CHIEFS FAULT CONSOLIDATED ALERT SYSTEM
BY MECHELE COOPER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 01/15/2009

BY MECHELE COOPER

Staff Writer

It took dispatchers more than a half-hour to dispatch Chelsea firefighters when a 911 call rang in the Central Maine Regional Communications Center last November for a fatal car accident in Chelsea.

The initial report came in at 2:55 a.m., according to an official complaint made by Chelsea Fire Chief Shawn Ramage. But firefighters were not dispatched to the accident on Route 17 until 3:30 a.m., after sheriff's deputies requested help with traffic control from Chelsea firefighters.

Ramage said standard operating procedure for his department states that firefighters are to be sent to all motor-vehicle accidents where an ambulance is dispatched.

Had the victim survived and needed the service of paramedics, Ramage said, paramedics would have been too busy with patient care to protect themselves from oncoming traffic, coordinate a helicopter landing zone, drive the ambulance to the landing zone or deal with any other victims.

Ramage said this isn't the first time the regional communications center in Augusta failed to dispatch a 911 call to a fire or rescue unit. Another incident occurred last April when Chelsea firefighters were supposed to provide coverage to Augusta while the city's fire department attended a two-alarm fire.

"Augusta had a fire last spring up on Riverside Drive, a big warehouse caught fire," Ramage said. "Augusta fire (department) sent the call to the regional communications center and they dropped the call. It never got dispatched to us."

The regional communications center is the product of an effort to regionalize 911 services and save money.

The plan, rolled out by legislation in 2004 with the creation of the Consolidated Emergency Communications Bureau, was to provide consolidated emergency communications to state, county and local public safety agencies.

But the plan has miffed the people -- mostly from smaller towns -- who actually respond to emergencies.

"I've had concerns (about the regional communications center in Augusta) right from the start," Ramage said. "The staffing levels there are not safe. Dispatchers do a good job. There's just not enough of them."

Cliff Wells, director of the Department of Public Safety Bureau that deals with emergency communications, said it is possible the dispatcher in the fatal November 2008 crash did not look at Chelsea's protocol and was unaware that firefighters are to be called out whenever an ambulance is requested.

Monmouth Fire Chief Andre Poulin said he, too, is concerned.

"We're actually looking to pull out of there because of such a disaster happening," Poulin said. "We're actually looking at some other communications centers."

Vassalboro Fire Chief Eric Rowe said his town was considering a change to the Somerset County Communications Center from the Augusta center. But he said the move could cost the town an additional $5,000.

Rowe said he hasn't had problems with the regional communications center in Augusta patching 911 calls to his department. But he said dispatchers make mistakes in their tone tests -- broadcasts that ensure fire department radios are in proper working order.

"They don't dispatch for China fire and rescue, but the other night, at 8 o'clock, for some reason they did their tone test instead of ours," Rowe said. "I just shook my head. I don't know what the deal was. Waterville came on and said, 'You just did China's test.'"

Rowe said everything seemed to work better when the Kennebec County Sheriff's Office dispatched for Vassalboro.

He said the communications center has taken on too much responsibility for the amount of people on staff. "They told us that they're short staffed and working on a lot of overtime and the pay rate isn't enough," he said. "That's what they told us."

Pittston Fire Chief Jason Farris said 911 dispatchers have alerted the wrong towns during incidents. He said they also don't follow through with tone tests for the departments.

He said the communications center alerted several towns for a fire call in Farmingdale. But because dispatchers don't always do the daily testing, no one knew the transmissions were not being received by the departments.

"It doesn't take much to cost somebody their life or property," Farris said.

Farris and other fire chiefs continue to be upset over the increased in cost of switching over to the regional dispatch service.

He said Pittston's dispatch bill jumped from $1,000 to $20,400. And the state Department of Public Safety, which answers emergency calls for most communities in Kennebec, York and Aroostook counties, is proposing a 64 percent rate increase for the service.

If the rate increase passes, Pittston would pay about $34,000, he said.

"We've called our (state) representatives," he said. "Either people aren't aware or they don't care. Fire chiefs have been banging our heads for four or five years now and it just seems like it's falling on deaf ears -- the amount of waste and deficiencies and the amount of money we're spending for the little services we get.

"The dispatchers are good and so are the supervisors. The problem is above them as far as grasping the reality that they're way understaffed and are asking for way too much money."

Wells, of the Department of Public Safety, said the communications center in Augusta may be understaffed. He cited Gov. John Baldacci's state-government hiring freeze, something that recently changed.

"(Baldacci) put a freeze on hiring but we got an exemption, so we're in the process of hiring again," Wells said.

Currently, 21 dispatchers staff the 911 operation in Augusta.

Wells said he needs about a half dozen more. But he said it takes up to six months for an application to be submitted, interviews conducted and background checks done. Candidates also have to take a polygraph test and complete three months of training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro, he said.

"So it takes six months to get somebody up to speed to function in that room," Wells said. "Right now, they're working a lot of overtime. Occasionally, mistakes are made. I can't speak to every incident."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com

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