Failed calls point to breakdown in county’s 911 coverage

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, CA — Callers in an area of San Juan Bautista concerned about smoke over the mountains could not get through to emergency dispatchers Wednesday, but the breakdown shed light on the fact that some phone lines had been misrouted when 911 response service for San Benito County was switched to Santa Cruz 911.

Callers repeatedly tried reaching 911 dispatchers during what turned out to be a controlled burn in Monterey County with smoke showing over the Fremont Peak area. A lack of communication from the air pollution control district left many residents in the region wondering about the possibility of wild fire.

Santa Cruz 911 General Manager Scotty Douglass explained that calls over the controlled burn brought to light that AT&T lines had been misrouted. He said it was a “small” area of San Juan and that no other portions of San Benito County have the problem. Santa Cruz 911 officials spent a “good part of yesterday with attention on that,” he said.

“And so AT&T definitely was feeling the heat from this end,” Douglass said. “We did follow up with those telephone calls that didn’t get through right away.”

Douglass said there were no other major incidents during the controlled burn. Callers in that area of San Juan – he did not know precisely how many homes were affected – would have been unable to get through on land lines. Calls from cell phones, however, still would have worked because they are routed through cell towers, he noted.

“There were a couple of them that didn’t get through the first time,” he said of callers, “so we had to call them back to make sure they got the help they needed.”

Douglass explained that San Benito’s services were “migrated” over in October and that officials have been monitoring daily reports. With a spike in calls during the controlled burn, though, they could “pinpoint” the problem in San Juan.

San Juan resident Richard Pitschka was concerned because his neighbors could not get through to 911 on repeated calls.

“Something is happening in the transition that needs to be dealt with – 911 needs to be there,” Pitschka said. “What if it was a real emergency?”

County Supervisor Anthony Botelho, who represents the San Juan area, expressed his own concern about the matter. He also criticized the lack of communication about the controlled burn from the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District.

“I think we need to emphasize right now is there’s no more glitches,” Botelho said. “There has to be an emphasis working with AT&T to make sure everything has been completed and double checked, because that’s concerning.”

Read the story here.

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