As the Brentwood community anticipates a vote by the board of aldermen about possibly moving its dispatch services from Brentwood city dispatchers to East Central Dispatch (ECDC), a resident opposed to the move obtained a memo written 11 days after the fire that destroyed the Sports Attic.
The 6-page memo from Brentwood Fire Chief Ted Jury to Brentwood Chief of Police Steve Disbennett and Assistant Chief Dan Fitzgerald describes errors made by dispatchers at both Brentwood and ECDC during the fire on April 13, 2012.
Brentwood resident Brandon Jones obtained the memo through a Sunshine Law request and forwarded it to 40 South News.
Jury said in the memo that its purpose is not to get anyone trouble, but to correct problems. A Brentwood dispatcher’s name appears in the memo but was redacted by Jones.
“There were a number of errors, some serious, on the part of both Brentwood and East Central Dispatch, though the most serious errors were on the part of ECDC,” Jury said in the memo.
Jury said the most important problem was that Maplewood was not dispatched at the onset of the fire. Brentwood firefighters had entered the building assuming they had backup from Maplewood in case the situation got dangerous, which it did. The Maplewood truck arrived 10 minutes late.
Jury included a summary and timeline of the dispatch recordings, with the important events highlighted.
He listed 11 issues to be addressed by Brentwood Dispatch and ECDC.
Among those issues:
- In the initial 3 company dispatch, a Maplewood truck was called for by Brentwood but never dispatched by ECDC. He said the reason for that is still unknown (at the time of the memo).
- When the first alarm was dispatched neither the Brentwood dispatcher not the ECDC dispatcher noticed that Maplewood had not been dispatched.
- Dispatching errors led to a 20-minute delay in getting a needed ladder truck.
- Neither the Brentwood dispatcher not the ECDC dispatcher had any knowledge as to what the truck numbers indicate, which led to confusion about what trucks were asked for and what trucks were there.
- Maplewood and Clayton trucks were delayed, while others were either never dispatched or never called for.
Jury ended with recommendations, beginning with a basic review class on fire dispatching.
The ECDC responded to this memo on Feb. 14.
This memo is dated April 24, 2012. So in two years since this particular fire, our dispatchers were only given one basic review class? We rarely have fires of this magnitude so that certainly explains the confusion. Since ECDC is “fire certified” and they run with a minimum of 4 dispatchers (according to the ECDC representative that was present at the Brentwood Aldermanic meeting on Feb. 3,) I would definitely have to say kudos to that 1 Brentwood dispatcher who was handling this stressful and frightening situation. So considering there were 4 ECDC dispatchers compared to 1 Brentwood dispatcher, these things occurred:
1. Brentwood calls for Maplewood but ECDC doens’t respond.
2. Brentwood calls for Clayton ladder truck but ECDC fails to dispatch them.
3. Brentwood calls for Univ City pumper but it was never dispatched.
4. Brentwood calls for Ladue truck and ambulance
5. Brentwood calls for Glendale.
What were the 4 ECDC dispatchers doing while they were not responding to Brentwoods calls for Maplewood and Clayton???
Pay close attention to the following points the Brentwood Fire chief points out:
“The MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM the fire dept encountered in the initial onset of the fire was the FACT that Maplewood 3114, WHICH WAS PROPERLY DISPATCHED BY BRENTWOOD, WAS NEVER SENT BY ECDC FOR REASONS STILL UNKNOWN.”
“03:56 Brentwood dispatches a three company still alarm per protocol. Brentwood 2514,
Rock Hill 3414 and Maplewood 3114 are dispatched. The dispatcher does simulcast on mutual-aid, FOR UNKNOWN REASONS ECDC DOES NOT RESPOND.”
“04:00 First alarm in dispatched…….. ECDC SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT MAPLEWOOD SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED ON A FIRST ALARM TO THIS ADDRESS.”
“04:08 Command calls dispatch for a second alarm……ECDC FINALLY REALIZES THAT MAPLEWOOD HAS NOT BEEN DISPATCHED AND CALLS BRENTWOOD TO ASK IF THEY NEED MAPLEWOOD, BRENTWOOD ADVISES YES, ECDC STATES THEY DID NOT COPY THE REQUEST FOR MAPLEWOOD.” (So ECDC’s didn’t copy Brentwoods call for Maplewood that took place 8 minutes ago)
“04:13 ECDC calls, advises that 2015 ,2114 and 3114 are on the way. CLAYTON LADDER TRUCK 3212 STILL HAS NOT BEEN DISPATCHED BY ECDC.”
“04:18 CLAYTON LADDER TRUCK HAS STILL NOT BEEN DISPATCHED 9 MINUTES AFTER BEING ASKED FOR BY BRENTWOOD for the 2nd alarm called out at 04:09.”
04:29 Clayton ladder calls on the scene, 20 MINUTES AFTER REQUEST FROM BRENTWOOD.”
We rarely experience fires like this one so it’s clear that there is regular on-going, review training needed by all of these dispatchers. But to only give the Brentwood dispatchers one review session in 2 years? Is that really a committment by Brentwood’s Fire Chief to remedy this issue? Hasn’t Chief Jury been looking to join one of these consolidated dispatch centers, specifically West County or Central County? I wonder how many times ECDC has trained with Brentwood’s fire dept??
All considering, I commend the Brentwood dispatcher for a job well done!
The Brentwood dispatchers have stated that they would love continuing training. After this incident they were only offered (and all of them attended) 1 training session.
Brentwood Residents: Please sign this petition to support our local Brentwood Dispatchers. http://chn.ge/1apjmqJ
God bless our team of fire fighters & police. This is really disturbing that the minute the call was phoned it, it wasn’t being professionally administered. We depend on competent, knowledgeable dispatchers who know what they’re doing in a time of crisis, one alarm or multiple. Looking at a “cheat sheet” doesn’t sound competent and able to handle what was going on. Again, God bless our fire fighters & police who do a great job but it all depends on that first phone call to make sure everything is going smoothly & being properly dispatched. If you can’t make those decisions without a “cheat sheet”, you shouldn’t be dispatching. That “cheats” lives, property and puts our fire fighters and police in jeopardy. If ECDC is “fire certified”, this error should never have happened and more importantly…..should never happen again. Serious training & on-going training needs to take place to make sure of this. If you can’t handle the heat….get out of the seat!
Keep in mind that ECDC is being sold as being “fire certified”. Their dispatcher didn’t know the numbering system, and didn’t dispatch the appropriate equipment even when it was asked for by the Brentwood dispatcher. The Brentwood dispatcher, btw, is not fire certified. Had they been offered the proper training,some of this May have been avoided. I say instead of moving to a system that is talked up, but still obviously has huge problems, let’s do like the chief suggested and provide out own dispatchers with “remedial training”.
Very interesting reading indeed. Sounds like a comedy of errors, both human and otherwise. I count the number of miscues by Brentwood substantially in excess of the ecdc outfit. Still, thanks be to God, seems no one was hurt..building sounds like it was unoccupied?