CAD Keystroke Error Delays Fire Response

Fire officials in New York City say a dispatcher’s error while typing in the address of a reported fire led to a nearly one-minute response delay to a fire that claimed the lives of three persons. The dispatcher typed in “62nd St.” instead of the correct address of 65th Street, sending units to the wrong location, and also shifting some of the first-due units to a firehouse further away. Despite the delay, city officials said the building had been illegally subdivided into rooms, had no smoke detectors or sprinklers, and those conditions probably contributed more to the deaths than the delay. The firefighters’ union took the opportunity to add to their complaints about the new CAD system and dispatching procedures the city introduced earlier this year, saying mistakes are rampant. All calls—police and fire—are now handled by the former 911 dispatchers, who are now part of the Unified Calltaking (UCT) system. The calltakers obtain information, enter it into CAD, where it’s handled by teams of police and fire radio dispatchers. Previously, the 911 calltakers transferred fire-related telephone calls to borough-based fire alarm offices for handling and dispatch. David Rosenzweig of the Fire Alarm Dispatchers’ Benevolent Association said that the UCT personnel received only eight hours of training to handle fire incidents, which he called “ridiculous.” He added, “(This) is not the last catastrophic event we’re going to have.” The NY Daily News newspaper has also raised questions about two city officials who worked on the CAD upgrade, and who were later hired by one of the major sub-contractors on the project, raising the question of a conflict of interest. Read more here.