Sargent VFD seeks 911 changes

Tag : vfd systems

Published June 23, 2008 The county has taken stop-gap measures to improve emergencycommunications for first responders located in remote areas of thecounty following the acting chief of Sargent Volunteer FireDepartments comments to commissioners court Monday morning.

According to Jason Boyd, Sargent VFD acting chief, the firstresponders in Sargent have not been receiving a tone-out  or pageto emergencies  until, in some cases, 20 minutes after the initial911 call is made.

Our problem is somebody (from Sargent) calls 911 and (MatagordaCounty EMS) gets toned but we dont get toned until 20 minuteslater, explained Boyd.

Boyd told commissioners about an instance that happened recentlywhen a Sargent volunteer firemans grandmother had an emergency inthe middle of the night.

I woke up to the sound of him on the radio pleading for help,Boyd said.

We asked him what was wrong and he said he called 911 ten minutesago and he still hasnt heard the tone.

Boyd said he had to call the dispatcher at the Matagorda CountySheriffs Department before the tone went out.

What is now happening is that we have people calling our homesbecause citizens are so uncomfortable calling the EMS systembecause we are not getting (toned out to the emergency) so they arecalling our homes first, Boyd said.

This has been happening for about six months now and it seems tobe almost on the verge of negligence.

I understand that we are waiting on this new system, but we haveto do something and we have to do something now, Boyd saidreferring to the countywide emergency management radio plan forinteroperability that is pending completion.

The root of the problem for the county right now is that the 911system is a four-call system that starts with Matagorda CountySheriff Department dispatch who then calls Matagorda County EMS whothen calls Bay City Volunteer Fire Department who is responsiblefor toning out the respective volunteer fire department and firstresponders, Boyd said.

According to Fred Wilkins, Matagorda County EMS director ofoperations, 911 should be a one-call system  and it is all overthe state of Texas.

Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald appointed Wilkins and DougMatthes, Matagorda County Emergency Management Coordinator, tocontact dispatch at the sheriffs office in order to determine aninterim solution.

According to Matthes, he contacted Tim Dotson, sheriff departmentcommunication supervisor, and set up a solution that will requiredispatchers to make a phone call to the first responder who is oncall at remote locations in the county.

I also spoke with (Bay City Police) Chief Barker and he assured methat the police dispatch (who is responsible for Bay City VolunteerFire Departments dispatch) would make sure that each of the countyvolunteer fire departments were contacted directly as well,Matthes said.
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