Alarm over Chicago’s 911 call center changes

The operations floor at Chicago’s 911 center is getting a $31 million upgrade stalled by contract irregularities, but it’s turning into a nightmare that threatens to slow response times to 911 calls, employees contend.

Dispatchers and call takers describe a host of problems, ranging from dropped 911 calls and a new answering system that demands more manpower to computers that no longer allow call takers to monitor radio communications at fire scenes.

They also complain about a new floor plan that moved fire and EMS dispatchers assigned to handle 911 calls from Chicago’s North Side away from call takers who do the same, preventing the two groups from communicating in a way that could speed response times.

“We are not against change. The floor needed to be upgraded. [But] the way they are doing it is dangerous and irresponsible,” said one dispatcher, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing his job. “Putting consoles up, then working out the glitches is more suited to an office that handles paper reports — not lives and property. You can’t install something that critical, then play catchup when there are problems.”

The dispatcher claimed that there were 30 dropped calls between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Nov. 7.

“The fire call taker would hear a beep in their headset. They’d start to talk. And the call would drop,” the dispatcher said. “They had a fire at 5613 W. Chicago at 12:34 p.m. and couldn’t get more information on it. They got the initial call and, when a bunch of people started calling, the calls dropped.” 

Under the old system, call takers who handle administrative calls from firehouses, alarm companies or other city departments would automatically get overflow emergency calls. That’s not the case with the new system, putting an additional strain on manpower.

The dispatcher complained about the inability to monitor the “fire-ground” frequency that includes radio communications between firefighters and chiefs at fire scenes.

“The fire [that Capt.] Herbie Johnson died in, the South Side dispatch which is using the new consoles was completely caught off-guard when they asked for a ‘Mayday’ because they couldn’t listen to fire-ground,” the dispatcher said. “It didn’t cause his death or play a role in it. It’s just an example of how it hurts us as dispatchers. If we can hear what firefighters are saying on the scene, we can start to get ready to send more equipment and figure out who to send. That can save a minute or two.”

Gary Schenkel, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, countered, “Any reference to Capt. Johnson’s death and a technical problem is 100 percent false. That’s an irresponsible statement.”

Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford agreed that the inability to monitor fire-ground frequency had “absolutely no bearing whatsoever” on Johnson’s death.

Although it’s “nice to have” a system that allows call takers to monitor communications at fire scenes, it’s not necessary, Schenkel said.

“Dispatchers can still hear fire ground. Call takers can’t. The new system does not support that. They don’t need to hear it. They have nothing to do with the operation. That’s a dispatcher’s responsibility,” he said.

Schenkel acknowledged that it’s “challenging” to install a new system and still keep the 911 center functioning 24 hours a day. It requires a “sound-reducing wall” between old and new sections that’s being moved as sections are completed.

But, he said: “We have not had any dropped calls. That’s why we’re very cautious about the progress. We want to make sure it’s absolutely, 100 percent functional before we move to each sequence. We test for two weeks before we move on and incorporate the next new piece of technology. That’s why the first phase will take much longer than the subsequent six phases. My quote to AT&T is they won’t put in a system that is not 100 percent accurate before installation.”

Two years ago, Inspector General Joe Ferguson accused high-ranking officials of the office that runs Chicago’s $217 million 911 center of more than $23 million worth of contract irregularities that created “significant risk to the city’s emergency preparedness.”

Ferguson contended that the Office of Emergency Management and Communications improperly routed a sole-source contract to Schaumburg-based Motorola when the award should have been competitively bid.

That delayed an overhaul of the 17-year-old system that Schenkel said was desperately needed. The installation should be completed by the end of the year.

Funeral procession through 19th Ward set for fallen firefighter Herbie Johnson

The funeral procession for fallen Chicago Fire Department Capt. Herbie Johnson will run through the 19th Ward that he called home.

A funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Rita of Cascia High School, 7740 S. Western Ave. in Chicago.

The Rev. Frank Kurucz, pastor of St. Cajetan Roman Catholic Church, where Johnson was a parishioner, will be the celebrant. He expects the Mass will last about two hours.

The procession afterward will head south on Western Avenue to 111th Street, and west on 111th to Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery, 2755 W. 111th St.

As is often the case when a firefighter dies in the line of duty, dozens of fire departments are expected to send representatives to the funeral, Kurucz said.

The Rev. Thomas McCarthy, chairman of the board and chaplain at St. Rita, will deliver the homily, Kurucz said. The Rev. Thomas Mulchrone, chaplain for the Chicago Fire Department, will deliver the eulogy, Kurucz said.

