WNBC reports that the 911 tech system is overwhelmed, that people are being discouraged from calling 911 unless it is truly a real emergency. This hurricane is doing a lot of damage. Would not all the damage taking place during a massive natural disaster be considered a real emergency (911 Call System Overloaded As City Urges People to Stay Off the Roads * DNAinfo New York)
Trees are falling, the façade of one building has collapsed, one fatality has been reported, and blackouts and massive floods have been widely reported. What isn't an emergency ?
Firefighter criticises Mayor Bloomberg's draconian budget cuts to FDNY and controversial Unified Call Taker-911 dispatch and emergency call system.
On the Queens Crap blog, an anonymous FDNY firefighter has submitted a comment that draws attention to the complete failure of New York City's UCT-911 emergency call system. "Over 10 preventable fire fatalities so far because of UCT911[.] DONT LET THIS CONTINUE!!" wrote the firefighter, who submitted the anonymous comment. As far away as the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom, it was reported that, as a result of yesterday's tornado-like microburst storm, "The city's 911 switchboards were inundated with calls of injuries, a Fire Department spokesman said."
"The $2-billion project is meant to shave seconds off emergency response times, and it includes the Unified Call Taker system, which Fire Department unions have condemned, saying that it resulted in units being sent to wrong addresses."
Meanwhile, according to the following YouTube video : "Leaders of three FDNY uniformed unions joined together to speak out and detail how the Bloomberg Administration's new 911 Unified Call Taking (UCT) dispatch system is 'fatally flawed.' "
