September 15, 2009
Placer County Sheriff Dispatch Center, Auburn, CA
Today, the team had a meeting with the PC Sheriff Dispatch Superviser- Erik Wollesen. We went to the computer traning room, looked at the system and talked to Kathleen Fenley, IT, at the Lake Tahoe Dispatch on the phone and asked questions about their system ( W.A.R.N.) Wide Area Rapid Notification.
Kathleen and Erik showed us how the dispatch center responded to the recent 49 Auburn Fire and how the W.A.R.N. system works.
During the 49 Auburn Fire, the dispatch center called a 7 mile radius area (see photo above) They made nearly 40,000 calls in 10 minutes!!
They typed in an example text message to show how their Reverse 911 works!
Then, Erik took us into the actual dispatch center and and we got to meet the dispatchers on duty!
It was really neat! Everyone was really nice, and answered our questions. One of the things that we found really interesting was that they(dispatch) didn't find out about the 49er fire until they got several 911 calls reporting it.
Thank you Erik, Kathleen, and Placer County Dispatch Center for an awesome learning experience!
- The Lego Guards
