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9-1-1 and fire-rescue describe surge calls, dispatch strain and material improvements after Milton
Summary
Pasco 9-1-1 and Fire Rescue recapped call-volume spikes, a taxed dispatch center during Milton and steps taken to harden dispatch, add training and expand rescue assets including swiftwater boats and heavy-equipment teams.
Pasco County 9-1-1 and Fire Rescue leaders described the operational strain when call volumes spiked during Hurricane Milton and the steps the county is taking to improve dispatch resilience, rescue capacity and heavy-equipment response.
Eric Seltzer, a 9-1-1 captain, said the center normally handles about 11,500 calls in a typical week and that during the hurricane weeks call volume climbed as high as 16,000. "On average, 9-1-1 receives about 11,500 calls during a normal operational week; during both hurricane weeks they averaged about 16,000 calls," Seltzer said. He described how phone traffic and the computer-aided dispatch load converged and how calls overflowed to backup phones in the EOC; on the busiest night the county had to wake additional dispatch staff to handle the stack of calls.
Ryan Glenn of Pasco County Fire Rescue said the department performed roughly 200 rescues during Helene and more than 1,000 rescues during Milton. "Helene, we had ... roughly 200 rescues. Milton, ... over a thousand rescues," Glenn said, and described equipment upgrades planned or in place: doubling swiftwater boats from three to six, adding John Boats and SeaArk craft, acquiring a 35-foot aluminum fire boat and developing a heavy-equipment team (skid steers and excavators) to clear emergency access.
Dispatch leaders said they will run countywide down-call drills and low-tech fallback exercises to ensure continuity if computer systems fail, and plan equipment maintenance and radio checks before hurricane season. Fire Rescue and 9-1-1 also emphasized interagency tactical-channel discipline to avoid overlapping radio traffic and to maintain clarity during multi-agency water-rescue operations.
Why it matters: Dispatch overload and limited rescue assets can delay life-saving responses. The county's investments in boats, heavy-equipment teams and redundancy drills seek to reduce response time and improve safety during future flood events.
Staff asked commissioners to support equipment purchases, training, and continued investment in interagency communication protocols and radio/channel management.
