LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The heat is bound to cause medical emergencies for many, which is why first responders and dispatchers who pick up your calls are busy.
The Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Dispatch Center is busy taking in about 100 calls per hour which vary from fire or medical calls.
However, they prepared ahead of time knowing the high temps would be here for a while.
“Every couple of minutes it is pretty much as soon as you hang up there is another call waiting,” Ricardo Martin, a telecommunications specialist said.
Martin is one of the dispatchers who have been answering many heat related calls in the past few days.
“We have some pretty specific instructions here that we are supposed to give the patient remove them from any heat sources, take off modest amount of clothing,” Martin said.
The dispatch center handles calls from the city of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Clark County.
However, the chief of fire communications Craig Nimsgern tells FOX5 no matter which jurisdiction the call is coming from, whichever crew is the closest will respond.
“We know there is a high call volume going on but everyone is cool and calm,” Nimsgern said.
The dispatch center has received over 120 heat related calls just in the last couple of days.
“A lot of people drive by, they see someone on the ground aren’t too sure if they are alright, we do encourage those calls to come in we want to ask questions,” Nimsgern said.
Given the amount of fires that have happened, the calls are nonstop at the dispatch center.
However, they staffed an additional 4 dispatchers for each hour to keep up which totals to 17 dispatchers present each hour.
“It does take a toll on them so we do make sure we recognize that,” Nimsgern said.
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