The Unseen Heroes: Celebrating Our 911 Telecommunicators

by | Apr 16, 2025 | Comm Center News

By  Zenji Nakazawa | Acting Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau

Could you talk a distraught parent through delivering their baby and clamping the umbilical cord?  What about guiding a lost, elderly person battling dementia and paranoia, along with her six-year-old grandson, out of the woods to safety?  Now, imagine doing all of this over the phone, where every decision can mean the difference between life and death.  This is just a glimpse into the extraordinary challenges our nation’s dedicated 911 telecommunicators face on any given workday.

During this year’s National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, I want to take a moment to recognize and celebrate our incredible 911 telecommunicators across the nation.

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New center highlights critical role of Calif. EMS dispatchers

by | Apr 14, 2025 | Comm Center News

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — If you’re lucky enough to get a tour of Hall Ambulance’s new dispatch center in downtown Bakersfield, keep an eye on seven-year veteran dispatcher Julianne Solano.

Emergency calls that would likely raise the blood pressure and heart rate in the best of us show Solano speaking clearly, accurately, with care and empathy — and with no sign of even a tremor in her voice.

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Filling the PSAP Gap

by | Apr 12, 2025 | Comm Center News

240 million—that’s approximately how many calls are made to 9-1-1 in the U.S. each year*, and the total keeps growing.

Given that there are only 5,748 primary and secondary Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) nationwide, that’s a lot of calls for the human operators to handle. 

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