New Hanover County, NC - An interesting little story out of the Wilmington area about 9-1-1 calls not being answered. In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that my background is in emergency public safety communications so I tend to look at things from that perspective.
The ruckus started when numerous citizens called 9-1-1 simultaneously to report a structure fire. In the telephony vernacular that's called a cluster; not a charlie-foxtrot but a cluster of calls (almost always mobile callers). This occurs several times daily when, for example, there is a wreck on the highway and everybody and their grandmother does their civic duty and calls 9-1-1. When this happens demand exceeds the available resources, which in this case is the number of available call-takers to answer incoming calls. This has virtually nothing to do with the quality of the telecommunicators; it's a systemic problem. But there is an outcry from some for an investigation, and even to cut their pay or cut 9-1-1 jobs.
There is some heated debate in the comments posted to WWAY TV-3's online article.
The ruckus started when numerous citizens called 9-1-1 simultaneously to report a structure fire. In the telephony vernacular that's called a cluster; not a charlie-foxtrot but a cluster of calls (almost always mobile callers). This occurs several times daily when, for example, there is a wreck on the highway and everybody and their grandmother does their civic duty and calls 9-1-1. When this happens demand exceeds the available resources, which in this case is the number of available call-takers to answer incoming calls. This has virtually nothing to do with the quality of the telecommunicators; it's a systemic problem. But there is an outcry from some for an investigation, and even to cut their pay or cut 9-1-1 jobs.
There is some heated debate in the comments posted to WWAY TV-3's online article.
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