WHITMAN, Mass. -- Fire Chief Timothy J. Grenno knows that first-responders have to make life-and-death decisions.
The decision by the town to join a Holbrook-based regional emergency dispatch service earlier this year may have saved the life of a 4-year-old girl struck by a pickup truck on Sunday afternoon, he said.
Kiera Crawford is recovering from injuries sustained when she was hit by the pickup truck while riding her bicycle on Temple Street.
Witnesses said Edward Cordwell, 38, of 90 Myrtle Ave., Whitman, was struck when he pushed the little girl off her bike and away from the truck. He was killed in the crash.
The accident occurred in front of Grenno's house on Temple Street (Route 27).
Although saddened by the fatal crash, Grenno said he was relieved when two Whitman ambulances arrived at the scene about two minutes later.
Normally, he said, it would have taken five to 10 minutes for first-responders to arrive.
But under the new regional dispatch system, response times have been drastically cut, he said.
Service to Whitman went online July 16.
"I don't think we fully understand the positive impact of that decision. I am here to tell you we were right on," Grenno said at Tuesday's selectmen meeting.
The switch meets a new state requirement to provide fast and efficient medical emergency dispatch service.
The regional system is paid for by the 911 tariff on telephone bills, so it costs the town nothing. The Abington and Sharon fire departments are also members of the regional service.
Previously, 911 calls were dispatched through the state police barracks in Middleboro.
The calls were then transferred to the Whitman police and fire stations.
Grenno said the lag time reduced efficiency in emergency medical situations and Sunday's accident was a perfect example.
Three months ago, "one of the patients would have had to wait five or 10 minutes" for help to arrive, said Grenno, who praised selectmen for their decision to join the regional dispatch service in June.
Grenno said the new system allowed a full staff of firefighter-paramedics and two ambulances to be at the crash scene, while Holbrook continually manned 911 calls.
Crawford was taken by a MedFlight helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Sunday afternoon after she was struck while crossing Temple Street, with Cordwell, her mother's boyfriend.
The driver of the maroon 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck, Richard C. Brown, 46, of 21 Milk St., Apt. 1, Attleboro, has not been charged.
The crash is still under investigation.
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