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Dispatch 'upgrade' slows fire response
A new computerized dispatch system in Minneapolis touted as improving emergency response is plagued with glitches.
By Steve Brandt, Star Tribune
Last update: November 17, 2007 – 5:57 PM
Minutes can mean lives to firefighters battling flames or answering medical emergencies. So when Minneapolis spent $4.2 million upgrading its computer dispatch technology this year, Fire Chief James Clack was hoping for the faster response times the maker promised.
Instead, things are worse. Since the upgrade, firefighters are getting to fewer emergency calls within the five minutes they use as a standard.
Minneapolis dispatchers say the new system has advantages, but it also makes some illogical choices about which trucks to send, or routinely freezes or slows down, and requires more steps. The city's 911 center also has been slapped with a state worker injury citation since the system was turned on last winter.
The experience offers a cautionary tale for cities and counties flush with federal homeland security grants and looking at leading-edge technology.
"It's unacceptable," said Council Member Paul Ostrow, who learned about the problem at a recent fire budget hearing.
Fire response loses ground
The National Fire Protection Association sets a standard of arriving at the scene within five minutes for 90 percent of calls. The Minneapolis department has never hit that standard, but it has come close -- as high as 88 percent in 2004.
Clack said he had thought his department could finally hit 90 percent with the new dispatch system adopted by the Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center (MECC).
Instead, the percentage of calls for which the department arrives in five minutes has fallen to 84 percent. For a department that makes about 30 fire and 70 emergency runs daily, that means an extra six calls aren't being answered within the five-minute standard.
"I share your disappointment," Clack told the City Council budget hearing.
Improving response times was one of the city's criteria for evaluating bids and the winning proposal promised to do that.
"These are very, very complicated systems, and they require a lot of fine-tuning," said Chris Maloney, chief executive at TriTech, the new dispatching system's maker. Minneapolis is the only jurisdiction in the state to buy TriTech dispatching equipment.
"We clearly need to improve the response time," said Don Samuels, who chairs the council's public safety committee.
City officials have been touting the new dispatch system. It recently won a state-level technical award. They say it boosted the city's response to the I-35W bridge collapse. Police officials say their response times haven't suffered.
"I'd say this is a 12-cylinder computer-aided dispatch system and we're hitting on 11 right now," said John Dejung, director of MECC, the city's 911/311 department.
How the system breaks down
Jill Radeke, a dispatcher who demonstrated the system for a reporter recently, said its mapping features let her see on a screen what she previously had to visualize for herself.
The problems lie with mapping glitches and demands on dispatchers.
The system requires fire dispatchers to monitor up to six screens. The mapping technology uses algorithms to determine which fire engine can get to a call fastest.
But the system sometimes misreads maps. For example, it will tell fire trucks to turn at the intersection of Franklin Avenue and 35W, which is an overpass without ramps.
Or sometimes the computer misreads equipment. In a medical emergency, pumper engines are the preferred vehicle, but if the call comes from an address on the side of the firehouse where the ladder truck is parked, the system wants to dispatch it -- even if the pumper engine is parked right next to it.
Or it misjudges response time. If a fire truck is close to returning to the station, the computer sometimes will assign a call to a truck still in the firehouse whose crew may be asleep, even though the first truck would arrive faster.
Or sometimes it just messes up. Earlier this month, it recommended sending a truck from 2 miles away for a call that was two blocks from another station.
For police calls, the system sometimes recommends dispatching an off-duty officer, rather than an officer on patrol. It doesn't know whether a car has one or two officers, vital knowledge for calls such as domestic fights.
Repetitive strain injuries
Dispatchers say they have to remain alert to override such glitches. Officials say they make fixes as situations arise.
"Every day I think we're at 99.9 percent done," Dejung said. "It's likely there's always going to be something that pops up."
Dispatchers are less forgiving.
"Something that's costing this much should be a higher-quality product and shouldn't still have an almost daily failure rate," said Amanda Przynski, a union steward for dispatchers.
Another issue is repetitive strain injuries.
"There was an increased amount of mousing. I had carpal tunnel," said Sallie Warner, a call taker in the 911 center who retired this year.
"Instead of one little thing that you do or two little things, you have to do 14 little things. And you had to do them in the right order or it wouldn't work."
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry recently cited MECC under a state law requiring employers to provide workplaces not likely to cause injuries. It ordered corrections by the end of this month. The city is contesting the citation.
Not every computer-aided dispatch upgrade causes major problems. Ramsey County upgraded its computer dispatch system but stayed with the same manufacturer. That lessens the stress on employees, according to Scott Williams, the county's emergency communications director.
"It's a major transition" to switch vendors as Minneapolis did, he said.
Radeke the dispatcher was more colorful. "For some, it's like a bad date -- you're much more attractive in your pictures."
Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438
Steve Brandt •
sbrandt@startribune.com© 2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
