By EMS1 Staff
MARSHALL COUNTY, Ky. —A dispatcher recalled handling the “hundreds of calls” made to 911 after a student opened fire at a high school, killing two people and injuring 16.
KFVS reported that Marshall County dispatcher Maranda Hanson and her colleague fielded many of the calls made after the shooting.
“I handled the first radio traffic we got from the school resource officer while she was handling the first call,” Hanson said. “And then they just poured in. Immediately there were hundreds of calls, back to back.”
Hanson said she used her training to avoid getting distracted by the panicked callers.
“You know what you have to do,” Hanson said. “You know you have to step in and do your job. Your job saves people. Being on that end of the line I’m relaying things to law enforcement and EMS and everybody else. I am their eyes and ears to what’s going on, on the inside.”
Hanson added that her stepdaughter attends the same high school.
“I was terrified that each call that I was taking was going to be her,” Hanson said. “It was very scary.”
Hanson later received peace of mind when her husband notified her that their daughter called in sick that day.
The dispatcher said everyone on the team worked together to get through the tragedy.
“Every time that 911 line rings, my heart drops,” Hanson said. “I’ve been doing this for about 10 years now and I’ve had some bad calls, but this one, this one has really made a difference.”
Hanson was given the option to take the next day off, but she decided to come in and offer her help.
“If I didn’t come in and get over that fear, I may not have come back,” Hanson said. “So I came in and it was hard, scary and it was emotional. But we did it. All of us did it together. We have great support here.”
Hanson said she and her colleagues are now trying to get back to normal life.
“I’m looking forward to everything getting back to normal,” Hanson said. “It’s a new normal but we are working our way there.”