This Friday, the 29th, is the last day to submit comments to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) on recommended changes to their communications standard 1221, which provides guidance for the installation, maintenance and use of emergency services communications systems. Changes have been proposed in several areas, including back-up HVAC systems, fire plans, an 82-foot stand-off distance for vehicles, instant recall recorders, radio coverage standards, digital radio use and back-up power. Most notably, the standards committee proposes to change incident handling time standards–from call answer to unit notification within 60 seconds, 90% of the time. Previously, the standard set the compliance at 95% of the time. Download (pdf) details and how to comment on the proposals here.

Firefighters in Sedgwick County (Kan.) say their fire station alerting system isn’t reliably notifying them of incidents after the comm center installed new CAD software last April, leading to response delays. Comm center officials admit there are some glitches in the system, but say public safety isn’t being jeopardized. Wichita fire chief Ron Blackwell issued a statement that saying the department, “increasingly concerned about the dispatching issues associated with Sedgwick County’s new 911 system.” Read about the situation and watch a TV report here.

A federal judge has agreed that a lawsuit filed by a group of Columbus (Ohio) dispatchers should be given class-action status, extending any eventual ruling to everyone employed by the city’s police department since 2004 as well as current employes. The lawsuit relates to CPD’s policies for returning to work after sick and injury leave, or restricted duty: the city requires must submit a doctor’s note that states “the nature of the illness” to their “immediate supervisor.” The lawsuit contends allowing the supervisor to see the medical information is a violation of federal privacy laws and certain Amendments to the Constitution. Download (pdf) the judge’s latest order here.

Two teens who were trapped when a huge snow cave collapsed on top of them in a rural area southeast of Seattle were rescued after their mother dialed 911 for help, reaching Eastside Regional Communications Center (Wash.) dispatcher Becky McCracken. It took a long time for emergency units to reach the scene, so McCracken spent an hour talking to the boys’ mother. The family had been hiking along a stream and encountered an area where snow covered the water to form a cave. Firefighters used a chainsaw to slowly cut chunks of the snow away, finally revealing the boys after about five hours. They were airlifted to a hospital in serious condition but are expected to recover. The Eastside center is operated by the Bellevue Police Department and serves 16 agencies over 1,400 square-miles. Watch a video about McCracken here, and listen to the entire one-hour 911 call here. [map]

The Eastside comm center is nearly 50 miles away from the mountain stream where the two teens were trapped.

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The New York state auditor has concluded that M/A-COMM should not move forward with a $2 billion, state-wide public safety radio system unless all the problems are “fully resolved and all contract requirements are met.” Today auditor Thomas DiNapoli released two audits of the first phases of the system installation, which uses M/A-COMM’s proprietary 800 MHz trunked technology. In a press release, DiNapoli said one audit found the project is over 18 months behind schedule, and “numerous operational deficiences,” including tower hand-off problems, interference and dead spots. The other audio concluded that Erie County could spend almost $30 million less “by scaling back its participation in SWN and building its own radio network” using 400 MHz technology. The radio contract has been under fire since poor test results from Erie and Chautauqua Counties, the first build-out locations, were released earlier this year. DiNapoli has ordered a third round of testing, after which he’ll make an accept-or-reject decision on the contract. He added that the state isn’t obligated to pay M/A-COMM any money until acceptance, and can bail out after Phase I without any payments at all if the contract is unfulfilled. M/A-COMM disputes the state’s payment interpretation of the contract. Surf here for the press release and links to the full audits [or download pdf directly: audit #1 / #2]

A former St. Charles Parish (La.) 911 dispatcher has been setenced to nearly six years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty last November to possession of cocaine with intent to sell, and unauthorized access of a computer system. Demond Boudoin, 26, was indicted in Aug. 2007 by a federal grand jury. The indictment said an undercover agent performed five controlled buys of drugs from Boudoin, twice outside the parish comm center. The indictment also said Boudoin accessed NCIC to run the license plate of the undercover officer who purchased the drugs from him. Boudoin faced up to 20 years in prison, but a federal judge opted for the shorter sentence of six years and 10 months.

When a bear attacked a 15 year-old participant in a 24-hour bike marathon outside Anchorage (Alas.), the next person riding down the trail was Pete Basinger–luckily. It was Basinger’s calm voice on a remarkable call with Anchorage police-fire dispatchers that described the remote, night-time location, took medical advice and gave victim Petra Davis reassurance that help was coming. But it was 23 minutes until EMS and police could find the trail head, form up armed protection from a possible bear attack and then hike in. The comm center tape of the call has now been released, and is very instructional. Basinger tried dialing 911 twice but couldn’t get through, and so dialed the race’s coordinator, who dialed 911. The recording is the call that a dispatcher made back to Basinger to obtain information. Listen to the call here, and read more about the incident here. [maps]

View a map of the bike trails in Far North Bicentennial Park and the bear attack here.

