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The Cheyenne County Emergency Communications Center (CCECC) logged 21,325 calls from all the agencies it dispatches in fiscal year 2019-2020.
CCECC Manager Heidi Gillespie presented her annual report to the Sidney City Council on Tuesday, July 28.
The dispatch center dispatches Sidney Police Department, Sidney Fire Department, Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office, Deuel County Sheriff's Office and Regional West EMS. Most of the dispatch service is for the Sidney Police Department at 8,053 calls for service, followed by the Cheyenne Sheriff's Office at 5,089 and the Deuel County Sheriff's Office at 2,953. Regional West EMS garnered 1,130 calls for service and Sidney Fire Department 156 calls. Between the total and the amount of calls requested by the named agencies is a difference of 3,944 with 58 of those calls by Regional 21 Emergency Management and the remainder by rural volunteer fire departments across the counties served.
Gillespie said the six rural fire departments average 250 to 275 calls for service per year combined.
The communications center also conducts follow-up calls, phone messages, and general information calls. She said the communications center also dispatches Chappell Ambulance service and coordinates with other agencies as needed.
The fiscal year is from July 1 to June 30. Gillespie told the council the numbers show a slight increase, The department is currently down one position. Fully-staffed is seven dispatchers, Gillespie and her deputy supervisor.
She said the center is being upgraded to be ready for the Next Gen 911 system. The next generation 911, Gillespie said, is expected to be much more precise in tracking a caller's location. It will also include Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD) EMD dispatching requires CPR and AED certification.
“This particular program is very near and dear to my heart,” she said.
She said the timeline for the next generation 911 is not known yet, but estimates are within five years.
She also said backup dispatching, in case the county's system and backup go offline, is Morrill County (Bridgeport) followed by Lincoln.
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