Local emergency dispatchers take every call seriously, and are ready to help

This is in response to Janice McDonald’s letter, “Crucial Timing.” (June 24).

One of McDonald’s concerns was about the whereabouts of 911 administration when there are problems with the system. On June 13, two members of McDonald’s family tried to call 911, but couldn’t get through.

The 911 Center was unaware of McDonald’s complaint until her letter was published in the Sun Journal. Since the letter appeared, I have spoken to the McDonalds to try and answer their concerns.

McDonald said her husband had called 911 twice and received a busy signal; her son’s fiancee called a third time and received a recording that all dispatchers were busy. The Lewiston-Auburn 911 Center has 16 emergency 911 lines coming into the center. If a busy signal is detected, the lines are programmed to automatically be forwarded to the Maine Department of Public Safety Answering Point in Gray. If those lines were also busy, then the line would be forwarded to the Department of Public Safety Answering Point in Augusta.

When the McDonald call came in, the 911 Center answered three calls before the McDonald call, and four calls afterwards. All of our 911 lines were not in use. The dispatcher saw a 911 call had come in, and tried to answer it, but the caller had either hung up or there was nobody on the line.

The computer system captured the information of the caller (the McDonald residence) and their phone number. The procedure for when we receive a 911 call that has been hung up (we call it an “abandoned 911 call”), is we try to contact the caller to determine the problem. The dispatcher followed procedure and called the McDonald’s phone number and received a busy signal. We presume they were trying to call 911 again.

At this point, the dispatcher started a complaint to have the police respond to the residence to determine if there was a problem. As this complaint was started, the dispatcher heard another dispatcher talking to the McDonalds, giving emergency medical instructions. We started an ambulance to their residence.

We contacted FairPoint Communications and the Maine Emergency Service Communication Bureau to check our lines and computer system to determine if we have a problem. We spoke with the McDonalds and had them use their phone to call 911 again, to see if there was a problem at their end.

We were unable to replicate the problem and feel satisfied our system is working properly.

In light of recent problems with communication centers in Cumberland and Penobscot County, FairPoint is reviewing our software and hardware to ensure we do not experience any of the problems that have occurred.

We take problems like the McDonalds seriously and will research them to determine what happened and take steps to correct them when we can. Our dispatchers are dedicated and professional personnel who are here to help.

In this situation, when the McDonalds had difficulty getting through to the 911 Center, the dispatchers recognized it and were taking the correct procedures to ensure they provided the help that was needed.

If anyone has a problem with 911, please do not hesitate to make us aware of it. We want to address and correct problems as soon as possible. The administrative number for the Lewiston-Auburn 911 Center is listed in the phone book (786-5380). I can also be reached via email, [email protected].

The 911 Center takes more than 121,000 phone calls a year. They are all important to us.

Andrew D’Eramo is director of the Lewiston-Auburn 911 Communications Center.