Clearly, the smoke still lingers in the sky as the fire continues to burn more than 24 hours after it started yesterday on Jersey Road.
HOWEVER, wait till you read what REALLY happened yesterday. What would you say if I told you when the fire started, the Son called 911 and they hung up on the young man, not once, but twice? OK, if that's hard to believe, get this. Then the Father gets on the phone, calls 911 and they direct him to a Verizon Call Center! OK, now you call 911 back for a 4th time and they send you somewhere else, they don't even know where the call went!
If 4 calls wasn't good enough, the property own quickly remembered he had spoken with a Fire Fighter who was going to be in charge of this Saturday's controlled burn and his number was still on his cell phone. So he made the 5th call to this person who then contacted the proper people to get someone rolling to the scene.
Look, I don't care what anyone says or thinks here but something needs to be done and it needs to be done right away. The 911 Center SUCKS and SBYNEWS.COM is the only place that has exposed such ridiculous hang ups from them. Imagine just how many that have been screwed up in the past that we haven't heard about?
Now is the time for some real discussion on this very serious matter. Let it roll!
OH, before anyone goes pointing fingers at anyone. I went to the property for a follow up today and spoke directly with John Culver and his wonderful Wife. MY information is from the horses mouth, respectfully. I'm sure See & Gordy will be trying to point fingers all over the Fire Department but they need to shut their mouths this time and answer to this serious situation. It happened, it's a fact, how are we going to fix it?
21 comments:
OH I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS. BUT BEFORE WE GET STARTED I MUST ADMIT THAT SINCE THE NEW "DEPUTY" DIRECTOR HAS BEEN IN POSITION THINGS HAVE GOTTEN BETTER I GUESS WHAT I MEAN IS WE ARE HALF WAY THERE.
Its got to fixed by holding the 911 call center administration responsible.They are hiring these incompetent people.Someine is bound to die.
hey dummy did you think that the cell call may have gone to Sussex that does happen.
i no someone who works there and i dont doubt this at all!!!
Joe,
I am certainly not brown nosing David See or Bill Gordy with this post. However, 911 dispatch is controlled by Wicomico County. The Salisbury Fire Dept. has no ties to it whatsoever.
Are there issues at the 911 center? Probably, but I don't work there and will not speculate.
As much as Chief See and Gordy would love to have control of how calls are dispatched, operated, etc.; so we may better manage our resources they aren't. They are in no way responsible for the dispatch center within Wicomico County. Just wanted to clarify.
Rob Frampton
Rob,
Thank You! However, please allow me to make the following statement.
I happen to know there's been MUCH talk around the Fire Departments about this exact matter. That being said, I also believe that See & Gordy have far more influince with 911 than the Fire Fighters and certainly the regular Joe out there.
Therefore I believe they need to get off their asses and demand this situation be cured, along with Chiefy Webster. Remember now, this is two situations more than a year apart where 911 is STILL hanging up on people. Respectfully, Joe
I'm telling you all, the system is screwed up. Do we have trained chimps answering the phone? I used to work for the old CallCenter Services when I was going through college. No doubt about it, we would have been terminated if it were found out that we PURPOSELY hung up on a customer, and that was for placing orders for "stuff". These dispatchers are dealing with HUMAN LIVES. All I have to say is--WHAT THE HELL???!?!?!?!??! Now, in their defense, if a new "Deputy" Director is in place and working on fixing the problems, I think we should take a look at where we were before they took over. If we can quantitatively assess that things are getting better, we should continue due diliegence in this matter, and give this person the opportunity to continue to make changes.
The city has nothing to do with the 911 center. It is controled by the county and the city takes the calls they are given. Perhaps the callers cell phone was directed to Sussex 911. Anythibg is possible with technology.
Joe,
I would differ on the influence you think they have. Ask around to the County Chiefs and the County Radio Committee. All changes must go through these two groups. Of which Salisbury is 3 Stations out of 14 stations. There are major politics that come into play with these groups far beyond yours and my imagination.
I can say this Salisbury (See and Gordy) have made several attempts to change some of the operational procedures with little to no luck. These changes would have benefited the operational abilities of the SFD tremendously. However they were met with much resistance by both County Committees.
A good analogy would be Chief Webster trying to influence how Sheriff Lewis runs his dispatch center, "it just ain't gonna happen".
Rob
Joe, respectfully, why do you think David See and Bill Gordy are such influential forces at the 911 Center? I used to believe the moon was made out of cheese until I became educated and found out it wasn't. You should try to educate yourself before you go throwing out halfass conclusions that are only your "beliefs"...respectfully.
wow this is unbelievable!! ok first of all this is being researched because the 911 center NEVER recieved any calls before delmar reported it over the radio. did you ever think that maybe it could have hit a sussex tower and sussex have done this? i'm telling you for a fact the center never got any calls about it so how could they have transfered them somewhere? i'm not sure what happened but the center is not responsible. how can you people say those things about the dispatchers you have no idea what they're put through. they're thoroughly trained and under a lot of stress so back off god does everyone just want something or someone to point the finger at and complain about?
