Owensboro Fire Chief Steve Mitchell told members of the city-county 911 board Tuesday that firefighters need a better way to communicate with dispatch when firefighters are confronted by a disturbed person during an emergency run.
Mitchell told 911 board members that when firefighters face disturbed or intoxicated people on some runs, they ask dispatch to send city police officers to assist. Daviess County Fire Chief Dwane Smeathers said county firefighters have "occasionally" had similar issues while on calls.
Dispatchers are trained to ask firefighters for details about the nature of the disturbance so they can give responding officers as much information as possible. But those questions can be heard publicly over the firefighters' radios, Mitchell said.
As a result, the disturbed person becomes even more upset, Mitchell said.
"We had three incidents in one day when our guys were in front of (a disturbed person) and dispatch was making it worse," Mitchell said. In one incident, "our guys were actually fighting," Mitchell said. "They didn't have time to talk" to dispatch.
During one incident, "it got to the point where our officer had to tell the dispatcher to keep quiet, because they were making the situation worse," Mitchell said.