“New Hanover County 911. What's the address of your emergency?”
It is a question 911 operators ask for twelve hours a day. The question is routine, but the answer is always unique. “Every day's a little different, I guess that is the best way to put it,” said 911 operator Vic Rule.
Most 911 operators say that is what they love about the job; at least according to those who stick with it.
“They say the average life span of a dispatcher is 3 to 5 years. I just made it,” said Christopher Enyart.
Rule added, “It's always a hard job here of keeping people because of the multi-tasking, the stress, and the hours.”
With constant pressure and just three, ten minute breaks scattered throughout the work day, it is no surprise 911 operators turn over at such a high rate.
“It can eat at a person to sit there and be able to hear someone crying for help and knowing that your hands are kind of tied because you’re behind the scenes,” Rule said.
Enyart said, “One of the most dangerous things you can be here is apathetic. You know you have to care all the time.”
That can be exhausting, especially at New Hanover county 911, one of the busiest centers in the state. Operators take calls for the Wilmington Police Department, the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office, police at Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure beaches, county fire departments, EMS, and UNCW.
Some operators train for an entire year before taking calls on their own. “The training is very intensive. Anyone who clears training, fully clears training, is highly, highly qualified,” Enyart said.
Still, all the training in the world can not prepare dispatchers for every emergency call. Enyart said, “When I first started here I had nightmares for days, but that's not uncommon.”
That is why 911 operators work in teams. They say building a family of dispatchers benefits the people on both ends of the phone calls.
“We try to be supportive as much as we can, not just with everyone here, but with the callers we deal with,” Rule said.
For long-term 911 operators, it is those callers that keep them coming back to the job. “You know you go to work everyday and you do something that helps people,” added Enyart.
Last year, New Hanover County 911 operators answered almost half a million calls for service.
Tune in to WWAY at 11 and we will listen to some of those calls and hear first hand what the dispatchers deal with on a regular basis.
Watch part two of this series, Inside 911: Dealing with calls.
911
I like the way WWAY starts out with a nice article to encourge public confidence with 911 system and then end the segment with the same negative comments that started this story.
911 Operators
They have my upmost respect for the job they do. Theirs is a crucial job and not everyone is cut out to be in this profession.
Without these 911 operators, we would be in a terrible fix at times.
Somehow, I think calling the
Somehow, I think calling the agency you need was a better system. If you needed the police you called them. If there was a fire, you called the fire department. Too much time wasted and information lost and altered when you have to go thrugh a separate agency. I called the BSL fire department once to report a fire. The guy that answered the phone refused to respond and said I had to call 911. I thought when a fire was reported to the fire station, somebody is supposed to come with a fire truck. Guess common sense does not work anymore.
Always call 911 first
I guess you've never heard of 911? Before 911 came along that is what you done,call the local fire department,ems or law enforcement agency direct.Fast forward to 2009. Brunswick county 911 is the PSAP for BSL...oh PSAP means "public safety answering point". We answer your call, enter in the address,phone number,name of caller and type of emergency into our cad system CAD "computer aided dispatch"..this is all done on an average of less that 40 seconds. The information is routed to all the computers in the room, the dispatcher who is working FIRE will immediatly dispatch BSL or Sunny Point or Southport fire or any other fire department needed; depending where you live to the location of the emergency.From beginning to end this takes on average less than 90 seconds. Why BSL fire told you to call 911; should've done that to start with...BSL is not a paid deparment, you just got lucky that someone was there to answer the phone. By calling 911 BSL has a log of the call, all the times needed for their report that is sent into the State..Could they have rolled an engine and told us what they were going to...yes but that would take up more time than you simply calling 911 to start with. 911 saves time and lives...never hesitate to call it. We are on the job 24/7/365, nights,weekends and holidays.
I guess you've never heard
I guess you've never heard of 911? Before 911 came along that is what you done,call the local fire department,ems or law enforcement agency direct.Fast forward to 2009.
This is what we DID (not done), we called who we needed for a response. Things worked a lot better. Too many horror stories about 911...should go back to the old way. it was a lot better.
Yeah, 911
Yeah, 911 junkie.............you were really on the job that day.