A large number of 9-1-1 calls made during this summer’s violent windstorm never connected with emergency operators.
During the August storm, which saw power lines damaged by winds of up to 100 kilometres per hour, the Emergency Communications for Southwest British Columbia (E-Comm) was overwhelmed with calls for help.
According to Jody Robertson of E-Comm, about 40 per cent of 9-1-1 calls never connected, leaving callers with a busy signal during a peak period that saw the office’s 30 staff members deal with 600 calls an hour.
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Robertson adds that many callers who managed to get through to E-Comm had to be put on hold.
Richmond Fire Chief John McGowan said:
“If you had somebody that has a hangnail and they phone ahead of someone that had a cardiac [arrest], as long as they get physically into the queue..they’re managed first. There’s no way of a front-end triage on 9-1-1.”
McGowan asked, “what’s your plan if we do have another windstorm or a severe ice storm like in Quebec.”
The Chief added that E-Comm is one of the best 9-1-1 services in North America, but NDP Public Safety Critic Mike Farnworth said:
“People expect–seeing as we’re spending tens of millions of dollars on these systems–that they’re able to work in a windstorm but also during a significant disaster such as an earthquake.”
E-Comm says they have a team studying the call overload issue, but they have yet to issue any recommendations.
-With files from John Daly
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