City, County Speed Up Calls

After inquiries by a Fayetteville Observer (NC) reporter, the city and Cumberland County have refined their 911 call handling procedures that could potentially reduce responses by two minutes. The city and county have separate comm centers, each handling its own law enforcement and fire incidents, but with the county handling EMS calls–but not dispatching within the city. The separate operations mean a city EMS 911 call is answered by a city dispatcher, transferred to a county dispatcher, who performs EMD and then sends dispatch back to the city for actual unit notification. Now, the city dispatcher will stay on the line as the county dispatcher handles the incident. Read more about the plan and their current response times here.