ABC-7 Listens 05.14.16

the focus of today’s abc-7 listens. here’s rick cabrera. we all know what to do … if it’s an emergency call 9-1. thankfully i haven’t had to call the number anytime recently … but carla did. “i have concern that maybe you can investigate. i had to call 911 this evening, thank goodness it was not a life or death situation, but it was a disturbance. “i was on hold for over 3 minutes! i have the call log to back this up. “can you find out what is going on with our 911??” this exact issue was recently the focus of not one but two of our stories. one focused on el paso. josie ortegon learned that the el paso 9-1-1 center gets on average more than 17- hundred calls a day!!!! she was concerned because she called after seeing a small fire … got a pre-recorded message … and hung up. she was told that was a big mistake because it starts the whole process again and in some cases … don’t panic because in some cases those people ahead of you in line are calling about the same emergency and crews may already be responding. also … el paso fire department spokesman carlos briano says the national emergency number association standard is to answer 90% of calls in less than 10 seconds. josie was told el paso answers 91% of their calls in less than 15 seconds. another issue we investigated was 9- 1-1 hangups. jamie warren and our new mexico mobile newsroom reported that if you accidentally call 9- 1-1 … don’t hang up … instead explain it was an accident. if you don’t … they’ll call back and if you don’t answer … they have to send a crew out just to make sure it’s not an emergency. and as a result manpower is being wasted. so don’t hangup … and if you do and get a call back … please answer and explain what happened. rick cabrera. abc-7 listens. this morning students are