911 Decision Criticized After Response to Recent Fire

While a 911 decision has been made by the Dunwoody City Council, the issue isn’t going away anytime soon.

Councilman Danny Ross, a vocal critic of the as the city’s 911 service provider in March, delved into issue Monday night that had been raised during a recent 911 call answered by ChatComm.

“We’re playing with fire,” Ross said during the council’s work session. “I’m really, really concerned about it.”

The call he referenced was a fire that destroyed a home in the Silver Lake neighborhood in north Brookhaven on March 30. While the home isn’t in Dunwoody, Ross said it serves as a test for how the ChatComm 911 system will handle DeKalb County fire calls, something he’d questioned during earlier discussions on 911.

The call, which came from a cell phone, first was sent to the Sandy Springs ChatComm 911 center, after 1 minute, 50 seconds, the call was then transferred to Atlanta E911 in 23 seconds and finally DeKalb County dispatch, which sent out the fire department. In all, Ross said, the time between the call coming in and dispatch was 3 minutes, 23 seconds.

The homeowner, J. Max Davis, said his wife called 911 three times and was unhappy with how the 911 calls were rerouted.

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“The major reason for this was it went to the wrong place and it was handled incorrectly,” Ross said. “That is where we’re taking our business.”

Ross said he’ll be watching out for similar issues with ChatComm.

“I’m going to monitor this situation,” he said. “Every time that something comes up where they don’t  do the right job, you’re going to be reminded of the decision we made, I promise you that.”

Councilman Denis Shortal, who was the other vote against ChatComm in the council’s final decision, said “nobody is perfect.”

“People are going to make mistakes,” he said, but referenced the council’s leaving DeKalb County 911. “The grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence.”