Fire Dispatchers Also Deserve Credit

* All the media hype regarding the firefighting personnel during the recent brush fires in Southern California has gotten my fellow Fire Department dispatchers all over the state, including myself, somewhat disillusioned.

Don’t get me wrong. They deserve it, and I tip my headset to all of the fire suppression personnel who were on the scene of these conflagrations, giving their all. But I’d like to point out that there was more to that effort than most people know. I’m talking about fire dispatchers. We were there to answer the call. And believe me there were many!

We were the ones that sent out these brave firefighters to fight these fires. We were the ones who coordinated this massive movement of fire equipment and personnel. We were the ones that worried about them until they returned home. We were the ones who had to explain . . . why the Fire Department was not there to stop the flames that were within feet of their homes, while the caller yelled, cried and cursed us. We were the ones who were left to deal with the day-to-day operations with as little as 25%, sometimes less, of our normal equipment and manpower because everyone else was on the line at Thousand Oaks, and then Altadena, and then Malibu . . .

We routinely get overlooked--i.e., we’ll get the call of a person not breathing, we’ll give the informant instructions on how to do CPR until the Fire Department and paramedics get there (which is not an easy task in itself), the instructions result in saving the patient and who do you think gets the thank-you cards, the letters, the pat on the back--the firefighters and the paramedics do.

Firefighting, and all that goes with it, is a team effort. And Fire Department dispatchers are part of the team. All we want is a little respect and some credit for what we do.

MANNY SOTO

Communications Operator

Verdugo Fire Communications Center