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Wiedrick Road By Erika Aftuck

Severe storms in Steuben County on July 15-16 drew great emergency response

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911 dispatch operators took over three hundred calls on July 15

From Steuben County, photo provided

BATH – The severe storms on July 15 and 16  were a busy period for the Steuben County 911 center, according to Steuben County Public Safety Director Tim Marshall.

In a recent written report to Steuben legislators, Marshall said county 911 operators took in a total of 310 calls the evening of July 15, with the busiest hour between 5 and 6 pm, when six staff members handled 126 emergency calls.

During that time, the county entered 104 “Wire Calls” and 65 “Tree Down” calls for a total of 169 entries, Marshall reported.  The total does not include any other call types during the evening of July 15, he said.

Marshall noted during the initial start of the storm, so many calls came into the center that some rolled over into nearby Yates County.

“This is a part of the process to allow for overflow when one center gets too busy,” Marshall said.

He noted additional staff was called in to help with a high call volume.

While the storm on July 16 was not as severe, county 911 operators answered 99 calls between the hours of   1-4 pm, Marshall said.

Total storm-related calls for the two days amounted to 631, according to the report. 

Marshall added that during these storms it becomes very busy in the 911 Center, and it is important for the public to know not to call 911 and unless it’s a true emergency period.

“In many of these incidents,  there is not much that police, fire or EMS can do. First Responders must wait on the electric company in order to make many of these situations safe,” he said.

 “This was a great job by everyone during a very difficult storm,” Marshall said. “Let’s hope we don’t do that again anytime soon.”



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