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County dispatch playback, CAD workflow and dual‑headset setup flagged in Brook Hollow fire review
Summary
Jensen Hughes told council that Sedgwick County dispatchers did not use the available instant‑recall playback to clarify a 911 caller's unit number, that a CAD workflow issue delayed a requested second alarm, and that the dual‑headset console setup may impede dispatcher comprehension.
Brian Nelson of Jensen Hughes described three distinct dispatch‑area problems to the Wichita City Council: (1) audio differences between carrier recordings and dispatcher console audio; (2) an unused instant‑recall playback feature on the 911 phone system; and (3) a CAD procedure that delayed the issuance of a second alarm.
Nelson said the 911 recordings made available to the consultants were higher quality than what console users hear in real time, and that a back‑end recording can contain clearer audio than the dispatcher’s headset output. He told council that the SCEC call taker who handled Ms. Badeschi’s call told investigators he could not understand the unit number and that the console’s instant‑recall playback — a function that allows immediate replay of recently captured audio — was not employed.
Nelson said a CAD usability problem prevented dispatchers from quickly producing the recommended unit list for the requested second alarm and that at least one dispatcher who overheard the exchange was able to force the CAD recommendation to appear. The county arranged retraining on that CAD step within days, Nelson said.
Consultants and a former dispatcher on the Jensen Hughes team also described the operational consequences of Sedgwick County’s long‑standing dual‑headset arrangement, in which call takers use one headset for phone audio and another for radio traffic. The consultants said dichotic input (different audio in each ear) can increase cognitive load and may have contributed to comprehension difficulty; county staff are implementing a call‑taker model to separate pure phone intake from full dispatcher duties to reduce that burden.
The presentation and council Q&A did not include direct, on‑the‑record technical rebuttals from Sedgwick County representatives on the record in the transcript. County administration was credited in the presentation with arranging retraining on the CAD issue within days of the incident.
Ending: Jensen Hughes recommended policy and operational changes at SCEC, including clearer guidance on when playback should be used, CAD workflow training and reconfiguration of console audio to reduce cognitive load.
