Blog | 911 Emergency Dispatcher | 911 Emergency Dispatch

Each and every one of us has an important role to play in keeping our loved ones safe. We want access to help from first responders in an emergency—when we need them the most—and for most people, their first contact with emergency response teams is through dialing 9-1-1. That’s why protecting 9-1-1 resources is a shared responsibility.

As part of Emergency Service Dispatchers’ and 9-1-1 Awareness Week, running from April 10-16 as proclaimed by the Province of British Columbia, E-Comm is challenging British Columbians to take the 9-1-1 Pledge and show their commitment to using 9-1-1 responsibly.

By taking the 9-1-1 Pledge and committing to making the right call, knowing your location, and avoiding accidental calls, you help ensure critical emergency resources are available for people who need them most.

Think about who you are pledging to protect—whether it’s your parents, your friends, your teammates, your siblings or your students—we all have an important role to play in keeping our communities safe.

Take the 9-1-1 Pledge today: www.9-1-1pledge.ca. Together, we can help keep British Columbia safe.

Vancouver, B.C., January 7, 2022— Nuisance calls to 9-1-1 continued to divert the precious time of B.C.’s emergency call takers during E-Comm’s busiest year in its 22-year history. The company received more than 1.9 million 9-1-1 calls in 2021, with many of the busiest days for 9-1-1 in E-Comm’s existence having occurred last year.

Despite three provincial states of emergency, the ongoing pandemic and high demand for police, fire and ambulance services, E-Comm call takers continued to field non-urgent calls on 9-1-1 lines. Familiar consumer complaints and general questions about COVID-19 put a strain on emergency call-taking as E-Comm dealt with record-setting influxes of calls from people experiencing real life or death emergencies.

“Our staff worked tirelessly throughout the heat dome, wildfires and flooding emergencies to support our first responder partners and get help to those who needed it as quickly as possible. It was disheartening to learn that we continued to receive 9-1-1 calls from people looking for information or trying to make general service complaints when so many communities were experiencing critical emergency situations,” says Jasmine Bradley, E-Comm’s executive director of communications. “Our call takers are trained to treat every call that comes through as an emergency, until they can determine otherwise. Every second that they spend speaking with someone who is upset about a mixed up coffee order or wanting to report a messy roommate, is time they could have been helping someone in a life-threatening situation.”

E-Comm, which handles 99 per cent of B.C.’s 9-1-1 call volume at its two emergency communications centres, has once again released its annual top 10 list of calls that don’t belong on 9-1-1. Despite ongoing efforts to draw the public’s attention to the appropriate resources to contact for consumer complaints, general information, directions or to check the time, many of the calls found on the 2021 list are repeat offenders. By sharing this list, E-Comm hopes to remind people that every time someone calls 9-1-1 about a non-urgent matter, they put the lives of other British Columbians at risk.

Top ten nuisance calls of 2021

1. The barista mixed up their coffee order
2. A pedestrian was splashed on the sidewalk
3. Requesting a COVID test
4. Enquiring about becoming a 9-1-1 call taker
5. Wanting to know where they could vote during the federal election
6. Looking for weather updates
7. Asking for directions
8. Wondering why the bus wasn’t coming
9. Enquiring about COVID restrictions
10. Reporting a messy roommate

“At a time when demand for emergency services is higher than it ever has been, it is extremely concerning that people continue to misuse 9-1-1 lines,” explains Bradley. “9-1-1 is the first point of contact for someone experiencing a life or death emergency, it is critical these lines are free from non-urgent situations so our call takers can get people the help they need, as quickly as possible.”

To help the public make the right call and keep 9-1-1 lines free for real emergencies, examples of emergency situations that should be reported through 9-1-1 and a comprehensive list of alternative resources that are more appropriate for non-police matters are available on E-Comm’s website.

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Interview Opportunity

Jasmine Bradley, executive director of communications at E-Comm, will be available for interviews on Friday, January 7 between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, E-Comm will not be inviting media inside its Lower Mainland or Vancouver Island Emergency Communications Centres. Interviews may be facilitated by phone or via Zoom.

Broadcast media: please use 2021 b-roll assets found here.

Photographs can be found here.

Media contact
Kelly Furey
Communications Specialist
604-215-6248
[email protected]

About E-Comm
E-Comm is the first point of contact for 9-1-1 callers in 25 regional districts in British Columbia and provides dispatch services for more than 70 police agencies and fire departments across the province. E‐Comm also owns and operates the largest multi‐jurisdictional, tri‐service, wide‐area radio network in the province used by police, fire and ambulance personnel throughout Metro Vancouver and parts of the Fraser Valley.

December 1, 2021, Vancouver, B.C.—Effective today, E-Comm is implementing a process change that will help free up 9-1-1 call takers so they can answer and handle incoming emergency calls more quickly. The new process will allow E-Comm call takers to disconnect from callers waiting on the line for the ambulance service, making them available to answer other 9-1-1 calls faster – not just for ambulance, but also for urgent police and fire calls which combined make up 70 percent of all 9-1-1 calls.

When an individual dials 9-1-1, an E-Comm call taker is the first point of contact. The call taker immediately transfers the caller to the requested police agency, fire department or, when an ambulance is needed, to BCEHS. The established process requires the E-Comm call taker to wait on the line with the caller until they have been connected to the requested emergency service agency. Under normal circumstances, this transfer time averages 45 seconds, but due to higher call volumes and increased demands on the ambulance service, it is taking much longer for callers to be connected to an available BCEHS call taker.

