Operations
The Communications Center is the heart of the Calhoun County 9-1-1 District, answering and processing an average of two hundred (200) 9-1-1 calls per day, ranging from vehicle accidents, fire calls, medical calls to information requests. However, this is only a portion of the job. The 9-1-1 District currently dispatches for 10 volunteer fire departments and 3 first responder agencies throughout the county and acts as the point of contact for the Calhoun County Coroner's Office. The Telecommunicators monitor most radio communcations throughout the county and have the ability to assist when necessary. In addition, personnel answer and make approximately 100 calls per day on non-emergency lines in relation to address verification, emergency updates and information requests.
Operations Manager Lynn Wright has been with the agency since 1989. She began her career as a Telecommunicator I and worked her way through the ranks. Mrs. Wright is responsible for ensuring all operations of the agency are carried out according to the agency objectives and Standard Operating Guidelines.
Mrs. Wright is a certified Emergency Number Professional with the National Emergency Number Association and is an active member of the State of Alabama NENA Chapter.
Communications Center
The Calhoun County 9-1-1 District Communications Center is a state of the art work environment. All calls are processed using the PlantCML Sentinel and Aries CAD/Map IP answering platform, allowing call takers the ability to enter and correct information, send information to the
agencies we serve, and create incidents to document each call that comes in. The center has eight dedicated lines (911 Trunks) and four dispatch lines, allowing for twelve calls to come into the center at one time.
Calhoun County 9-1-1 is the single Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) in Calhoun County, answering all 9-1-1 calls and making notifications to the appropriate Police, Fire or EMS agency per their jurisdictional lines. The Operations Manager works with the management of each agency in Calhoun County to ensure that the agencies are receiving the information that they need to respond to an emergency.
Ms. Wright maintains a close working relationship with all agencies in the county.
Six answering positions, equipped with ergonomic articulating consoles, are located in the main communications center, allowing personnel to sit, stand or alternate between the two. Each position has personal air controls and heaters to help with the comfort of the Telecommunicator during the course of their work day. One answering position is located in the Supervisors Office giving the center seven total answering positions.
Each position is equipped with a Motorola MCC7500 radio console, a database consisting of all addresses in the county, PlantCML Sentinel, Aries CAD and Map. The positions also have internet access that gives our Telecommunications the resources they need to assist callers by using internet mapping systems, nationwide law enforcement directories, Google Earth, Virtual Alabama and more.
Telecommunicators are scheduled four days per week working ten hours per day. This allows for a three day weekend for every other week. Shifts rotate every eight weeks.
Current shifts are:
First Shift 7am - 5pm
Second Shift 1pm - 11pm
Third Shift 9pm - 7am
Float Shift 11am - 9pm (or where needed for shift coverage)
All personnel are certified Emergency Medical Dispatcher through the Association of Public Communication Officials (APCO) EMD program. This certification allows us to provide medical pre-arrival instructions to callers and to obtain information to assist the responding agencies in treating your emergency. Telecommunicators hold Basic Telecommunicator Certification from APCO as well. Throughout the training process, Telecommunicators are trained in HAZ-Mat, TTY Use, CPR and several other areas.
All personnel are trained to use many different types of equipment including UHF, VHF and 800 MHz radio systems, hand-held and mobile units.
The communications center acts as a back-up for Calhoun County EMA office in Jacksonville Alabama, with the equipment and ability to set off the weather sirens in case of failure at the EMA office. We also utilize the National Weather Service live radar to help determine staffing levels in case of inclement weather.
Supervisor Erlisa Cunningham (left) & Operations Manager Lynn Wright (right) processing the
agencies 1,000,000th call on May 8th, 2008
The Calhoun County 9-1-1 Districts maintains a back-up PSAP off-site in case of a disaster at
our main location. This gives us the ability to evacuate and continue to process emergency calls without any delay in service.
The Operations Department is currently staffed by:
1 Operations Manager
3 Telecommunicator II's (Shift Supervisors)
14 Telecommunicator I's (Front Line Call Takers / Dispatchers)