Longboat Key first responders were visiting to take part in a monthly training session designed to help them better understand the roles of emergency call-takers and radio dispatchers.
Kristen Fitzpatrick, an operations manager at the center, walked them through the flow of emergency calls, which are first fielded by staffers trained to quickly learn the basics of everything from a low-level need to a major catastrophe.
From there, calls are coded for either police or fire (or both), and a radio dispatcher then begins assigning the closest available personnel as needed.
“This is really, really important,” Fitzpatrick said as the went through the process and heard what was going out on the radio, adding "It's easy for firefighters in the field to forget what might be happening back at the dispatch center."