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Pierce County (Wash.) is on the edge of the Seattle-Tacoma metro area, and the population has been growing for several years, putting pressure on the sheriff’s public safety comm center. Now several agencies dispatched by the center say service is poor because of understaffing, a situation the sheriff acknowledges. According to chief deputy Neil Gulbranson, the comm center hasn’t increased the number of dispatcher/jailer positions in 14 years, even though calls for service has doubled over the past five years. Local fire departments say their incidents are being delayed because of low staffing, including EMS incidents. Read a long story about the staffing here.

The probationary director of Hamilton County’s (Tenn.) 911 Center has been fired, in the midst of a complex project to bring all county public safety communications under one roof and a single administrative agency. 911 District officials declined to detail why Dennis Norwood was fired, but did acknowledge it will have some impact on the consolidation project, including hiring and training several more dispatchers. Read more and watch a TV report on the situation here.

A former Horry County (SC) 911 dispatcher is among six persons arrested and charged with murder, and the prosecution also accuses her of being the group’s mastermind. Crystal Turner, 27, allegedly lured the 54 year-old victim out of a restaurant in Galivants Ferry, according to court documents. He was then driven several miles outside of town by other members of the group where he was shot and robbed. Officials wouldn’t provide details on whether any of the six knew the victim or how he was selected. County 911 officials aid Turner worked as a dispatcher from Aug. 2006 to last April, but declined to say under what circumstances she left. Turner is being held in jail without bail.

A Yuma (Ariz.) Public Safety Communications Center dispatcher was injured on Sunday during fire department training exercises on the Colorado River, when the personal watercraft she was riding came into shallow water. Heather Monreal was thrown from the jet ski while riding as a passenger and suffered back injuries. The firefighter driver leg injuries. Both were treated and released. A fire captain being pulled on a skid as part of a rescue training exercise was more seriously injured and was flown to a hospital. Monreal ” was participating in the training as a part of orientation to Fire Department operations,” city officials said in a press release, and the jet ski was going about 30 mph at the time. The Yuma comm center handles dispatching for both the police and fire departments.

City officials in Plano (Tex.) are complaining that their radio-controlled lawn sprinkler system is being disrupted by a new public safety radio system 30 miles away. The Southwest Regional Communications Center installed the new radio system to link Cedar Hill, DeSoto and Duncanville, all suburbs of Dallas. The trouble started in early June when Plano gardeners noticed that trees and grass were dying, and then discovered that watering schedules for the $5 million sprinkler system weren’t being followed. The SRCC’s Kenwood radio system uses 3-towers, 15-channels and 600 radios in trunked mode, operating on an unusual MPT1327 protocol in the 453/460 MHz band. Plano’s telemetry radio system reportedly operates on a secondary basis on frequencies normally assigned to the Business Service, with low-power transmitters. Read more about the situation here.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has affirmed the murder conviction of a man who was identified by the victim during a 911 call minutes before she died of stab wounds. The court considered its precedents in the case, which set out tests for determining if information obtained during a 911 call is “evidentiary” or “testimonial,” and if the victim’s statements were inadmissible heresay. Considering the issues, the court ruled that the victim’s statements were spontaneous, and even though made to an “agent of law enforcement,” it was in response to questions intended to speed a medical response. Download (pdf) the court’s full opinion here.

A second incident has occurred at the Bucks County (Penn.) 911 center that started with a response delay, and ended with the death of a woman. Officials say a woman suffered a heart attack at home last Sunday after returning from shopping and her friend dialed 911 from a cellular phone. The friend knew only the home’s general location, so Solebury police and EMS units were sent to the area. After 11 minutes police located the home and radioed the exact address to the dispatcher, who transposed the street and cross-street names, sending an ambulance one mile away to the wrong location. While officers performed CPR, the radio dispatcher realized the mistake after eight minutes and redirected the ambulance to the correct address. County officials said the involved dispatcher was suspended two days without pay and would be retrained. In March, nine dispatchers were disciplined and the center’s director retired early after another woman died when her 911 call reporting that her bed was on fire was put on hold.

Fired Fulton County (Geo.) dispatcher Gina Conteh has appealed her firing for mishandling a 911 call that resulted in a delayed response. The caller later died from breathing problems. Conteh’s appeal will be heard by the county’s Personnel Board on Aug. 28th, and it could be sustained, reversed or modify the discipline. At the meeting, the board will also hear an appeal of an earlier suspension that Conteh was given for misconduct. According to personnel records released by the county, Conteh has served at least six unpaid suspensions. She was also recommended to be fired twice, but instead was given suspensions. In other news, the county has hired Oregon-based Emergency Services Consulting for $49,000 to examine the center’s operations and provide a report on any needed improvements within 60 days.