Colorado 911 Dispatcher ‘Completely Overwhelmed’ After Mud Fills Her Home
Due to technical issue, fire chief was not dispatched to blaze where 3 died, officials say (NJ)
The on-duty fire chief that was supposed to have been dispatched to a house fire on Woodlawn Avenue in Hamilton earlier this month, where three people died, was not alerted by the Mercer County dispatch center, officials confirmed Wednesday.
Officials described the issue as a technical snafu by the county’s dispatch center, not an intentional act. It has already been remedied and did not cause any disruption or delay of firefighting at the scene, the Hamilton Fire Department and the town’s mayor said.
The Hamilton Fire Department is a new entity that started service on Jan. 1, 2021 after a five-year effort to consolidate the town’s eight autonomous fire districts, which each had their own portion of the 87,000-resident township…
HELP WANTED: ACSO struggles to staff open positions (TX)
Like many local businesses, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office is struggling to find people to fill vacant positions.
Sheriff Rudy Flores said one of his greatest challenges continues to be finding qualified applicants for available positions.
“We currently have openings in patrol, investigations, jail and dispatch,” Flores said. “Our most pressing need is the jail. I have reassigned personnel from other divisions in order to meet minimum state staffing requirements. These divisions were working shorthanded as well, and this reassignment simply exacerbates the problem…
Lawrence County Council approves hiring of dispatchers for sheriff’s department (IN)
LAWRENCE CO. – The Lawrence County council approved the hiring of two dispatchers at a higher rate of pay due to their level of experience. One dispatcher worked previously as a Hamilton County dispatcher and has more than 10 years of experience, and the second dispatcher previously worked at IU Health Hospital as an emergency medical dispatcher for the last seven years.
Lawrence County human resource policy states new hires will start at a first-year employee salary, but this type of job experience is important and the council approved the hiring of one of the dispatchers at a 10-year employee level and the second at a five-year employee level. This will still leave the department under budget at the end of the year…
Honoring the best, West Virginia Telecommunicator of the Year
POINT PLEASANT — A longtime Mason County 9-1-1 dispatcher has been named the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) West Virginia Telecommunicator of the Year.
Ethel Taylor of Point Pleasant was surprised with the award Tuesday during a party in her honor at the 9-1-1 center.
Taylor has been with Mason County 9-1-1 since 2001. Along with serving as a telecommunicator, she is a supervisor, and is described by her co-workers as the “matriarch” of the agency…
Feds sue North Carolina county over 911 operator’s firing
WILSON, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina county’s emergency communications unit engaged in unlawful retaliation when it terminated a worker after she told supervisors that she had been sexually harassed while on the job, according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to a department news release Wednesday, Jennifer Riddle began working as a trainee for Wilson County Emergency Communications in 2017 and was soon sexually harassed by the agency’s assistant director. The filing says Riddle complained of the harassment and an investigation substantiated her claims, leading to the assistant director being fired.
After the firing, the lawsuit says, Riddle began experiencing hostility from her supervisor and co-workers, leading to a transfer and, eventually, her firing when she reported to the supervisors on her new shift that she had previously been sexually harassed and the department hadn’t effectively dealt with her harasser…
