|
9-1-1, the universal emergency number, has proven its worth time and again! When you dial 9-1-1 from your home or business phone, we see the name and address of your location immediately. We also see which fire and police departments have jurisdiction for your location. This helps us get the right people to your location as quickly as possible- even if you can’t talk on the telephone. In fact, if you hang up after dialing 9-1-1, you’ll probably see a police car who will be there just to make sure everything’s OK.
MECC is a “secondary PSAP” (Public Safety Anwer Point). That means that when you first dial 9-1-1, your call will be directed to your local police department. They then transfer the requests for fire and EMS assistance to us. We’ll ask you several questions in order to determine exactly what type of assistance you need. We’ll also be able to provide instructions over the phone to help you provide emergency care, CPR, or other first aid steps until the Medic units arrive. Our dispatchers are trained and experienced in EMD - Emergency Medical Dispatch. Many are or have been firefighters, EMT’s, or Paramedics so they’re experienced in many types of emergencies. Don’t hesitate to call!
|
|
|
Oh, the ubiquitous cellphone! Always at the ready, an instant way to stay in touch! And, when there’s an emergency, an even more convenient tool to help. Well, it sounds good.
The truth is that fast-moving technology which provides us all the cellphone features, and the new VOIP Internet telephone services, has left us in the 9-1-1 field a little behind. Truth is, a cellphone is probably NOT the best tool to reach us if you have a land-line telephone handy. A cellphone call to 9-1-1 does NOT go to your local department first - it goes to predetermined answer points such as the county sheriff or the Columbus Police. While steps are being taken right now to improve this, at present in Franklin County there is NO CALLER ID with your call. We don’t know who or where you are. In Fairfield County, we do get your cellphone number, but only the location of the nearest cell tower to your signal. Thus, it’s more difficult and time-consuming to determine your actual location.
Here’s a typical scenario: let’s say you’ve witnessed a traffic accident on I-270 just south of Hamilton Road. You dial 9-1-1 with your cellphone. Depending on which tower receives your call, you will either hear an operator from Columbus Police or the Franklin County Sheriff. When you report the injury accident, you’ll be transferred to Columbus Fire. There, their computers will determine that location could be in Columbus, or it could be covered by the Mifflin Township Fire Department in Gahanna. They’ll either transfer the call to us at MECC, or take your information and relay it to us. So you can see there will be some delay in launching the assistance you need. You can see it’s important that you give precise and correct locations in these instances so that your call will be directed to the proper agency.
The new Internet telephone services generally do NOT offer 9-1-1 calling that goes to the 9-1-1 center with your information. Most actually dial a business number for your agencies, and do not offer the caller ID that we depend on.
|
