06/16/2026
We want to take a moment to recognize and thank our Public Safety Communicators (911 Dispatchers) for their amazing work during yesterday’s Mt Helena fire.
When the fire was reported, there were only two dispatchers on duty—and within seconds, the phones began ringing nonstop. From the time the initial call was answered and processed to the time that the first page for the fire department went out, was 39 seconds.
In the following 8 minutes, those two dispatchers handled 51 calls, including 27 emergency (911) calls. To put that into perspective, that pace allowed only about 19 seconds per call if each one were answered, and not all of them were. The average call duration is 2 minutes. That doesn’t account for everything else occurring in the center - radio traffic, coordinating with fire units, dispatching law enforcement, EMS and fire units to unrelated incidents, and managing several other incidents.
In total, from 2:51 PM and 3:59 PM, our center received 248 calls, with 151 of those being 911 calls—handled primarily by those same two dispatchers and luckily our two administrators were in the office and able to come out to the center to help with the influx of calls.
While 151 emergency calls in a little over an hour may not sound overwhelming, for a center our size—and for two people—it is an extraordinary and challenging situation. For comparison, the Monday prior during this same time frame, the center received 26 calls with 8 being 911 calls.
We also want to thank our community. Many of the callers showed patience and understanding during this high‑volume event, and we truly appreciate that grace. Our dispatchers work tirelessly behind the scenes during moments like this and the work they do is often overlooked.
