Thank you for telling dispatchers' story in “A call for help” on Sunday. A long time ago I was a volunteer firefighter. In those days, dispatchers would announce their radio call sign over the air every hour, on every channel, all day. In the night, when my radio whispered, it was a reminder that dispatch was on the job, awake, alert and ready for anything.
On calls, the reliably calm, straightforward voices of dispatch would help focus our responders, keeping them informed, relaying resource requests and messages as situations required. Radio communications were and are still, to some extent, very difficult in La Plata County. Radio blind spots, atmospherics, worn equipment and multiple agency channels made communications complicated but dispatch works it all, patiently and diligently.
Dispatchers and responders went through the same initial stress that came with every call, but when firefighters were working with the heat and danger of a fire, dispatch would check up on us, making sure we were all Code 4, meaning under control or the scene was safe. It must still be extraordinarily difficult, calling people out to incidents but not seeing, not knowing what is going down; that dispatchers remained calm was a testament to their professionalism.
Dispatch handles fire departments, police departments, sheriff's offices, search and rescue groups. I don’t know how many other agencies’ calls now. Dispatch is a longtime, reliable partner in public safety work. These workers deserve all the honor and thanks we can bestow.
Durango, we will be Code 4, thank you.
John B. Griffiths
Durango