“The extended wait times are continuing to result in significant delays for British Columbians calling
9-1-1, which is also difficult for our call takers who are being tied up and are therefore helpless to assist others,” explains Oliver Grüter-Andrew, President and CEO of E-Comm. “This new process puts the safety of all British Columbians first – and we believe this change will take some pressure off the emergency communications system that will allow our staff to potentially help save more lives.”

Leading up to today’s announcement, E-Comm’s leadership team has been working closely with BCEHS to help resolve call-transfer delays. BCEHS and E-Comm have implemented measures to separate potentially life-threatening calls from less-urgent emergencies, among other process changes to better manage calls. As well, BCEHS is adding new positions in their dispatch centres and are confident the boost in their staffing will help to meet the increased demand. Both organizations are continuing to carefully monitor call-answer times and make service adjustments, as required.

However, due to the extraordinary strain on emergency services and the need to increase capacity within the 9-1-1 system to ensure calls are answered quickly, E-Comm has introduced this new process with the full support of BCEHS.

“We are now at the point where new measures are required to ensure our staff are able to answer 9-1-1 calls as quickly as possible,” adds Grüter-Andrew. “Our call takers are not medically trained, nor are they authorized to provide medical advice to callers waiting on the line for the ambulance service, so freeing them up to answer other emergency calls means we are able to help more people.”

As part of this new process, callers will be advised that they are in the queue for ambulance and that the 9-1-1 call taker needs to disconnect so they can answer other incoming calls. It is important to understand that this change will not have any impact on the availability of BCEHS call takers or ambulance response times.

E-Comm and BCEHS leadership will be carefully evaluating this call transfer process to ensure 9-1-1 services are able to be delivered more quickly and effectively. This process is temporary to ensure 9-1-1 service level targets are consistently being met and both organizations will revisit the need for this measure on a monthly basis.

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A national public safety organization has recognized E-Comm’s response and coordination to the massive fire that engulfed the New Westminster waterfront in September 2020.

Each year, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials Canada (APCO Canada) recognizes teams and individuals across the country who demonstrate excellence, leadership and passion for what they do.

E-Comm’s 32-member fire call-taking and dispatch team has won APCO Canada’s 2021 teamwork award for the E-Comm team’s sustained efforts over 12 days, as fire crews worked to extinguish the New Westminster Pier Park fire.

The blaze started on September 13, 2020 and initially generated 98 9-1-1 calls within the first 10 minutes. The stubborn fire created thick, black toxic smoke that sparked numerous air quality-related medical calls across the region.

Over nearly two weeks, the E-Comm fire dispatch teams coordinated mutual aid for the New Westminster Fire & Rescue Services along with four other fire departments (Richmond Fire-Rescue, Delta Fire Department, Vancouver Fire Rescue Services and Burnaby Fire Department) and numerous other stakeholders. Despite high demands and unique processes placed on them, the E-Comm fire teams met National Fire Protection Association standards and continued to provide excellent service to the public and E-Comm’s 40 fire agency partners.

“On behalf of our entire community, congratulations to E-Comm’s fire dispatch teams on this recognition for the outstanding and sustained response to last year’s fire at Westminster Pier Park,” said New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote. “The response underscores the importance of collaboration across agencies in emergency response and the pivotal role E-Comm plays in ensuring that happens.”

“The support we received from E-Comm dispatchers through coordination of mutual aid during a prolonged and challenging fire situation on our waterfront meant our crews could focus on the task with the knowledge that our community was protected,” said Deputy Fire Chief Curtis Bremner, New Westminster Fire & Rescue Services. “Congratulations to the entire team at E-Comm for this well-deserved recognition.”

“Teamwork is an essential component of E-Comm’s mission to deliver exceptional emergency communications services in B.C.,” said Oliver Grüter-Andrew, E-Comm President and CEO. “I am proud of how our fire call takers and dispatchers worked together and stepped up to manage day-to-day activities along with the ongoing and coordinated response to the New Westminster Pier Park fire.”

E-Comm received the award during a virtual presentation at the APCO Canada 2021 Conference and Trade Show on October 28.

Members of E-Comm’s award-winning fire dispatch team.

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About E-Comm
E-Comm is the first point of contact for 9-1-1 callers in 25 regional districts in British Columbia and provides dispatch services for more than 70 police agencies and fire departments across the province. E‐Comm also owns and operates the largest multi‐jurisdictional, tri‐service, wide‐area radio network in the province used by police, fire and ambulance personnel throughout Metro Vancouver and parts of the Fraser Valley.

About APCO Canada
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, Canada, Inc. is a voluntary, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the enhancement of public safety communications. It serves the people who supply, install and operate the Emergency Communications Systems used around the Country from coast to coast to coast. Members come from every type of public safety organization in the country, including 9-1-1, police, fire and emergency medical services as well as emergency management, disaster planning and federal search and rescue personnel.

In recognition of Global Diversity Month, E-Comm is reminding British Columbians that they do not need to speak fluent English to call 9-1-1. In fact, E-Comm received 1,669 calls to 9-1-1 requiring help in 36 different languages in 2020 alone.

Of those calls, 32 per cent required interpretation services in Mandarin and 25 per cent required interpretation services in Punjabi. From Cantonese, Spanish, Farsi and Arabic to Thai, Cambodian and Greek, the broad range of requests for interpretation illustrates the significant diversity of callers in British Columbia.

With Punjabi being one of the most requested languages for interpretation, we asked our Police Call Taker Jay to help share his top tips for non-English speaking callers in both English and Punjabi. Watch Jay’s video below.

As British Columbia grows increasingly more multicultural, it’s important that we recognize the diversity of the people who call our province home—for us, this means educating diverse communities on 9-1-1 and ensuring that everyone is equipped to get the help that they need in an emergency.