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Fishing Reports and information for the Coastal Bend
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dmchan
Pony Mullet
Joined: 09 Sep 2013
Posts: 91
Location: Flour Bluff
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 Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 3:16 pm Post subject: What the **** 911?! |
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So there's a nice big fire out on the island right now. It might not be so large if our 911 operators were a tad more savvy.
Is there a way we can effectively make a difference when it comes to the response time of our emergency personnel?
I ask because I was hunting in the middle of the laguna when it started. I called it in less than a minute after the smoke was large enough to see. The operator questioned everything I said and claimed to need more details that I couldn't provide from my perspective. It took a full 10 minutes for the FD to mobilize... and even then they were coming from the bluff. So theres another 10 minutes of high wind pushing the grass fire.
It seems to me that someone with the proper training and equipment could have gotten there much faster than they did. So again, what can we as a community do to change this kind of thing? Or is my perspective on this somehow flawed? |
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FIDO
Full Grown Flour Bluffian
Joined: 19 Feb 2009
Posts: 1058
Location: Aransas Pass, TEXAS
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| Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 12:16 pm Post subject: Re: What the **** 911?! |
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| dmchan wrote: | So there's a nice big fire out on the island right now. It might not be so large if our 911 operators were a tad more savvy.
Is there a way we can effectively make a difference when it comes to the response time of our emergency personnel?
I ask because I was hunting in the middle of the laguna when it started. I called it in less than a minute after the smoke was large enough to see. The operator questioned everything I said and claimed to need more details that I couldn't provide from my perspective. It took a full 10 minutes for the FD to mobilize... and even then they were coming from the bluff. So theres another 10 minutes of high wind pushing the grass fire.
It seems to me that someone with the proper training and equipment could have gotten there much faster than they did. So again, what can we as a community do to change this kind of thing? Or is my perspective on this somehow flawed? |
I'd start at the Corpus Christi Fire Station #13 in Flour Bluff.
The address is 1802 Waldron Road, Corpus Christi, TEXAS 78418.
Maybe they can help with the whole perspective thing.
_________________
Fish hard. You never know when you'll make you last trip south. |
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CopanoCruisin
Full Grown Flour Bluffian
Joined: 22 Apr 2006
Posts: 1063
Location: West shore of Copano Bay
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| Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Less Bureaucracy ! Really, if you have had the opportunity to hear some of the things that the dispatchers hear and have to make sense of, you would be amazed. Please do not stomp on my foot. I am in no way insinuating that you did not give a good description, although, especially In The rural areas, they just have to make sure. As a retired fire chief, I do appreciate your thoughtfulness in wanting to make things better........cC |
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lucid
Finger Mullet
Joined: 11 Feb 2013
Posts: 20
Location: bluff
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| Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 1:05 am Post subject: Re: What the **** 911?! |
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| dmchan wrote: | So there's a nice big fire out on the island right now. It might not be so large if our 911 operators were a tad more savvy.
Is there a way we can effectively make a difference when it comes to the response time of our emergency personnel?
I ask because I was hunting in the middle of the laguna when it started. I called it in less than a minute after the smoke was large enough to see. The operator questioned everything I said and claimed to need more details that I couldn't provide from my perspective. It took a full 10 minutes for the FD to mobilize... and even then they were coming from the bluff. So theres another 10 minutes of high wind pushing the grass fire.
It seems to me that someone with the proper training and equipment could have gotten there much faster than they did. So again, what can we as a community do to change this kind of thing? Or is my perspective on this somehow flawed? |
Ok, so before moving here, I worked as a 911 dispatcher for a city about the size of Corpus. I can't speak to whether or not they did a good job with this call, but I will tell you that is a f***** hard job and often a very thankless one.
You may have felt like the dispatcher "questioned everything" you said, but that is their job - to get as much information as possible, so they can send the right people to the right place with the right equipment with as much information about the situation as possible. We don't ask questions because we don't believe you or we're bored (believe me when there's a bunch of other lines ringing there's no reason to,) we ask questions because the firefighters and police officers determined what information they want us to ask of callers, and it's usually written into protocols we have to follow, and if we don't ask, they'll usually ask us to ask you.
What you may not realize is that as they're asking questions, they're typing away and sending help. How would you know that it took 10 minutes for them to mobilize? Do you have dispatch logs that show the times of when they picked up your call, when the call was initiated in the computer, when it was toned out to the fire station, when the FD said they were en route? Unless you were in the dispatcher's chair or the fire engine, that's the only way you'd really know when they "mobilized." There's about 800 other things going on behind the scenes that you're never aware of when you call 911.
Also realize CCFD doesn't run on a lot of significant brush fires. I'm saying this coming from a state that has had very significant loss of life and property from wildfires, and having personal knowledge of CCFD. It's not really a problem, there just isn't really much of a reason for them to prioritize wildfire, when there are other much more common dangers in this area they should focus on. The equipment needed for wildfire is completely different from that needed for structural firefighting. It's going to take them a bit of time to get it all ready.
Again, I have no personal knowledge of how well this call was handled but I find it hard to take issue with it when it was extinguished and no one was hurt, killed, and no structures were damaged or threatened. I just want to provide a perspective from the other end of the 911 line.
Considering CCFD and dispatch down here are dangerously understaffed, underfunded and have ridiculously high turnover rates because they're underpaid and overworked compared to other agencies, I'd say start there. Tell your city council member to stop this BS with kicking the can down the road by paying up the a** for a new "study" every few years and paying God-knows-how-much for crazy amounts of overtime and training new people every few months. Tell them to listen to what every study and every first responder in the city has already told them - they need more people and they need to give them a decent wage/benefits so they can actually retain them. |
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