Lorain County 9-1-1 Agency to begin dispatching Oberlin Firefighters On November 3

Lorain County 9-1-1 personnel currently answer all emergency phone calls for assistance in the county.  However, beginning November 3, that service will include the actual dispatch of Oberlin firefighters to the emergency location. Under the old system, all calls were answered by Lorain County 9-1-1 and transferred the call to OFD. Personnel at the fire station received the emergency call, determined the emergency type/needs, alerted part-time and off-duty firefighters via pagers, and then drove the first fire apparatus to the scene. This change only affects fire department operations. The Oberlin Police Department will continue to maintain their current dispatch services. 

Why is time important? In the field of emergency medical services, using cardiac arrest research, the medical community adopted a guideline for the arrival/initiation of basic and advanced life support within 6-8 minutes. Similarly, fire suppression is measured by a stage of fire growth known as flashover.  Flashover is a critical point in a fire situation as the likelihood of survival and the chances of saving lives drops dramatically in the room of origin after 7-10 minutes of unimpeded fire growth.

Fire Chief Dennis Kirin describes: “There are very distinct time components involved in receiving, handling, dispatching, responding and mitigating an emergency incident. Some of these time segments are fixed; some are variable. We are altering the variables of call-handling to decrease the time it takes firefighters to reach our residents.” Under the new system, the Lorain County 9-1-1 agency handles the entire call: collecting all pertinent information and alerting the fire department simultaneously. Agency personnel can provide emergency medical information to the caller pending arrival of the responders and have direct access to multi-language interpretation and TTY services. 

Many of the components of the dispatch process are already in place and have been tested over time. The Lorain County 9-1-1 agency has provided dispatch service for many of the county fire departments since its inception. The agency utilizes a computer-aided dispatch system and has regional communication capabilities. Oberlin could not utilize this service earlier, because Oberlin Fire Department also provided fire alarm system monitoring for local businesses and institutions.  The Fire Department worked since January to phase out the alarm monitoring service to enable the change to the 9-1-1 dispatch service.

This is a win-win proposition for the department and the community. We get the needed services to our residents sooner, and it does not require firefighter to sit in the station waiting to answer calls.