MENU
SECTIONS
OTHER
CLASSIFIEDS
CONTACT US / FAQ
Advertisement
This is the map that Lucas County has used for EMS dispatch since 1992. It will be replaced with computer-aided dispatch once the $6.58 million upgrade is complete.
2
MORE

Dispatch system overhaul set

The Blade/Amy E. Voigt

Dispatch system overhaul set

Lucas County upgrade aims to cut response times

Springfield Township Fire Chief Barry Cousino charges his drivers with knowing their district, but there are times when trips to an unfamiliar spot across township lines may have them plugging addresses into the same store-bought portable GPS unit you’d use to find an across-town hardware store.

“We’re using those for mutual-aid response,” the chief said, “but those aren’t always accurate and it’s tough to keep them all updated.”

Early last year, Lucas County sought proposals for a computer-aided dispatching system that would give emergency responders turn-by-turn directions, locate on a map callers using GPS-enabled cell phones, and roundly modernize how the county’s dispatchers route police officers, firefighters, and paramedics to emergencies.

After inspecting several programs, officials chose Tri-Tech Software Systems, based in San Diego.

The $6.58 million system combines detailed maps with real-time GPS locations of emergency units. Also included are a fire-record management system and incident-command software, which will let departments instantly pull up building plans, swap information, and find firefighters with specialized skills such as hazardous-materials training. County commissioners approved the deal in September.

READ MORE: County updating its maps as well.

“It’s really going to allow us a lot more flexibility in regards to our response,” Chief Cousino said.

Dennis Cole, the county’s emergency services director, said the current system’s lack of mapping was the primary reason behind updating it. The current computer-aided dispatching system, the first and only one Lucas County 911 ever has used, was turned on in March, 1989.

“At that point, it was a fabulous system,” Mr. Cole said. “But as software technology changed, the capabilities have improved significantly and ours was obsolete, and it’s been obsolete for quite a while.”

Current limitations

Considering smart-phone apps are available that let drivers unlock their cars from a thousand miles away, the dispatching system looks primitive. The screens are reminiscent of an MS-DOS prompt, with color-coded lines of pixellated text that show available units, the location of units that are on calls, and a short description of each incident. They have no mapping capability, nor are they able to see where an individual vehicle is at a given time. Caller information includes a callback number and address for land lines.

Mr. Cole says it’s still a good system — and that many jurisdictions across the United States still rely upon it — but he says dispatchers’ jobs will be easier when the new system is up and running.

“They have to keep it in their head, ‘Where are my resources, what are they doing?’?” he said. “On the dispatch screen it shows [each emergency crew’s] status, but they have to keep this big picture in their head and it gets very complicated, especially when you’re handling a lot of EMS runs or a large incident.”

In the whole command floor of the Lucas County 911 center on Monroe Street, the only dispatchers who can track the locations of their units are those who handle EMS calls. Hung on the wall behind their computer monitors is a 42-inch television screen aglow with the locations of the county’s 10 EMS units. (Fire officials tried to add their units to the map, but the systems weren’t up to it.)

Each unit is represented by a small gray box in which dispatchers can click to see more detailed information such as speed and direction. Operators can zoom and pan on the map with a computer mouse, but it is not tied in to the main system.

Still, it was a glimpse into the future while emergency services officials mulled what type of system they ultimately would buy.

“Just the use of this GPS has helped us,” Patricia R. Moomey, EMS communications director, said. “Once it’s integrated into [computer-aided dispatching], we’ll be leaps and bounds ahead.”

Mr. Cole said officials added a third-party mapping software system a couple years ago, but its use was limited to EMS and the Sylvania Police Department and it was often underperforming.

“It just didn’t work very well,” he said.

Moving forward

By Mr. Cole’s own admission, Lucas County is a little late to the game in adding mapping technology.

Since about 2008, Ohio Highway Patrol dispatchers have used advanced mapping and can track the whereabouts of their troopers by GPS, said Lt. Anne Ralston, a spokesman for the state patrol. Similar to the system Lucas County is installing, the patrol’s system automatically sends the trooper who is closest to the reported incident.

“It basically took our dispatchers from pen and paper to computers,” Lieutenant Ralston said.

The level of technology in Ohio’s other local and consolidated dispatch centers is difficult to pin down. The state Fire Marshal’s Office doesn’t track that information, nor does the state’s Department of Public Safety, spokesmen for those two agencies said.

