Dispatchers are a guiding voice in the darkest times of one’s life — “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”
Sunday’s fatal helicopter accident near Smethport coincided with the beginning of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
Andrew Johnson, director of McKean County Department of Emergency Services, said that, while he could not get into specifics of Sunday’s incident, each level of emergency personnel response went well.
Dispatchers did a good job communicating, and firefighters and the EMS did well in their tasks, too, he said.
But of everyone, Johnson said that dispatchers go unnoticed. They work behind the scenes.
“They are truly the first responders. They take the call,” he said.“They don’t get recognized.”
Johnson called the dispatchers the first line of help. McKean County has 13 dispatchers.
National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week –– established in 1981 by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office in California –– is a time to celebrate and give thanks to those who dedicate their lives to serving the public.
“It is a week that should be set aside so everyone can be made aware of their hard work and dedication,” the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International stated on its website.
The Smethport, Star Hose Co. of Port Allegany and Eldred Township volunteer fire departments were dispatched to the area of East Valley Road, north of Smethport along Potato Creek, at 5:15 p.m. Sunday. Norwich Township Volunteer Fire Department was called in to bring an off-road vehicle to the scene. Hamlin Township Volunteer Fire Department was put on standby at Smethport.
Pennsylvania State Police from the Kane barracks, the Smethport Police Department and fire police from various departments responded to assist. Emergency medical personnel on scene were from Star Hose Co. in Port Allegany.
“The cooperation among the agencies was outstanding. It went as well as it could have,” Johnson said.
Officials at the Smethport Fire Department also gave a shout out via Facebook to emergency responders.
“Thank you to every responder, department member, and local resident that helped (on Sunday). Thank you to the dispatchers at 911 Center for an outstanding job handling all of the ‘traffic,’” reads statement on the agency’s Facebook page.
Johnson stressed the importance of everyone being on the same page. “That’s paramount. That is something we work on constantly,” Johnson said.
“The measure of an incident is not that everything goes according to plan,” he said.
Responders have to be adaptive, he said.
“That always happens exceptionally well,” Johnson said.
