Why did it take Oakland County dispatch 2 minutes, 23 seconds from the time the 9-1-1 cell phone call regarding the 77 S. Glaspie St. fire came in to the time the Orion Fire Department was alerted?

Mel Maier, the sheriff’s chief of communications, told this reporter, “We had an excited caller. We had to repeatedly ask questions (about) location and then, situational safety. It took us quite a bit of time to get him to leave the house.”

“We had to convince him to leave and then, we had to find out if there were other people that needed to get out,” he continued. “While we’re doing this, he’s not able to tell us exactly where he is. Once we finally got that information, we did put that all together and send it up (to the radio dispatcher). Sometimes it does take (time), because of the imprecise nature of the cellular call, for us to find their location. When people are calling in and they’re in an excited state, they’re upset about things, it does a little bit of time sometimes to get that information from them.”

“In this case, there was a lot of confusion on the call, a lot of stuff where we had to calm the caller down. He was, rightfully so, very upset. He was scared,” Maier noted.

Maier noted the “biggest challenge” to “any 9-1-1 center right now” is locating where cellular calls are coming from using the computer system when the caller is not providing that information verbally.

With landline calls, the computer system can tell dispatchers exactly where the calls are coming from.

“It’s great data. It’s generally correct. You don’t even question it,” Maier said.

However, with cell calls, a number of factors can impact how quickly the computer system can determine the location. These factors include the phone itself, the service provider, the location of the tower, etc., according to Maier.

Maier said that’s why dispatchers still “depend” on callers to be able to tell them where they are.

“The amount of time it takes for us to find a location (and) determine what’s happening to ensure responder safety and caller safety, that’s a variable,” he said. “That can take 45 seconds. It can take 2 minutes.”

According to Maier, approximately 85 percent of the calls coming into the county dispatch center now are from cell phones.