Johnson, 54, lived in the Morgan Park community. He died Friday from injuries suffered while battling a house fire in the 2300 block of West 50th Place. He is the first Chicago firefighter to die in the line of duty since 2010.

Visitation begins at 3 p.m. Wednesday at St. Rita, the high school attended by Johnson and his children.

GOD BLESS HER AND HER FAMILY

  CHICAGO TEEN WHO KILLED 911 DISPATCHER SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS IN PRISON

 CHICAGO — A Chicago teenager arrested in the death of a 911 dispatcher who was killed in a car crash has pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

In a news release, the Cook County State's Attorney's office said that 18-year-old Marquis Harrison entered his plea on Friday.
Harrison was charged after a July 10, 2011 accident that killed 42-year-old Marciea Adkins. Authorities say Harrison had stolen the SUV and was being pursued by police when he slammed into a car Adkins was driving after getting off work at Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
According to the news release, the state's attorney's office says Harrison must serve his entire 25-year sentence.

 

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

NEW RADIOS

 Fire Department Begins Switch To Digital Radios

CHICAGO (CBS) – After six years of testing – and spending more than $20 million – the Chicago Fire Department has finally started to go digital.
The switchover from analog to digital radios began Sunday at 8 a.m., with EMS paramedics getting the new radios.
Motorola got the no-bid contract in 2006, but tests of the digital system showed garbled transmissions and dead zones.
The switchover from analog to digital radios began Sunday at 8 a.m., with EMS paramedics getting the new radios.
Motorola got the no-bid contract in 2006, but tests of the digital system showed garbled transmissions and dead zones.
 Now, Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford says they’re ready to go digital.

“The fire department has been testing the system, along with OEMC (the Office of Emergency Management and Communications), and the Fire Department at this time is satisfied with the performance of the system, and we are ready to go live,” Langford said.
Langford says firefighters will start training with the digital radios in June and will switch to digital before the end of the year.

“Every person on the rig will have a radio,” Langford says. That will be a first for the Fire Department – where everyone has a radio.
A federal report blamed a lack of radios, in part, for the death of two firefighters at a South Side fire in 2010.
The Fire Department disagrees with the conclusion of that report.
“Communication had nothing to do with the onset of that tragedy,” Langford says.

Langford says the department will keep the option to switch back to analog, if necessary.
“Other cities in the past switched into the digital system and found they had problems and could not revert to the analog easily,” Langford said. “We have tested the system thoroughly and we believe the system is up to performance, but because we are always concerned about safety, the analog system will remain available for some time.”
Langford says 500 digital radios are being used by EMS paramedics now.
About 2,000 radios will go to firefighters, Langford says.

Overtime pay spikes at 911 center

BY FRAN SPIELMAN

Overtime at Chicago’s 911 emergency center more than doubled during the first two months of this year, thanks to a 13.2 percent increase in call volume and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to reduce the ranks of police and fire dispatchers, records show.

Police dispatchers wracked up 10,024 hours of overtime in January and February, at a cost of $516,642, compared to 5,247 hours with a $247,662 price tag during the same period a year ago, records show.

Fire dispatchers piled up 3,504 overtime hours at a cost of $220,653 during the two-month period, versus 1,521 hours and $96,366 a year ago.

The alarming increases — which came as the number of calls went up by 13.2 percent, or 108,000 calls — are outlined in a March 15 email to 911 center department heads from James Carroll, finance director for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

“Please respond by March 20 with the reason for the overtime, as well as a plan to reduce your section’s overtime,” Carroll wrote. “Hiring new employees is not an option.”

 The Emanuel administration blamed much of the overtime surge on an agreement with city unions that expired on June 30, 2011 and substituted cash overtime for compensatory time. “The overtime payments this year are consistent with what we paid in previous years when the [union agreement] was not in effect,” OEMC spokesperson Delores Robinson wrote in an email to the Sun-Times.

During City Council budget hearings last fall, Gary Schenkel, executive director of OEMC, argued it made more sense to build in $3.2 million in annual overtime — roughly $8,000 per employee — than to hire more dispatchers, which would cost $120,000 a year per employee for salary and benefits.

“We have historical data that will allow us to schedule to the peak periods and peak times that historically we get a greater call volume,” Schenkel said then, predicting that operators would continue to be able to answer most 911 calls within three rings.

