Durham 911 center staffing shortage causing response delays, firefighters' union says

A firefighters’ union in Durham said Saturday night that the city’s 911 call center had no one present to answer the phones — an occurrence it says is not unusual as the city struggles to fill vacant positions.

Calls to the Durham Emergency Communications Center were routed to Raleigh’s center instead, Jimie Wright, the president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Durham Local 668, said in a news release Saturday.

In an interview Sunday, Wright called the staffing shortage a “major risk,” with “a huge impact for the public.” He added that they’ve seen it take as long as 10 minutes for a call to reach them when routed through Raleigh.

“You can imagine calling 911, and our units aren’t even on the road for another 10 minutes,” he said. “There simply is no excuse for it, and we’ve got to be better.”

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