After-Action Report Includes Personal Accounts

A huge pile-up of 80 cars and trucks along an Interstate highway in Hamilton County (Ohio) last week required the focus and professionalism of the dispatchers handling the incident, and also left the comm center staff with sad memories of a 12 year-old girl who died in the accident. The county Department of Communications’ after-action report detailed all the facts and figures, but also included the personal recollections of veteran dispatcher  Barrett Cohen, who fielded a 911 call reporting that Sammy Reagan was in the midst of the accident, and wasn’t breathing. Most poignantly, Cohen recalls hearing Sammy’s mother telling her young daughter, “Sammy, it’s mommy, wake up!” The young girl did not survive the accident, but first responders did save 30 other injured motorists among the 80 involved vehicles. Dispatchers fielded 43 calls on 911 within the first six minutes, the county report noted, and coordinated responses from eight jurisdictions, along with 50 tow trucks from private companies. Interstate 275 was closed for five hours as rescues were made, the investigation was performed and the road finally cleared. Download (pdf) the after-action report with Cohen’s story, and watch a news interview with him after the break.