BEL AIR, Md. — A Md. dispatch center has adopted a new call-labeling system, using various nicknames for different emergencies.
The new “response determinates” system puts calls into six different levels of emergencies, according to the Baltimore Sun. The aim is to allow crews to respond to calls that are true emergencies instead of less serious incidents, like a lock-in or smoke detector investigation.
An “echo” call is the most urgent, while an “omega” is the least serious.
Dispatchers will ask callers a series of questions and will determine what level the call should be classified.
If someone calls 911 to report a fire, the dispatcher will ask if flames or smoke are visible, what type of structure is burning and if there any injuries. An “echo” would be assigned to the fire if a person was on fire, and a “charlie” response would be if nothing is actively burning.
A caller who is breathing normally with no altered state of consciousness during a chest pain call would be assigned a “delta” response (one step below an “echo”).
“The field has fallen into place quite well,” Rich Gardiner, spokesman for the Hartford County Volunteer Fire & EMS Association, told the Sun. “For the most part many companies have already been following these types of determinates internally even if they didn’t yet call them alpha, bravo, etc.”