August 26, 2007
-
Not much new on the bridge collapse. They released the 9-11 call transcripts. It took the 9-11 center a minute or two to figure it out, not bad considering that this was an unprecedented catastrophe. There were something like 22 9-11 operators on duty and they were soon overwhelmed. This begs for an overflow system where the calls can be routed to other 9-11 systems of off duty 9-11 operators at home. Mostly, it was hangups on call from people saying “the freeway stopped” and such but cellphones tend to result in “surges” of calls so this needs some “tweaking” but overall I thought that the existing 9-11 system did well. The cellphone issue is something that needs some work My “low end” cellphone cost me $20 to buy and $10 every three months to keep it going (70 minutes and I rollover around half). The point is that cellphones are cheap enough for almost anyone to have them and 9-11 call centers need an “overflow strategy. That’s basically post-disaster “tweaking”.
Overall, I rate our disaster response to the bridge collapse very good but it could use some “tweaking”. These are studied and it provides a great business opportunity for local companies that can provide products and services for disaster response. The public cares about this because it affects them and their loved ones personally. Overall Minnesota is doing very well but we can learn from adversity.
I saw this story when leaving my email.
Cellular Surge Overwhelms California 911
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/cellular-surge-overwhelms-california-911/20070826082709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001AP
Posted: 2007-08-26 08:28:57
Filed Under: Nation News
LOS ANGELES (Aug. 26) – California’s emergency agencies are struggling to adapt to a surge in calls from cell phones that have overwhelmed the state’s 911 system, leading to lost calls and long waits, according to a published report.Cell phone emergency calls take longer to handle and dispatchers can easily become swamped, such as when multiple callers report from the same accident scene.
There are roughly 10 times the number of 911 calls made from cell phones in California than there were in 1990. Last year, more than 8 million emergency calls were made from cell phones in the state, according to a review of data by the Los Angeles Times.
Officials say callers are more likely to receive a quick response from a land line. But even those calls could have a delayed response by dispatchers bogged down by cell phone calls.
The state says 90 percent of 911 calls should be answered in less than 10 seconds. But at the California Highway Patrol’s two largest call centers – in Los Angeles and San Francisco – waits averaged more than five times that amount, according to data covering January through July of this year. It’s extra time that could be the difference between life and death when a child is choking or an assault is occurring.
Elementary school counselor Brad Edwards waited eight minutes for a dispatcher to pick up an emergency call he made from his cell phone when a student collapsed and began foaming at the mouth.
“The fire station is just a few blocks away,” he said. “I could have run there faster than it took them to help me.”
The longest waits through July – an average of the longest delays each month – were 27 minutes in the Los Angeles area, 47 minutes in the Ventura area and more than 16 minutes in the Bay Area.
CHP officials say cell phone users who dial 911for non-emergencies – seeking, for example, traffic or weather information – are partly to blame.
Records show that nearly half of the emergency calls made to the CHP in the Los Angeles area through July of this year were abandoned by callers, or disconnected before a dispatcher picked up.
The CHP cannot track how many of those calls were true emergencies.
But “even if it’s 1 percent of those emergency calls, we’re very concerned about it,” said CHP Assistant Chief Jon Lopey.
The state Department of General Services is pushing to divert more cell calls from CHP call centers to local agencies to ease some of the load.
