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WHAT
IS THE
EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER ?
By Dispatcher Adam LaSota
HISTORY OF THE EOC
In the mid-1970s, the
Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company and some of its affiliates began construction
on the Perry Nuclear Power Plant located on Lockwood Road, on the shores of Lake
Erie in North Perry Village. The pla
nt was supposed to cost millions of dollars;
delays and demands put on it by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, anti-nuke
groups, and local police, fire, and community leaders, drove the cost into the
billions.
One of the demands was an emergency operations center (EOC), in case of a catastrophic event at the power plant. The EOC had to be located outside the 10-mile protective zone, and preferably west of the plant to avoid windborne contamination. In 1985, the parcel of land where the EOC stands today was leased from Lakeland Community College. Construction began shortly thereafter.
The EOC is an underground structure that houses several agencies. One is the Lake County Telecommunications Department, the second is the Emergency Management Agency (EMA), and the third is the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center, commonly referred to as Central Communications or Central Dispatch. Originally designed to do all dispatching in the county, it was built at that time with state-of-the-art equipment. Its purpose was also to have a place to activate the sirens in case of an emergency at the Power Plant, be able to do emergency broadcasts through public radio, be able to coordinate all police and fire activity, and combine the radio system into workable channels to be used for any type of emergency.
The construction of the
EOC, getting it staffed, and making it operational became extremely problematic.
In the mid-80s, with the new Nuclear Power Plant fully constructed and testing
completed, it was ready to come on-line and make electricity. However, the
plant was not allowed to receive its license until the EOC became operational —
particularly, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center. 
Then-Sheriff Edwin H. Cunningham was called to the Lake County Commissioners’ Office and told that he was going to be put in charge of the Dispatch Center, all the equipment, and making the building functional. He assigned his Chief Deputy, Charles H. Caldwell, and a young Lieutenant, Daniel A. Dunlap (now Sheriff Daniel Dunlap), along with Paul Stefanko from the Lake County Telecommunications Department to complete the project, with assistance from numerous other consulting firms. The EOC came on-line in 1986.
THE EOC IN 2008:
Today, the EOC continues to evolve. It still houses the Telecommunications Department, EMA, and Central Communications, which includes 22 full-time public safety dispatchers, 5 part time dispatchers, 4 dispatch Sergeants, a Lieutenant, a Major, and two civilian employees. The building is manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Central Communications now provides service to the following police and fire departments:
POLICE
Lake County Sheriff, Perry Village, North Perry, Timberlake, Painesville City, Fairport Harbor, Grand River, Madison Township, Madison Village, Kirtland Hills, Lake Metroparks, Headlands Rangers
FIRE
Perry Fire District, Madison Fire District, Concord, Leroy, Painesville City, Painesville Township, Grand River, Fairport Harbor
These departments
communicate with dispatchers via the 800MHZ radio system, which is serviced
in-house by the Telecommunications Department. When officers change locations or
have valuable information for dispatchers, we enter all of the information on
our computer-aided dispatch (also known as CAD) system. We also run LEADS (Law
Enforcement Automated Data System) for our police departments – think license
plates, drivers’ licenses, criminal histories, et cetera. For police departments
that do not have LEADS terminals at their station, we can enter arrest warrants,
stolen vehicles, and missing persons. We also handle calling for tow trucks,
road department
s,
Narcotics, the Lake County Bomb Squad, the Fire Investigative Unit, HAZMAT team,
or the county’s crime lab, just to name a few.
In addition to communicating with area departments via radio, we also answer emergency and non-emergency telephone calls for all 20 departments. Last year, we answered over 108,000 calls for police or fire service. Out of all of these calls, 19,808 were from regular (landline) 911 calls, 44,896 were wireless 911 calls, and 35,603 were from non-911 lines. In addition to the calls for police and fire service, we also field an untold number of informational calls, e.g. “When is the power coming back on?” or “Are any roads closed due to slick conditions?”
On landline 911 calls, your name, address, and phone number all show up on our caller ID screen. We know your exact location and can send help directly there. This is known as Enhanced 911.
We recently took charge of answering all wireless 911 calls in Lake County. Cellular 911 calls used to provide absolutely no caller information, but the technology has improved drastically over the past couple years. On cellular 911 calls, we usually will see your phone number, but that’s about it. In the near future, Phase 2 wireless technology will use your cell phone’s GPS to estimate your location on our CAD system’s map. However, even Phase 2 won’t provide an exact location, so our first question will probably be “where are you?” If you’re in our jurisdiction, we’ll proceed with our normal line of questioning and send the appropriate help. However, if you’re outside of our jurisdiction, in Wickliffe, for example, we will first transfer you to Wickliffe. At that point, we supervise the transfer to ensure that you get the help you need. Once the Wickliffe dispatcher has obtained your name, phone number, location, and nature of emergency, we verbally confirm with them that we may disconnect.
No matter what phone line you call on, we can help you in emergency situations by providing emergency medical dispatch instructions. For example, if you needed to assist someone with CPR, the Heimlich maneuver, or control bleeding, we’ll walk you through it. These situations prove stressful not only for callers, but dispatchers alike. First and foremost, we must walk a fine line between being firm enough to maintain control of a frantic call, and soft enough to console the frantic caller. These calls don’t always go as planned, which can upset even the most seasoned dispatchers. However, in the business of dispatching, the saying goes: “Dispatchers save seconds, seconds save lives!” We never forget this as we always strive for a positive outcome.
Dispatchers are able to overcome challenging communication barriers, such as dealing with a hearing-impaired caller or someone who speaks a foreign language. For the hearing-impaired, we are able to communicate via the TDD (Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf) system. For those who speak foreign languages, we are able to connect to a translation service to find out the nature of the call.
When something happens that is above and beyond “normal” activity, dispatchers must also go above and beyond. In the event of a major incident, such as an event at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, the 2006 flood, or the 2007 train derailment, we can activate the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) which is housed adjacent to our radio room.
When the EOC is activated, dispatchers are usually handling a barrage of phone calls about the incident and sending police and fire departments to the scene. Upon EOC activation, representatives from various local, county, and state agencies converge and try to figure out the best ways to solve the problem, which are then executed by the dispatchers.
Other critical responsibilities include, but are not limited to, activating the county’s emergency sirens, using the Emergency Alert System (EAS), notifying the media of an emergency, launching the county Reverse 911 system (which calls landline phone numbers in a selected geographic area and notifies them of an emergency), or coordinating an Amber Alert.
To keep ourselves educated and to provide the best possible service to our constituents, we have implemented an extensive in-house training program. Training occurs on a monthly basis and covers a wide array of topics. Different dispatchers are randomly selected as training officers each month, so we all learn from one another. From time to time, we also ride along with our police and fire departments. This not only allows us to gain appreciation for the work they do, but also get a better understanding of the areas we serve.
As you can see, a dispatcher’s work is never done, but always varied – and remember, we’re here to help you!