In Mineral County, 9-1-1 dispatchers are now recognized as first responders, the same as firefighters, police officers and emergency medical services workers. The recognition was bestowed upon the dispatchers by the Mineral County Commission.
“They make so many sacrifices and deserve this classification,” Luke McKenzie, director of Mineral County Emergency Services, said.
Located at 392 Pine Swamp Road in Keyser, the facility is staffed by 10 full-time and two part-time dispatchers, or telecommunicators, who work in 12-hour shifts.
In addition to now being recognized as first responders, efforts are also continuing in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives to reclassify public safety telecommunications as “Protective Service Occupation” personnel instead of administrative and clerical workers. The reclassification bills are known as the 9-1-1 SAVES Act and reportedly have the backing of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials.
In addition to McKenzie, the Mineral County 9-1-1 emergency center is staffed by Deputy Director Jordan Hayes, Dispatch Supervisor Nancy Hutzell, dispatchers Ashley Crites, Schelotta Kight, Matthew Satterfield, David Rucker, Chasity Friel, Karen Liller, Jessica Mackley, Jessica Liller and Heather Shapiro.
The Mineral County 9-1-1 emergency center logged nearly 19,000 emergency and non-emergency calls in 2019, including 7,191 that came from cellphones. The total includes 1,542 traditional residential landline calls, 790 from traditional business lines and 396 from internet phone connections, according to McKenzie.
Allegany County 9-1-1 Center
There are 24 full-time dispatchers at the Allegany County 9-1-1 emergency center, two of whom are still in training. It takes at least nine months before newly hired dispatchers are ready to handle the emergency calls and dispatching. Eighteen of the dispatchers are certified trainers.
In 2019, the Allegany County center logged 158,272 calls, of which 39,868 were 9-1-1 emergency calls. Calls to law enforcement totaled 39,868, including 27,230 for the Cumberland Police Department and 13,611 for the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office.
The center also receives up to seven calls per day that are hang-up or abandoned 9-1-1 calls.
Seventy-four percent of the 9-1-1 calls in Allegany County are reportedly made through cell phones.
Dispatchers in Allegany County work 12-hour shifts. In a two-week period, a dispatcher will typically work two days on followed by two days off, followed by three days on and two off and two on followed by three days off. Dispatchers work half the month and are off from duty half of the month under the 12-hour shift schedules.
Allegany County dispatchers include Gerald Cook, Rick Wolford, Jeremy Jack, Michael Powell, Susan Ellsworth, Jason Morgan, Mark Karalewitz, Taryn Lohr, Ashley Rishel, Melody Siemer, Matthew Ross, Trina Flesher, Angela Bean, John-Robert Jackson, Kristen Wellings, James Dudley, Erik Phillips, Angela Roy, Sarah Bryan, Abbey Bevan, Jena Pensyl, Clarissa Poole, Nicholas Crawford and Jessica Pyles-Lupettie.
The Allegany County Joint Communications Center requires personnel to be cross trained in three disciplines: emergency medical dispatch, emergency fire dispatch and emergency police dispatch. The communication specialists are certified through the International Academy of Emergency Police Dispatch, Fire Dispatch and Medical Dispatch, respectively.
From the date of hire, it takes approximately nine to 12 months to be trained and certified in one discipline and an additional six to nine months to cross train in another discipline. On average, it takes a year to a year and a half to train a communication specialist in all the specialties.
All personnel are required to recertify every two years.
Communication specialists handle and process calls for Allegany County Roads Division, county utilities, Cumberland Street Department, Cumberland Water Department, Maryland State Highway Administration, Allegany County Social Services, Allegany County Adult/Child Protective Services, Maryland State Medical Examiners Office, C3I Investigations, C3I Narcotics and Crime Solvers.
Allegany County communication specialists are responsible for answering a dozen 9-1-1 lines, six law enforcement phone lines and four administrative phone lines. They monitor 68 radios, fire and bank alarm receivers and monitor Cumberland police and fire security cameras, state highway cameras, county Board of Education cameras, dispatch for 30 fire and EMS companies, dispatch Cumberland Police Department, enter and remove all county and city warrants and enter and update peace and protective orders.
Garrett County Emergency Center
Ken Collins was a veteran volunteer firefighter with the Deer Park Volunteer Fire Department for more than 15 years before he was hired as a Garrett County 9-1-1 dispatcher. The former carpenter served in that position for 10 years before he was appointed as the 9-1-1 center’s chief of communications.
Dispatchers work 12-hour shifts and Collins fills in as a dispatcher as needed.
“It would be good if we could have three dispatchers on each shift,” Collins said. “Currently, we have one opening we are trying to get filled.”
Collins said new dispatchers can begin taking 9-1-1 calls after full training that takes six to seven months to complete.
Last year, there were 19,371 calls made to the Garrett County emergency dispatch center along with nearly 40,000 administrative calls, according to a department summary. Some of the calls relate to seasonal activities at The Wisp Resort and Deep Creek Lake.
The dispatchers include John Feather, Byron Miller, Justin Nesselrodt, Hunter McCrobie, Jennifer Moreland, Sarah Helig, Alana Morgan, Tim Clark, Ryan Yoder, Kim Hartsell and Terry Beal. Justin Orendorf is the assistant chief of communications and is a trained dispatcher who began his career in 2009.
Collins is also chief of the Deer Park Volunteer Fire Department where he has served in that position for 21 years. Feather is the chief of the Oakland Volunteer Fire Department; Clark serves as chief of the Eastern Garrett Volunteer Fire Department; Nesselrodt is deputy chief of the Kitzmiller Volunteer Fire Department; McCrobie is assistant chief of the Bloomington Volunteer Fire Department; and Yoder is the emergency medical services officer of the Bittinger Volunteer Fire Department.
The Garrett County 9-1-1 emergency center is located at 202 East Alder St. in Oakland. It was merged with the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office in 2011. There emergency center has eight 9-1-1 telephone lines and 11 administrative telephone lines in the facility located on the first floor.
Collins said he believes that the 9-1-1 dispatchers should be recognized as first responders.
“They are first responders since they are the first link in the chain,” Collins said.
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