KWCH - Kansas News and Weather - Firefighter Says New 911 Software Doesn't Work

Firefighter Says New 911 Software Doesn't Work

It happens about 170 times a day in Wichita - a house fire, a heart attack or some type of emergency where firefighters are needed.  That's why the alarm is one of the most important sounds a firefighter hears.  But one Wichita firefighter says station alarms aren't sounding or crews from the wrong station are being sent.  He says it's because Sedgwick County installed  new 911 CAD or computer-aided dispatch software in April and it doesn't work.  He came forward to speak with Eyewitness News but did not want his identity revealed.  He says the new software has resulted in one dispatch mistake after another. 

In July, a home on North Prince Street in Wichita caught fire.   Neighbors started calling 911 to report it.  It took seven minutes for fire crews to be dispatched.  Some neighbors called multiple times because they didn't think the fire department was coming.  Seven minutes.  The national standard says calls should be dispatched in about 60 seconds.  911 officials blame the delay on a computer glitch.  To firefighters it's much more.

"I just cannot tolerate it any longer to have the finger keep pointed to a glitch," said the Wichita firefighter.   "It's not a minor mistake when someone's every possession they own is destroyed."

Eyewitness News obtained an internal Wichita Fire Department communication that reads "Because of recent problems, every station will monitor at least one radio 24-7."  In other words, the alerting system is so unreliable; someone has to stay up all night to make sure they don't miss a call. 

"We figure out the little bugs as we go along and get them corrected so we can move on," said 911 Director Diane Gage.

Gage admits there have been problems but says with any new system it's expected.  She says firefighters may have a difficult time trusting the new system because of problems it has created in the past. 

"They've not quite gotten comfortable with it enough to trust it," said Gage.  "But we are sending equipment to the right place."

But the Wichita firefighter says all you have to look at is Wichita's latest fire fatality.  On Monday, Wichita police pulled 56 year-old Kathy Snodgrass from her burning home.  A passerby flagged down police officers - that's why they were first at the fire.  The firefighter says the dispatch computer system thought firefighters were already on the way.  They weren't. 

"The computer accepted that those officers were on scene helping the fire department yet there was no fire department alarm number, no fire department alarm, the CAD (computer-aided dispatch) system should've never ever allowed that to happen," said the firefighter.

Wichita Fire crews were dispatched four minutes after the initial police call.

"If we had been there four minutes earlier and we started life saving measures four minutes earlier, would that person be alive?" 

The firefighter doesn't blame dispatchers.  He says they are as frustrated with the system as he is.  He believes the new system should be shut down until the problems are worked out. 

County officials say some of the problems occurred when firefighters weren't logging onto the system correctly.  The firefighter says that couldn't be the case because the problems are so wide-spread.

Sedgwick County is confident in the system and will continue to use it.  Officials believe firefighters will eventually be confident in it too.