911 Foul-Up In Aurora: A Devastating Delay

[jimmnn]

911 Foul-Up In Aurora: A Devastating Delay - cbs4denver.com

Jim<

 

[Troop]

There's alot of calls in the Tallyn's reach area that get punted off to other agencies about 2 times around.....between Arapahoe, Elbert and then back to Aurora...I dont think the mapping system has caught up with the growth of the city!

 

[jimmnn]

So E-13 pulls out of the station and the family hears the sirens because they can see the engine, one block over, engine goes the other way finally the family drives to the fire station of course no one is there and Rural Metro is lost at the same time as well.

I agree the growth is massive and confusing troop. has Rattlesnake taken over some of the Elbert County portion or not yet?

Jim<

 

[MikeyB]

So E-13 pulls out of the station and the family hears the sirens because they can see the engine, one block over, engine goes the other way finally the family drives to the fire station of course no one is there and Rural Metro is lost at the same time as well.

I agree the growth is massive and confusing troop. has Rattlesnake taken over some of the Elbert County portion or not yet?

Jim<

I'm confused by what they did. Oak Hill is part of the alphabetic grid, so it can only exist in one place. Whether or not it was in Arapahoe County or Aurora, it could only be one place. Then it's a matter of what department to send, not where the address is located. I'm curious to see where they sent them (cross-streets).

Not sure what you mean about Rattlesnake. Aurora has no land in Elbert county. Confirmed this morning looking at Aurora GIS maps. Also Rattlesnake has always had NW portion of Elbert County butting up against Douglas & Arapahoe County lines, per Elbert County Assessor GIS Map.

 

[Toneslider12]

I'm a bit confused with this incident also. I'm wondering how much of the issue was GIS and how much was dispatcher error. It seems strange that there's no EMD questioning played at all... News 4 makes it sound like she cored at home but there isn't any mention of CPR instructions being given.

What they fail to mention in this story is the lack of first due district knowledge that E13 had. Unless both of the AFD FF's up front were roving it's scary to think that an Engine Company officer only relied on their MDT and neither her or the engineer knew where to go. Especially in a newer, slower call volume area district familiarization should be a huge priority.

Last time I checked Mapsco makes a great $30 paper book that likely could have helped.

 

[N0GTG]

There are a number of issues with this (and other) calls that the TV report does not address. In the last 3 years, the focus at Aurora has been saving money, and management has refused to hire experienced dispatchers, preferring to 'train them ourselves'. Unfortunately, a few weeks in a classroom and OJT are not a substitute for life experience and having handled hundreds or thousands of calls. A large, busy comcenter is not a good place to learn the ropes. Most of the experienced Aurora dispatchers have left due to the working conditions. --Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

 

[04Z1V6]

I'm a bit confused with this incident also. I'm wondering how much of the issue was GIS and how much was dispatcher error. It seems strange that there's no EMD questioning played at all... News 4 makes it sound like she cored at home but there isn't any mention of CPR instructions being given.

What they fail to mention in this story is the lack of first due district knowledge that E13 had. Unless both of the AFD FF's up front were roving it's scary to think that an Engine Company officer only relied on their MDT and neither her or the engineer knew where to go. Especially in a newer, slower call volume area district familiarization should be a huge priority.

Last time I checked Mapsco makes a great $30 paper book that likely could have helped.

Eric great post. What happend to the engineer having to know their district. At one time we were tested on this stuff.

 

[datainmotion]

FWIW - not to excuse the Engineer, but the MDC is ALWAYS on the Officer's side of the cab and rarely is it accessible to the Engineer.

I also wondered if this was a mapping issue where the apparatus was relying on the software map only (I have a hard time believing that). In that case, the data is only as reliable as what GIS info the agency provides to the software vendor. In every apparatus we install an MDC into, the mapbooks are NEVER out of reach.

Bottom line is that as usual, we don't have all the facts on this I'm sure.