Kate Traci
10/09

The screams came through my headset as I punched on the line.

I winced as my eardrum was pummeled by the pandemonium on the other end of the line. I had to get busy. No time to reach over to my radio console and turn down the headset volume.

I needed both hands typing fast. 

The room was quiet. Call volume is low at 3:30 in the morning. Most in the greater Sacramento area are snug in their beds. My coworkers could hear the echos of the yells as they reverberated out of my ear piece.

"Fire dispatch, what is the address of the emergency?" I answered the phone with our standardized question and my voice steadily rose as I tried to be heard over the caller. I could feel my blood pressure rise and my heart start to beat faster, the elevated emotion of the caller transmitting itself to me. For a ten year veteran dispatcher it was a rare reaction. 

The Sacramento Regional Fire/EMS Communications Center covers approximately 800 square miles, eight different fire districts and handles approximately 170,000 calls each year with a total staff of 21 dispatchers.

Though approved for 30, the staffing level rarely seems to fluctuate as the steady influx of trainees equals the constant turnover, training itself causing the most to leave. It is a lengthy process, taking at least one year for a new recruit to become fully trained or signed off. If successful at that point they will function unsupervised as a full-fledged dispatcher proficient on phones and radio duties.

"This is the fire department, what is the emergency?" My tone grew stern, repeating myself a few times to gain the attention of the caller so I could start help. Protocol requires us to do all we can to verify the address before we dispatch units so the first few seconds of a call are the most crucial. 

Not getting any information out of the hysterical caller I switch tactics. I was given the caller's name by the transferring agency and I used that repeatedly to calm her down. 

"Shawna, talk to me," I said. "I want to help you. Where do we need to go?" Finally I got through.  

Fire Department dispatchers work 12-hour shifts. They arrive approximately 10-15 minutes prior to the start of shift at 6:45 a.m. or 6:45 p.m.

After receiving a pass on all relevant information of the daily or nightly events one dispatcher plugs in and the other heads home. Day shift gets the brunt of the calls. More people are up and awake getting hurt or getting sick. The onslaught of call after call can be brutal. 

Though I had the seniority to stay on day shift, I had escaped to graveyard a few years ago to gain a measure of peace. But it comes with a grueling cost of having to stay up and alert throughout the night. I admit being alert was a goal not often achieved.

No longer tired, I finally ascertain from Shawna what had occurred. Her friend had accidentally set himself on fire trying to fill his butane lighter. He was badly burned. I talked her through instructions on what to do for him until the help arrived.

It was not much unfortunately, but I had to believe it helped. They got him into the shower, the only place to easily cool that much burned skin.

"Shawna, Shawna, focus!" I yelled. "Listen to me. The help is on the way! Do you understand? Now let's help him in the meantime." I cajole and persuade her. Every time she looked at her burned friend she lost her composure again. 

In dispatch terms this is called a re-freak event. We are taught to recognize when this might happen. We are hopeful to control the caller and avoid this, but if not we will bring them back to earth when it does. 

Statistically only 4 percent of all callers are technically considered hysterical. †   At times it seems much more. 911 callers run the gamut from eerily calm, understandably nervous, belligerently angry and finally hysterical. Most often the dispatcher has the power to reinforce or change that caller’s emotion in either the positive or negative direction. 

Some 911 centers require their dispatchers to become EMD certified, a 36-hour course in emergency medical dispatching certifies the student to give bystander CPR and choking instructions, deliver babies, advice on seizures, bleeding, problems breathing and other injuries. The communications center in Sacramento is one such center and dispatchers are required to keep this certification current with annual CPR instruction and continuing education training. The rest is often left to common sense.  

As dispatchers, we only deal with people during what is most likely the worst time of their lives. In that short two to five minutes we can impact their lives greatly. Yet to us it is just one of many calls we will take throughout our shift. We often do not hear any outcome to these emergencies. Once the fire department arrives and often long before we have disconnected that phone call and moved on to another one of our duties. Rarely do we seek out any follow up information, but occasionally we do. 

I stayed on the phone with Shawna until the ambulance arrived on scene. They wasted no time. Five minutes later - what we call a load and go - they were back on the road, code three or lights and sirens headed to UC Davis hospital. 

The paramedics told us later the patient, a male in his 30s, was attempting to fill his lighter so he could get high. Three small children were awake watching TV in the room. 

The fire department helps everyone.

† Principles of Emergency Medical Dispatch 4th Edition. pg 1.12
by Clauson, Dernocoer,Rose c2008 v12.0

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not endorsed by and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion or policy of the Sacramento Regional Fire/EMS Communications Center.