FYI: Here’s why Seattle Fire Department added ‘encampment’ label to call log

August 10, 2021 3:58 pm
|    Comments Off on FYI: Here’s why Seattle Fire Department added ‘encampment’ label to call log
 |   West Seattle fires | West Seattle news

Tracking emergency dispatches, we usually check the Seattle Fire Department‘s Real-Time 911 page multiple times a day. It’s an automated log of where, when, and why SFD units are dispatched. From time to time, the call types on the log change – for example, what used to be “assault with weapons” if a weapon was believed to be involved changed in 2018 to “scenes of violence.” On Monday, we noticed a new designation – the word “encampment” was appearing before some fire and medical calls, such as this one from Monday’s log:

Many readers use the 911 page too, so we asked SFD spokesperson Kristin Tinsley about it when we saw her at the Joint Training Facility Monday afternoon. She checked into it and provided this explanation today:

In order for us to better track our responses to homeless encampments, we have added in new dispatch type codes that list “encampment” if this information is known when someone calls 911 to report an incident. Crews can also change the type code from a regular type code by contacting dispatch once they arrive on scene if it’s at an encampment. In addition to tracking, it also gives responding crews improved situational awareness that the response is at an encampment location.

So far today, the new labels have applied to six of the 200 (as of this writing, 16 hours into the day) lines on the call log.

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