Fire Officials Speak About 911 System Changes

ABC-7 has received several comments and complaints since airing the story about Jesse Reade. He’s the 27-year-old who accidentally shot himself in the stomach and died.

Family and friends alleged it took about 15 minutes for 911 operators to pick up their calls. On Friday it will be a month since Reade’s death.

Emergency officials addressed response concerns, but those who called 911 to report the shooting aren’t buying their answers.

“Jesse could have — might have been saved, but those minutes were very crucial,” said Barbara Ramirez. She ran from her mother’s house next door to Reade’s grandmother’s house when the gun went off on March 15.

Loved ones explained Reade was handling a friend’s pistol when it went of. He died about two hours later.

Ramirez and Reade’s mother claim it took at least 15 minutes to get a hold of a call taker when they called 911.

Authorities with the El Paso Fire Department said it may have seemed like it took that long. “On average, there may be a couple of minutes of them not being able to get a hold of somebody. But in the long term, what they see is, ‘I called at this time and I didn’t get a unit arrive till 10 minutes later.’ Which may be part of the call processing the response time, all that rolled into one,” said Chief Chris Celaya, deputy chief with the El Paso Fire Department.

He said the first call received regarding the shooting was at 8:55 p.m., but the caller hung up. Officials said at 8:57 p.m. call takers were able to speak with someone to get information and dispatch emergency crews who arrived on the scene at 9:07 p.m.

Ramirez admitted her call history showed she called 911 at 8:57 p.m. then hung up. “My response was at 9:04 p.m., that’s when they called me back. But I still think seven minutes is too long,” she said.

As far as possible delays with call takers, Celaya said there are several factors to take into account.

First, non-emergency calls are tying up phone lines. Officials ask people to not call 911 if it’s not an emergency.

Secondly, two new call taking systems were installed at the emergency communications center in February, so personnel are getting used to them. “That, I think, is a training issue. As we go through, we try to find ways to reduce the amount of time that the people are on the phone call,” Celaya said.

He said the systems process call more efficiently. Celaya explained the new systems are more cost effective than the previous system because maintenance costs are not expected for a while, and that’s why they were upgraded.

But Ramirez said something has to be done. She said, “If their new system can’t handle it, get more people.”

Celaya said getting more people won’t solve the problem immediately because they would have to train on the system as well.

Reade’s mom said she has contacted attorneys to conduct their own investigation into what happened with calls the night her son died.

A 311 non-emergency system is scheduled to go into effect in September. Officials hope it will help with the call volume so 911 operators can tend to emergencies.