by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 10, 2019 | Comm Center News
MUNCIE, Ind. — The contract between the
city and Delaware County that supplies the funding for the Delaware
County Emergency Operations Center, commonly known as 911 dispatch, is
expiring and the county and city haven’t come to resolution to
restore it.
In December 2018, Muncie
Mayor Dennis Tyler gave notice that he intended to end the longstanding
agreement with the county for joint dispatch. The Delaware County
commissioners threatened to end the agreement in 2017, but negotiated
with the city before the deadline in December 2017 to continue the pact.
Read More…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 10, 2019 | Comm Center News
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute recently examined
the potential use of IoT devices in emergency situations, as well as
the state of standards development for such use.
ETSI identified a number of use cases in which IoT devices could play
a role in emergency situations. Five of those applications for IoT in
public safety were:
Emergency calling. ETSI outlined two IoT-driven
emergency calling use cases. In one, a smoke detector in a remote
location, such as a forest or an isolated facility, could send an
automated emergency call to a public safety answering point if it
detected a fire – and possibly, depending on the device, provide
real-time video from the scene.
Alternatively, that type of emergency message to a PSAP could also be
initiated by an IoT service platform operator, rather than by the
device directly, with a human making the emergency call based on
information from one or more IoT devices.
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 10, 2019 | Comm Center News
LUMBERTON, N.C. – Two dispatchers are in trouble after a Facebook video surfaced showing the pair mocking a Hurricane Dorian news conference.
In the video, one Lumberton EMS worker mocked sign language while the other “gave an update on the storm.”
The video was posted on their personal Facebook pages and later deleted, but not before deaf advocates saw it.
Our partners at WTVD took the video to interpreters who said the video was not only offensive, but confusing to some.
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 9, 2019 | Comm Center News
OHNSTON, R.I. (WLNE) – The 9-1-1
system in Rhode Island is under scrutiny following a house fire on the
Johnston-Smithfield line.
The
homeowners were not home at the time of the fire, but their five cats
were. The bodies of four of the cats were found in the rubble. A fifth
is still missing.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said neighbor Fred Pontarelli.
Pontarelli
and several other neighbors believe the 9-1-1 system is outdated
because the closest fire department was not the crew called to the
scene.
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 9, 2019 | Comm Center News
When a 911 call is made in Kittitas County, whether that be for a
medical emergency, a fire or the need for law enforcement presence,
Kittcom directs the call to the appropriate public safety agency. But
Kittcom, which{span} serves 17 public safety agencies,{/span} is
currently in a hiring crisis and is in need of new recruits.
Darlene
Mainwaring remembers writing on a spiral notebook, recording 911 calls
and later transcribing the details of those calls on a typewriter. She
took the job as a dispatcher right after college, never expecting it
would turn into a 29-year-long career and the current Director of
Kittcom.
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 9, 2019 | Comm Center News
Tucked away in a nondescript building near Bowers Field, the only
telltale sign of the Kittcom headquarters is an impressive 140-foot
antenna apparatus. Inside a room within the building, dispatchers sit
behind computer arrays providing the lifeline between people in crisis
and first responders.
The 4,500-square-foot building has been home
to the operations center since 1999, when it moved from its old
700-square-foot location in the Ellensburg Public Safety Building. Teams
of two civilian dispatchers work as teams on 12-hour shifts during the
week, with a third dispatcher added on during the weekends. In the 12
months ending in June 30, 2018, the center handled 37,171 dispatchable
calls, not including traffic stops. Seventeen public safety agencies are
handled through the center, with he Washington Department of Natural
Resources and Washington State Patrol being the exceptions within the
county.
