of our department where it all starts, the 911 Center. The East Haven Fire Department’s 911 Communication Center is located in Fire Headquarters and staffed by four full time employees (Kim Coppola, Ralph Vuolo, Raymond Kline and Stephen Johnson). The center is also supplemented when needed by a few per diem employees. The 911 center is staffed with one telecommunicator at all times unless there is a hurricane, blizzard or large event requiring more personnel to handle the anticipated high volume. At those high volume times we will staff with one additional employee.

The 911 Call - As stated above, when someone calls 911 from their house phone in East Haven, it is answered at Fire Headquarters at 200 Main Street. If someone calls from their cell phone, they may get a telecommunicator from any of the surrounding towns, including the Connecticut State Police. If this happens, that 911 call will be transferred to East Haven’s PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point). Please understand that cell phone 911 calls may be transferred more than once to get the call to the proper agency. Once your call is answered at the proper agency, the 911 telecommunicator will ask for the address of the emergency (location that help is needed) and will also ask for the phone number the caller is calling from. If the call is not for East Haven, then it will be transferred to the appropriate town.

The next question is for the caller to tell exactly what the problem is. At this point, the telecommunicator will determine if the call is for the Police or Fire Department. Calls for the police will then be transferred to the police dept. and calls for the fire dept. or emergency medicals services will remain on the line with the 911 telecommunicator and a series of more questions will be asked. As the questions are being asked, the telecommunicator is entering the information into our computer aided dispatch (CAD). The information that is placed into the CAD can be referenced back to by the responding crews so while en-route to the emergency they have up accurate information.  

Dispatching the call - Once the telecommunicator has the address, call back number and the nature of the emergency the dispatch process has begun. The questioning process helps define the type of emergency and which type of apparatus that needs to be sent. This process also defines the proper level of response (with or without lights and sirens). The telecommunicator will then activate “tones” over the radio system for the career and volunteer firefighters so they can be activated and the information will be given. Once the call is dispatched, if the call requires an ambulance, the telecommunicator will call Central Medical Emergency Dispatch (CMED) and order an ambulance by providing them with the information that we have. CMED will contact the appropriate ambulance company and will provide them with the information needed for their response. During fire's there is a lengthy list of notifications the dispatcher must make. Additionally, the dispatcher is answering the radio, communicaton with the incdent commander, updating responding companies and diagramming the fire ground to assist with accountability and scene safety.

Training – East Haven 911 Telecommunicators are all State of Connecticut Telecommunicator, AT&T Enhanced 911 and National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch Advanced (NAEMD) certified.

NAEMD certification expires every two years. In order to keep their NAEMD certification, each telecommunicator must take twenty-four hours of continued education classes and must successfully pass a computerized test. The training doesn’t stop there; while it is not required, all of the EHFD dispatchers are also Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT’s). Being an EMT requires 30 hours of refresher training every three years. They are all trained and hold a Cardio Pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification. Both, of these certifications are very important elements of training that help the dispatchers have a greater depth of understanding while delivering pre-arrival emergency instructions to 911 callers. Telecommunicators can also take classes from other agencies such as APCO, Powerphone and FEMA’s Independent Study Program online, to further their education.

Lastly, all of East Haven’s dispatchers are also involved in fire and EMS departments outside of their dispatching responsibilities. This should provide you the residents of East Haven more comfort to know that all of our dispatchers have an in depth working knowledge of EMS and fire operations. This helps provide a top notch dispatcher center that offers the highest level of expertise to you each day.    

Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) - refers to a system that enhances services provided by the PSAP’s emergency call takers, such as municipal emergency services dispatchers. It does so by allowing the call taker to quickly narrow down the caller's type of medical or trauma situation, to better dispatch emergency services and provide quality instruction to the caller before help arrives. We understand that some EMD questions are lengthy and may not seem important to the illness or injury, but they will help us to better help you.

