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By Adam Swift
Fire Chief Scott Wiley provided an update on Chelsea joining Winthrop and Revere in the Metro North Regional Emergency Communications Center (MNRECC) at last week’s town council meeting.
Wiley talked about the background of Winthrop’s history with the MNRECC, current training for dispatcher and call-takers, how Chelsea joining will impact the center, and some concerns that have been raised by residents.
“In 2017, we entered into the Metro North Regional Emergency Regional Communications Center with Revere police and fire and Winthrop police and fire,” said Wiley. “The RECC is located at the Revere Police Department headquarters on Revere Beach Parkway. When it was built, it was not meant to be a permanent location for them.”
Winthrop is currently assessed $440,000 per year to be a member of the MNRECC and Revere is assessed about $1.6 million, based on the call volume per community.
The RECC is overseen by a board of directors, which Wiley currently chairs. The board also includes the Winthrop police chief and town manager as well as the Revere mayor, police chief, and fire chief and one rotating member.
Several weeks ago, the Chelsea City Council voted unanimously to join the MNRECC alongside Winthrop and Revere.
“It’s approximately a two-year project, and there will be a major rehabilitation of the McKinley School in Revere that will be paid for completely by the state and grant money,” said Wiley, adding the total cost of the project will be around $15 million.
Once Chelsea is onboard, staffing will increase from five to six dispatchers and call-takers on duty per shift to nine dispatchers and call-takers at night and 10 during the day.
“One of the issues brought up in public comment last week was an issue that happened approximately five years ago on a call when a dispatcher or call-taker was not familiar with some of the landmarks in Winthrop,” said Wiley. “Since that time, we have gone through a couple different iterations of both the board of directors and executive directors of the RECC. About 18 months ago we brought Whitney Morgan in as the executive director of the RECC … and since she came aboard, there has been a big turnover in the direction of the RECC; it is much more professional and it is really a well-run organization.”
One of the things the RECC has implemented in its training sessions, the fire chief said, is that dispatchers must know the communities they serve to ensure rapid and accurate dispatches. To achieve that goal, either the executive or deputy director takes new dispatchers through the area to familiarize them with key locations.
“Dispatchers must be able to recognize areas, like for Winthrop, the Five Sisters, the Landing, and the Kilmartin Path … immediately to avoid delays in emergency response,” said Wiley.
Another positive change over the past several years is that all calls from cellphones in the region now immediately go to the Revere dispatch center, and not to the state police center in Framingham as it did years ago.
Wiley added that having Chelsea onboard with additional personnel in the dispatch center should improve safety for the communities.
“I can’t see how anyone can say 10 dispatchers in a room isn’t better or safer than having six dispatchers or four dispatchers,” he said. “It increases the numbers and they are all capable of jumping on each other’s calls. If a major incident is happening in Chelsea and nothing is happening in Winthrop, they are able to help the Chelsea people take control of the phone calls and dispatches; they are all able to work with each other.”