Here, officials have looked at options to bring their system up to date for several years. Part of the delay was in funding — the programs aren’t cheap.

Lucas County secured several sources before going forward: $3.9 million generated by a five-year, 0.7-mill 911 levy, $2 million from the 911 Government Assistance Fund, and $587,744 in Homeland Security grants.

But Mr. Cole said the larger reason the county held off was to let others work through the bugs in new systems. Specifically, Mr. Cole cited Hamilton County, Ohio, which added a similar program in 2006 to replace a system installed in 1988.

“They had difficulty with it, so we slowed it down, said let them see what those problems are, resolve them, then go back into the market,” Mr. Cole said.

Mike Bailey, Hamilton County’s communications director, said there were some early problems with the computer-aided dispatch itself, but the mapping has been flawless.

“The map was a great thing,” he said. “The dispatchers love having that map right in front of them.”

The programs are similar, although Hamilton County’s Motorola system does not include vehicle tracking, Mr. Bailey said. The Hamilton County communications center covers 35 fire departments and 36 police departments but not the Cincinnati police and fire departments. However, Mr. Bailey said those agencies use the same system.

Response time

The greater hope for the new system is a decrease in response times — and ultimately better care and more lives saved.

The current system prioritizes based on which station is closest to the caller’s address. It calculates response times based on linear distances, not true driving times. But fire engines and ambulances aren’t always anchored at their stations, said Toledo Fire Capt. Damon J. Williams. They could be returning from a run, going to a training exercise, pumping fuel, or stopping off to pick up dinner. Dispatchers can see an individual rig isn’t in a station, but not where it is.

“It’s always a guess,” Captain Williams said. “The best we have to go on is the station. With this, we can see immediately where rigs are at all times and it’s going to significantly, in my opinion, decrease our response times.”

Hamilton County hasn’t experienced a decrease in average response time since it installed its system in 2006, but Mr. Bailey said the system has helped in specific situations.

“We’ve had [cell phone] calls where someone was out and had no idea where they were, and we were able to find them on the map,” he said.

Without that, dispatchers would ask a list of questions trying to push the caller to identify landmarks that might help rescuers find him or her.

Right now in Lucas County, dispatchers get only readings of latitude and longitude. If they have to, dispatchers can enter those manually to find a location, but Mr. Cole said the process is “slow and cumbersome, and it’s quite a few numbers, so the potential for error is high.”

The timetable

The new system will pinpoint calls from users whose cell phones have GPS capabilities.

Although that technology isn’t ubiquitous yet, most cell phones are so equipped, and Mr. Cole expects that within a couple years nearly all cell phones will be GPS-enabled.

For years, police officers have used NORIS, a regional data-sharing system that allows electronic records to flow freely among agencies. But there’s no similar system in place for firefighters to share plans they’ve developed or inspections that note hazards. As it is now, Chief Cousino said his firefighters lug around a three-ring binder that contains that information.

Many departments, including Springfield Township and Toledo, have upgraded their in-vehicle computers in recent years in anticipation of the new system.

In late June, Lucas County began building data fields for its system. It’s complicated, but essentially, they take a jurisdiction and break it down into many small areas and program in how responses will be done to each place. They also look at each type of emergency: structure fire, injury, car accident.

The new system is expected to go online in May or June, although training may start as early as January as officials try to get everyone up to speed on the new system.

Officials are trying to keep the two systems as similar as they can, translating commands from the old into the new, but there’s still a lot for dispatchers to learn. The company has a four-day training course on using the system.

Emergency officials are excited.

“It’s going to be a picture of the world we haven’t been able to see,” Ms. Moomey said.

Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at: tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.

Advertisement

First Published July 10, 2011, 4:30 a.m.

Advertisement
RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS  
Join the Conversation
We value your comments and civil discourse. Click here to review our Commenting Guidelines.
Must Read
Partners
Advertisement
This is the map that Lucas County has used for EMS dispatch since 1992. It will be replaced with computer-aided dispatch once the $6.58 million upgrade is complete.  (The Blade/Amy E. Voigt)  Buy Image
EMS dispatcher Harold McWilliams works at the Lucas County 911 command center, which is undergoing an upgrade of its communications system.  (The Blade/Amy E. Voigt)  Buy Image
The Blade/Amy E. Voigt
Advertisement
LATEST local
Advertisement
Pittsburgh skyline silhouette
TOP
Email a Story