MIDDLETON — When a Danversport chemical plant exploded, Danvers police dispatchers were each answering about 10 telephone calls a minute and couldn't always pick out the radios with emergency workers calling, "I got about five people injured out here." With the phone lines clogged, one inspired person used the fax machine to call out for help.
Thomas Dubas can't stop factories from exploding, but the newly hired Sheriff's Department employee is already waist-deep in efforts to keep local 911 dispatcher centers from melting down in huge crises — by combining the dispatch centers so more people can help out.
"This is obviously the extreme case, but you get a mass accident on the interstate, and it's nothing to get 40 or 50 calls," Dubas said.
Some communities routinely have a single dispatcher working, which makes lunch or bathroom breaks a tricky proposition.
Dubas was hired in mid-May for $30,000 a year to be the project manager for a regional operations center, which could handle emergency calls from Methuen to Swampscott. An original time line called for the project manager to be hired a year ago; the time line has blurred more because the state is revamping its funding schemes, making it tough to predict specifics, such as when Dubas could find a building to house the project.
A dozen communities are interested. Dubas said he needs to work with current dispatchers and look at the numbers, including how many calls for service were made in each community.
"Before we organize, we have to know what we're organizing," he said.
Danvers police Chief Neil Ouellette said when the Danversport explosion came in November 2006, it was tough to hear one radio over the other. Extra officers arrived to help, but there were no seats or extra equipment for them.
"The system broke," said Ouellette, one of the strongest advocates for a regional dispatch center. "The system got overtaxed. Communication from the law enforcement side of the house was cut off."
In his regular job, Dubas, 56, oversees the 911 center in Lackawanna County, Pa., which covers 215,000 people over 465 square miles. His dispatch center includes Scranton, Pa., which is nearly twice the size of Methuen or Beverly, the largest cities considering joining the Massachusetts group. The Lackawanna County center also covers some small agencies, counting many volunteer fire departments among the 70 that it serves.
Anne Marie Cullen, a Hamilton-Wenham dispatcher who also serves as president of Massachusetts Communications Supervisors Association, said about 25 local dispatchers met last Friday with Dubas. Some may drive to Pennsylvania to see how that center works.
State Rep. Ted Speliotis, D-Danvers, said he's investigating state funding for the regionalized center.
"I think the key provision is it's cost-effective and an efficient operation," he said. "In smaller and medium-sized communities, it's very difficult to man call centers on a 24-hour basis."
No communities have completely committed to the proposal because specifics — like the costs — haven't been determined. Interested communities have included Beverly, Danvers, Essex, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester, Methuen, Middleton, North Andover, Swampscott, Topsfield and Wenham.
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