Schedule – The 911 Telecommunicators work a 5 days on with 2 days off and then 5 days on with 3 days off schedule. They work a minimum of 8 hours per shift but can work up 16 hour shifts. Same as the firefighters, the 911 Communications center is a 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year operation.

Phone volume – In 2012, East Haven’s 911 Communication Center was the 37th busiest PSAP out of the 108 PSAP’s in Connecticut answering 13,246 emergency 9-1-1 calls. This does not include the phone calls that are answered on routine (non-emergency) phone lines. The combined number of calls, between emergency and non-emergency, is believed to be around 19,000. There is no specific time of the day that is busier than others therefore our telecommunicators are always prepared to answer the call for help.

Call volume – In 2005 our telecommunicators dispatched 4,973 calls for service and in 2012, our center dispatched 6,121 calls for service out of our center. As you can see, in the past seven years, calls have increased 23% . So far in 2013, our call volume is approximately 10% higher than the same time last year.

Down Time – During the time when there isn’t any active emergency calls in progress, our telecommunicators  spend their time answering routine telephone calls, monitoring various fire and EMS frequencies, fulfilling administrative responsibilities including scheduling and incident documentation, monitor alarms, and completing emergency medical and fire communications and operations training.

Here are some help tips if you need to dial 911:

IF YOU DO CALL 9-1-1, EVEN BY MISTAKE, DO NOT HANG UP: If you call 911 in error, DO NOT hang up. Just tell the 911 telecommunicator what had happened. If you hang up, the telecommunicator is going to call you back to confirm that everything is ok.

CELL PHONES ARE NOT TOYS: DO NOT let children of any age play with your cell phone, including your old cell phones. Even though your old cell phone may not be connected to a cellular service, it will still dial 911 for emergencies.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN HOW TO CALL 9-1-1: Be sure they know what 9-1-1 is, how to dial from your home and cell phone, and to trust the 9-1-1 call taker. Make sure your child is physically able to reach at least one phone in your home. When calling 9-1-1 your child needs to know their name, parent’s name, telephone number, and most importantly their address. Tell them to answer all the call takers questions and to stay on the phone until instructed to hang up.

KNOW THE LOCATION OF THE EMERGENCY: The wireless 9-1-1 caller must be aware that the 9-1-1 center that answers the call may not be the 9-1-1 center that services the area that the wireless caller is calling from. Look for landmarks, cross street signs and buildings. Know the name of the city or county you are in. Knowing the location is vital to getting the appropriate police, fire or EMS units to respond. Providing an accurate address is critically important especially when making a wireless 9-1-1 call.

911 IS FOR EMERGENCIES: 911 is for emergencies, do not call 911 and ask for information about an upcoming event or for basic questions. Any non-life threatening emergencies can be called on a non-emergency routine line.

POST YOUR ADDRESS CLEARLY AND PROMINENTLY AT YOUR ENTRANCE AND ON YOUR HOME. Posting your 9-1-1 address at the driveway entrance and on your home will alleviate any confusion as to whether emergency responders have the correct location. Try using something reflective or illuminated so that it can be seen in the evening as well as during the day. Place house numbers on both sides of your mailbox and on the front of your house.

THE FIRST EVER 911 CALL IN THE UNITED STATES:

February 16, 1968, the first-ever 9-1-1 call was placed by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite, from Haleyville City Hall, to U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill, at the city's police station. Bevill reportedly answered the phone with "Hello". At the City Hall with Fite was Haleyville mayor James Whitt; at the police station with Bevill were Gallagher and Alabama Public Service Commissiondirector Eugene "Bull" Connor. Fitzgerald was at the ATC central office servingHaleyville, and actually observed the call pass through the switching gear as the mechanical equipment clunked out "9-1-1". The phone used to answer the first 9-1-1 call, a bright red model, is now in a museum in Haleyville, while a duplicate phone is still in use at the police station.

Thanks to Fire Dispatcher Ray Kline and Stephen Johnson for their input to this week’s blog.