The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Residents learn about safety at open house
The inaugural event in Wampsville gave residents an up close look at public safety in the county.
Editors note: The first part of this story appeared in Sunday’s edition, but because of a copy desk error, most of the last part was omitted.
WAMPSVILLE >> Families who attended the inaugural Madison County open house event in Wampsville on Saturday walked away with a better understanding of how county employees work to keep them safe all year.
Madison County Executive Assistant Christine Coe said attendance was “pretty good” and that there was a “steady stream of families” coming in and out of the event throughout the threehour open house which ran from 9 a.m. to noon.
The open house was planned in coordination with the National Associa- tion of Counties’ declaration of April as National County Government Month. This year, the theme is “Safe and Secure Counties.”
Coe said the quicklyplanned event provided families with a “hands-on” experience. “It’s impressive to see everything up close,” she said. “There’s so much negativity in the news with law enforcement. This shows the positive side of it.”
One of the more popular exhibits of the day was a tour of the E-911 Communications Center. There, visitors had a chance to see how the county emergency operations center tracks in- coming calls and their locations and summons the nearest police, fire or medical responders so help can arrive as quickly as possible.
“Whether [the call] is in progress or not in progress, we send the closest car,” said Mellissa Hannon, the assistant director of E-911 said.
The center technology also has an automatic vehicle locator for emergency service vehicles within the county in order to track and ensure the safety of the county employees should their life-saving efforts ever place them in a dangerous situation.
Hannon said the E-911 Center averages from 300400 calls a day, depending on the season, noting winter and summer the busiest. In 2015, the center handled:
•41,933 law enforcement calls;
•8,545 EMS calls
•7,305 fire department
calls.
The center is open seven days a week, around the clock. This requires three shifts with three responders on the lines during the slower overnight hours and four 911 responders during the busier daytime hours. There are four computer stations in the E-911 Center with a fifth backup station available in case of technical difficulty.
Hannon explained that the center has amuchmore computerized system than smaller municipalities, thanks to cooperative efforts among Onondaga, Cayuga, Oswego andMadison Counties in purchasing the a shared 911 radio station, which she said saved the county millions of dollars. While the main core of the station is in Onondaga County, there is a fail-safe in place should the main core go offline.
She also spoke of the benefits of the Mid-York 2-1-1 number, which is similar to 9-1-1 in that the number provides immediate feedback to citizens seeking assistance. However, rather than life-threatening scenarios, 2-1-1 pro- vides information such to questions regarding basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter; criminal justice and legal services connections; disaster management; the environment; health care; employment, and income support.
Children and adults were given a behind-thescenes look at a multitude of different county vehicles including the Madison County Sheriff’s Office humvee, squad cars, mobile command unit and watercraft. The office also offered free bike helmets and sign-ups for Operation Safe Child.
Deputies created Safe Child cards for interested parents, recording childrens’ height, weight, and eye color along with a photo in case the child ever goes missing.
The Madison County Highway Department, Greater Lenox Ambulance Service, and Wampsville Fire Department all attended the open house event, adding their array to the vast fleet of county vehicles on site, giving children the opportunity to try on firefighter gear, blast a multitude of different horns and sirens, investigate all the emergency services equipment in the back of an ambulance, or even stand in the bucket of a monstrous bulldozer.
The county’s Health Department provided free car seat check and information to parents regarding the sleeping safety of their infants, and also held a water tasting competition. Snacks and refreshmentswere also provided for visitors.
Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Feola introduced families to Madison County K-9 Micah, who was named in honor of Madison County Undersheriff Michael Mooney, who died in 1913 as a result of gunshot wounds suffered in the line of duty.
The county has two K-9 units, one specializing in explosives detection and the other in narcotics. Both dogs are trained in building searches, tracking and officer protecting Deputy Feola said.
Paul and Brenda Kelly made the trip to Wampsville fromAuburn andwere impressed with the open house.
“It was great,” Paul said. “Always great to see the vehicles up close.”
“It is nice seeing the little ones ask questions,” she said before adding, “Smart questions, good answers.”