Last week I was forwarded a newsletter from the Montecito Association. I was struck by the recommendation to use the 10-digit phone number for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s landline rather than 911 when reporting an emergency in Montecito, specifically Coast Village...

The Fort Worth police department did not meet its own response-time goals in nearly half of high-priority emergency calls and nearly one in four 911 callers reached a recording and hung up before an operator picked up, according to a city audit obtained by NBC 5. The...

PRESCOTT, AZ — On June 30, dispatchers inside the Prescott Regional Dispatch Center repeated the same thing again and again. “(Unit 1201) is en route with a 41-minute ETA, and we’re in ‘level zero’ again.” “And that brings us back down to to ‘level zero.’” “I have no...

WASHINGTON — Verizon and AT&T have rejected a request by the U.S. government to delay the rollout of next-generation wireless technology. A joint letter Sunday from the telecommunications giants to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Steve Dickson,...

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Page County Emergency Communications Center has announced that CenturyLink/Lumen is experiencing issues that are affecting 911 lines in the county. If you call 911, you may be re-routed to one of the Page County ECC administrative lines....

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg EMS has requested “ambulance strike teams” as it faces a more transmissible COVID-19 variant, an ongoing staffing shortage and an increase in service calls. As of Monday, 33 Medic employees are in isolation due to COVID-19, the agency’s...

Omega. Alpha. Bravo. Charlie. Delta. Echo. Kenosha Fire Department is now utilizing these codes to classify medical service calls as a safety initiative as emergency units are dispatched. Division Chief of EMS Nicholas Eschmann said whenever someone calls 911 for...

If you're thinking about pulling a “Crank Yanker” trick on Lyon County 911 operators, think again. The Lyon County Emergency Communications Center announced a new tool Sunday to track incoming calls. A Facebook statement said it can “possibly see your 911 call before...

Marion County's 911 center experienced an hourlong outage after the clock struck midnight on New Year's Day, while hundreds of calls poured in reporting celebratory gunshots. "I have never seen anything even close to what happened last night," said Michael Hubbs,...

Lincoln County Communications Center Supervisor Mark Creamer always put family first. And his community was his family. That’s the consensus of the people who knew him and of the people who worked with him. Creamer was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in June of 2021....

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - “What3Words” uses a GPS tracking system that breaks down the world into 10 feet by 10 feet virtual squares. What3Words is an app and website developed in the UK that’s trying to make it easier to find people in emergencies, in crowds, or in...

A language barrier can be difficult in any circumstances, but when first-responders and those they’re trying to help can’t understand one another, the hurdle can be life-threatening. Last week, the Smyth County Board of Supervisors took action to ease communication...

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – Almost half of the 911 operator positions in Durham are vacant, according to data on the city of Durham’s website. There are currently 28 vacancies out of 60 call taker positions, according to the website. One year ago when CBS 17 first started...

While law enforcement officers and fire & EMS crews are out on the front lines responding to emergencies, the unsung heroes of the 911 dispatch team are operating behind closed doors, cooped up in a small room in the basement of the Gordon building on West Main...

Habersham citizens have shared their frustrations and concerns with slow response times from the county’s emergency services online, and citizens brought those concerns forward at Tuesday night’s public safety town hall meeting. At Habersham County Commissioner Bruce...

With $3.4 million in federal funding provided through the American Rescue Plan, Norwich City Council gave the green light for a series of substantial upgrades to the city’s antiquated emergency dispatch system. “We have known for a decade, maybe longer, that our...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Jefferson City's Public Safety Committee unanimously voted Thursday morning to move forward with hiring incentives for police officers and communications operators. The proposal will now go to the city council for approval. If approved, the...

The Sumner County Commission approved the expenditure of almost $2.9 million from American Rescue Plan funds for COVID-19 hazard pay for first responders in the county. At its Dec. 13 meeting, commissioners allocated $2,892,350 for bonus pay for the county EMS,...