“Who is 911?”…

A team of twenty public safety communicators work at the Anchorage Fire Department Dispatch Center to keep it operating 365 days a year around the clock.  Dispatchers work 12-hour shifts, with alternating three or four day work weeks and are considered essential emergency personnel, which means they are required to report for duty despite situations that close municipal government offices.  Training is comprehensive and it can take anywhere from four months to one year, depending on experience, to achieve certification as an Advanced Emergency Medical and Fire Dispatcher.  Maintaining certification requires 36 hours of continuing education every two years.

The Dispatch Center takes both 911 and administrative calls, averaging more than 100 requests for service a day and in excess of 40,000 a year.  Calls cover a wide of range of situations from simple questions about burn permits to talking citizens through CPR until paramedic help arrives on location. One person on duty is assigned to work the main alarm channel and handles dispatches for all Fire and EMS (Emergency Medical Service) calls, as well as all routine radio traffic for the municipality, including Chugiak and Girdwood.  Personnel fielding phone calls also handle radio traffic for major incidents which are moved to a separate TAC (Tactical) channel for operational purposes.  Minimum staffing requires three personnel on duty at all times, although there must be four on shift before lunch breaks are possible during the 12-hour shift.

Processing a 911 call involves many stages, the first and most important is determining the exact location of the emergency. This vital piece of the puzzle is so critical that all callers are asked to verify the location, even though it may be displayed on the computer screen in front of the dispatcher.  It’s possible that the emergency is NOT at the location the caller is or the data could fail to load properly in the system, causing potentially life-threatening delays in response times.  Dispatchers will ask callers to be as specific as possible with details such of which side of the roadway, whether before or after an intersection, inside or outside a building, etc.  Fire apparatus are not easy to maneuver and something as simple as knowing whether to be in the right or left lane approaching an intersection can save precious minutes in a response.  The caller will then be asked to provide their callback number and first name.  In the event a call is disconnected or further information is needed, it is important to have the ability to re-contact the original caller.  All callers requesting an ambulance are then asked the same basic questions about the patient—Age, male or female, whether the patient is awake and if they are breathing.  While it seems logical that a caller would volunteer this information, it can’t be assumed that a caller facing an emergency situation will spontaneously provide relevant information.  A series of questions will then be asked to help to determine the proper response, such as whether an MICU (Mobile Intensive Care Unit) should respond code red (lights and sirens) or code yellow (no lights or sirens) and whether the additional man power of an engine crew is needed.  In some cases, the closest rig to a call may be an engine and is dispatched along with the MICU to ensure that help arrives as quickly as possible to the patient.  For fire related emergencies, a similar set of questions is asked, to determine the necessary response.  Once the call-taker has entered the information based on the caller’s answers, the incident is presented on the dispatcher’s computer screen for dispatch.  The dispatcher determines the units for the proper response and a signal is sent to those stations, alerting the crews of the call they have been dispatched on.

Ensuring the safety of firefighters, citizens and property are the top priorities for public safety communicators on every incident.  Advanced Emergency Medical and Fire Dispatchers work from a program developed to insure that all pertinent information is gathered and life-saving instructions are given.  The ability to multi-task, make quick decisions and remain calm when others are panicked are the fundamental qualities for this challenging job.  Citizens are encouraged to call the non-emergency number and schedule a time to come and see your Dispatch Center at work!