by Bea Peterson
The Mayor and the Hoosick Falls Board of Trustees are currently investigating the possibility of eliminating the Village’s Dispatch System for cost reasons and replacing the service with the Rensselaer County Public Answering Point or “911.” “First we have to be one hundred percent positive the County can do it,” said Mayor Matt Monahan. Right now he feels fairly confident about that system, but some issues still have to be resolved, he said. On Tuesday they tested a dozen businesses and residences with excellent results, he added. If a change happens, it will be a few months yet before it materializes.
Hoosick Falls has had its own Dispatch system for 80 years, so there is
considerable interest among residents in learning about the system already in use by 14 County towns and two County cities. There is no doubt the facility on Main Street in Troy is impressive. It’s the stuff you see in movies, only it’s for real. The room has 10 console setups with four or more informational computer screens. Not all of the consoles are in use all the time. When there is a County emergency such as a snowstorm or flooding or other disaster, then all stations are at work.
The Town of Hoosick Rescue Squad and the Fire Departments already receive their alarms through pagers from the County system. That was a problem raised by rescue personnel during the Village’s Public Hearings. Depending on their location they sometimes don’t receive those pages. County Bureau of Public Safety Director Kelly Paslow said they are currently working to resolve that problem.
Should the Village Dispatch be shut down, there would be no charge to the Village for fire and rescue calls received. The County, however, is working out a plan where the Village would be charged for calls they answer for the Police Department.
The County Emergency Communications Center has over 40 communications officers and supervisors and is open 24 hours non-stop. Communications officers receive at least 12 weeks of classroom and on the job training. In 2009 the 911 Center answered approximately one half million calls and dispatched over 150,000 calls for service. It dispatches for nine police agencies, 22 ambulance services and 42 fire departments. For the last two years it has been the only facility in the County able to respond to cell phone calls. 911 calls can be made from any telephone with a dial tone, including home, office, business and pay phones, fax lines and party lines. There is always one supervisor and five or six communications officers/dispatchers on duty, depending on the time of day or night.
When a person calls 911 in response to an emergency he or she will be put through to a dispatcher. His or her location appears on a map on one of the four computer screens in front of that dispatcher. While the person is answering questions asked by the dispatcher, including confirmation of location, a partner dispatcher is already alerting the proper rescue people to respond to the call. The Center can handle calls from TTY systems, and they have a language line when the caller does not speak English. There is a backup system for all of it. The dispatchers have special training and a special detailed manual that, in some cases, allows them to talk a caller through an emergency situation until help arrives or help the caller resolve an emergency situation without having to call in rescue personnel.
Should there be an emergency, for example, where a truck with toxic materials is in an accident and buildings within a 200 foot radius of the accident have to be evacuated, the computer screen can outline the evacuation area and one reverse 911 call can be made to all those households and businesses alerting them to evacuate. The emergency alert system, seen on radios, televisions and road signs and used for Amber Alerts, for example, can be activated from the Troy facility.
Not All Calls Are 911 Calls
Hoosick Falls residents are accustomed to contacting the local Dispatch office with emergency and non-emergency calls. With the County system, 911 should always be called for a fire of any kind, medical problems, traffic accidents, fights, burglaries in progress, active disturbances or people trapped. Non-emergency calls in Rensselaer County are made to 270-5252. Those calls include barking dogs, loud music, parking problems, non-active disturbances and routine medical transports.
The budget for the Rensselaer County Bureau of Public Safety is four and one half million dollars a year. The Bureau of Public Safety includes 911 Dispatch, Arson Investigation, Fire Safety and Education, Disaster Preparedness and Response, Hazardous Materials Planning and Response, Training for Fire and EMS Responders, Auxiliary Police Units and Community Emergency Response Teams. The Emergency Communications Center portion of that budget is $3.4 million. After a tour of the facility on Tuesday, it was reassuring to know those County tax dollars are well spent.