“It’s almost like a bell curve as to when it starts to escalate and when it starts to drop off. As you hit the summer months, that bell curve starts going up. Then, as we hit the cooler weather after the holidays and the festivals, we start ramping down.”

A fire dispatcher, who spoke on the condition anonymity, said the overtime surge in January and February make clear that $3.2 million won’t be nearly enough to cover a year of overtime.

“It’s definitely gonna be a long year — not just the NATO summit but other things that are coming down the road,” the dispatcher said. “There’s been some mistakes made in the accounting for how many people we need at the 911 center.”

The fire dispatcher argued that the demotion of three supervisors has some people working around the clock.

“It’s a tough enough job,” the dispatcher said. “Now, they’re saying, ‘I need you to work your two days off.’ It’s a wear and tear on these guys. You can see it.”

Understaffing has been a chronic problem at the 911 center over the years. As a result, a handful of call-takers have been able to more than double their salaries in overtime.

Emanuel’s original plan called for eliminating the jobs of 17 fire dispatchers, laying off nine others and shrinking supervisory ranks from 13 to eight. After union negotiations, the mayor ended up eliminating 10 dispatcher vacancies, demoting three supervisors and one dispatcher and laying off one call-taker.

Also, the jobs of 45 police dispatchers were eliminated, and so were four of 22 radio repair technicians.

Earlier this month, the Chicago Police Department pointed to faster response times to 911 calls as proof that the department’s strategy of putting more officers in patrol cars is working.

But the winning streak came to a crashing halt on an unseasonably mild St. Patrick’s Day, when bars and the city’s annual downtown parade drew huge crowds downtown and to River North. Sources said 911 dispatchers were so inundated between 10 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday that only 18 percent of the calls received during that time were answered within two to three rings.

That’s one of the lowest percentages in the 17 years since the $217 million 911 center opened on the West Side.

SANTIAGO APPOINTED FIRE COMMISSIONER

Former head of Chicago's 911 center named new fire commissioner

By John Byrne and Hal Dardick

Tribune reporters

Mayor Rahm Emanuel today appointed the former head of the city's 911 center as fire commissioner as he formally announced the resignation of Robert Hoff, a veteran hero firefighter.
Emanuel praised Hoff for his "determined and dedicated service," mentioning his many awards as a firefighter. "The true tribute to his service is the lives” of those he saved, Emanuel said at a news conference.
Hoff said his decision to step down was personal.
"I have part of the personal reasons here with me today,” he said, pointing to his wife, his son and two of his grandchildren. “What in life is more beautiful than spending time" with grandchildren.
Hoff also paid tribune to the firefighters he served with. “What makes you a good chief or what makes you a good commissioner is the people who serve under you."
Hoff, a third-generation hero firefighter, was appointed by then-Mayor Richard Daley to lead the department in June 2010. Hoff was popular with the rank and file.
“Unless you crawled that hall, with flames licking over your head, you don’t know what it’s like to be there,” Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 President Thomas Ryan said Wednesday night. “I know it’s a cliché, but in a job like this, you need somebody who understands what that’s like.”
Hoff, a fire veteran of more than 30 years, twice was awarded the department's top honor for bravery. In 1992, he rescued elderly residents from burning buildings following a gas explosion. In 1997, he saved 4-year-old twin boys from an Englewood building fire. Hoff also spent 21 days in a burn unit after suffering injuries fighting a fire in 1984.
The incoming fire commissioner, Jose Santiago, was an assistant deputy fire commissioner before taking over the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications in 2010 under Mayor Richard Daley. Santiago has been serving as deputy fire chief for operations since leaving OEMC.
Santiago was head of OEMC when the decision was made to shut down Lake Shore Drive during the February 2011 snowstorm that left hundreds of vehicles stranded on the roadway. He oversaw a report on how the city handled the storm that recommended more access points to the drive and rerouting buses during severe weather.
Emanuel noted that Santiago served 33 years with the Chicago Fire Department. "He has been the leader in setting the department’s long-term goals and strategy,” the mayor said. Emanuel replaced Santiago at OEMC with Gary Schenkel upon taking office.
Hoff leaves as the union is about to start negotiations on a new contract with the city. In October, Emanuel said he would not rule out trying to cut the number of firefighters per truck or closing firehouses to save money.
Emanuel was responding to Hoff’s testimony at a budget hearing that he's "deathly against” closing firehouses and reducing truck staffing.
Today, Emanuel and Santiago sidestepped questions about possible changes in the department. The primary question is "How can we do changes safely," Santiago said.