Hi all,
I was present at the fire yesterday. The property belongs to my family and I was the second following the Fire Chief on the scene. Just to clarify, there were two calls made from the father's cell phone prior to dispatch ever technically receiving a phone call regarding the fire. The first call he claimed were redirected to Verizon and then the second was disconnected. I am not sure how this could've happened. One of my very good friends is a MD state fire marshall, and he proposed the idea of the call being picked up by a Sussex tower, which I found after a call to Wicomico Central to not be the case. Central office connected me to supervisor after supervisor and the only conclusive fact I got was that only ONE call was received that day regarding the fire prior to the call from Delmar fire dept. The son contacted my father, a member of the Delmar fire dept and he called 911 from his cell phone and was connected to Delmar fire dept. This is the FIRST and ONLY call on record regarding the fire and the one that called it in. I have no answers for how this could've happened, and I honestly do not care to get into the politics of the matter. All I know is that this shouldn't of happened, especially twice.
Anon 6:14pm
I hope that post was not directed at either of my comments. I have many good friends who either 'are' or 'have been' dispatchers in Wicomico County. Dispatching and calltaking are not easy and I hope that I didn't imply that in either of my posts.
Unfortunatly for Dispatch, but fortunate for the SFD, we have hired several of the best dispatchers away from you guys(Brooks, Big Dog, Bryan, etc.)
I don't envy your job because I don't think I could handle the stress of taking all of those calls with the lack of manpower and pay that you guys recieve. Your staff is holed up out there in 'jail cell' fashion, barely seeing the light of day.
Kudos to all of the dispatchers and the new 'Deputy', whom I have never personally met, for making some strides in the right direction.
Rob Frampton
thank you Rob we appreciate it. it's just disappointing that you are the only one understanding our side.
Does this highlight a potential problem with cell phones perhaps?
Were the disconnects hangups or were they dropped cell calls?
I use Verizon and have used many others. Verizon seems to have the best service but more often than not in rural locations it isn't worth a damn. I can be motionless with the thing on speaker and start with a strong signal only to have it fade, drop the call, and then come on strong again.
My best advice is to use a land line if at all possible.
The only call that was made was indeed picked up in the Sussex County EOC. I was on shift and another Communications tech took the call. However the first call was direct to Delmar Fire Dept. Hope this can clear things up for you all in Salisbury Maryland. Delmar requested Station 81 out of Laurel to respond instead of Salisbury.
Sussex
If the calls didn't go to the center in either state, where did they go? 911 doesn't ring just anywhere. If the call was made from a landline, where did the calls go? Cell phone, yes I understand how they ping various towers but not a landline.
Something to consider. I have a friend out in Pittsville, her phones have gone wonky lately due to what the techs blame on old wiring to the house from wherever they come from. Her house is 8 years old so its not what I consider old. Her phone calls have been going to anothers house that lives in Pittsville also. Now why is this happening? Could the landline on Jersey Road also be screwed up as they are in Pittsville? It is a possibility. If our lines coming to our homes are so old the calls are going everywhere but where they should be going maybe Verizon needs to take some of that money they are spending on FIOS and spend it on upgrading all of these old lines.
I can see one call being diverted but not 4 of them. What if this fire was in these peoples home? They'd be homeless and/or dead before the call ever got to the proper emergency outlet. What a mess.
How can you make the claim that the only call that was made was to Sussex County, UNLESS YOU were the one making the calls? This is bullshit. Nice try though.
Anonymous said...
thank you Rob we appreciate it. it's just disappointing that you are the only one understanding our side.
9:15 PM
When I have my scanner on and running, I hear the dispatchers, and most of the time they are very clear about where the people go and so forth. I don't know who it is, but there is this one male dispatcher who is so good, because he gives out all kinds of information, and is really clear. I love it when he works, you really get a good idea of what is going on.
Anon 9:49,
I wouldn't say that it happens often, however, there are certain areas based on their geographical location that will have a cell phone pick up a tower that may not be the correct one. In turn this may cause the call to be transferred to the incorrect Dispatch center.
For example I often travel to the upper shore for my part-time job. I have heard stories from many people in the Tilghman/St. Michaels area, as well as the Kent Island/Grasonsville/Romancoke area that have had their CELLULAR 911 calls received by Anne Arundel or Charles County EOC's. This is not isolated to the Eastern Shore or Maryland, there is just more of a likelihood that it happens here because of our location, topography, and closeness of borders.
I am not saying that this is what happened in this case. I was not at the fire, I didn't make the call to 911, nor do I work at the Dispatch Center.
I am only making a point that YES, it can happen and has a higher liklihood of happening right here in our back yard. Did it happen here? I don't know and probably never will.
Rob Frampton
Anon 10:07
You r probably referring 2 Zach K, sorry if I spelled it wrong but he's a firefighter at 16 and understands fireground operations. My husbands scanner stays on constanly and he's about the only one I can stand to listen to. He doesn't give a lot of pointless information if you ask me.
KR
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