The Province is allocating $90 million to E-Comm for the deployment of NG9-1-1 technology improvements and their respective start-up costs. This funding will help E-Comm, as the first answer point for 99 per cent of 9-1-1 calls in B.C., complete the NG9-1-1 transition on behalf of: the 25 Regional Districts for which we provide 9-1-1 call answer services; the 33 police and 40 fire agencies across B.C. for which we also provide call-taking and dispatch services, Saanich Fire, and all RCMP detachments in the province.

An additional $60 million will be provided to the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) in relation to NG9-1-1 implementation costs associated with emergency communication centres, including for the police and fire agencies who do not contract with E-Comm for their dispatch services or who are not part of E-Comm’s NG9-1-1 program.

“We thank the Government of British Columbia for this significant new funding for Next Generation 9-1-1,” says Oliver Grüter-Andrew, President & CEO of E-Comm. “Next Generation 9-1-1 is a game changer for our local government partners and public safety agencies. It will enable precise location tracking, real-time texting to 9-1-1, and a range of other vital improvements, including new options for how we respond to people needing mental health support.”

The Province’s funding represents a significant savings for E-Comm’s local government and public safety agency partners, who would have otherwise borne the full cost of these technology improvements.

This is an investment that will enhance emergency response, ensure public safety and improve the lives of the thousands of British Columbians who call and depend on 9-1-1 each day.

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We know it has been another challenging summer for our staff, particularly our call takers and dispatchers, and want to acknowledge the toll this continued need for regular overtime can have. As an organization, E-Comm is assessing all available short- and long-term options which will allow us to support the health and wellness of our staff, including the possibility of extending our current initiatives.

When British Columbians dial 9-1-1 in a life or death situation, it is critical that someone is available on the other end of the line to answer their call for help. As the first first responders, E-Comm call takers and dispatchers play this integral role in the emergency response ecosystem to ensure the public gets help from first responders when they need it most.

Like many other public safety agencies facing staffing challenges this summer, there have been times where E-Comm has relied on employees working overtime to make sure there were enough people available to answer 9-1-1 calls and dispatch first responders. This does include occasions where “forced overtime” notices have been issued to some staff. Although forced overtime is an absolute last resort option for E-Comm, it is available through our collective agreement with CUPE Local 8911 as a mechanism to mitigate the potential risk to public and responder safety based on E-Comm’s staffing levels.

Since the beginning of June, we have issued 13 notices of forced overtime which have resulted in 9.5 shifts being covered in this manner–all which have been compensated in accordance to our collective agreement.

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We recognize provincial and local governments have limited resources, but we need to find a way to ensure the critical public safety services E-Comm provides are appropriately managed, delivered and resourced. This is why we are working closely with our first responder partners and governments at both levels – provincial and municipal – to ensure we are providing the best services possible.

We believe E-Comm’s consolidated model of emergency communications service delivery is the most efficient and cost effective one for B.C. Therefore, we will continue to advocate for the funding and resources our organization needs to deliver the right level of service for British Columbians.

The contribution of our staff to public safety in our province cannot be overstated. They play a critical role in emergency services and we recognize the toll our service delivery challenges are having on our people. We are continually impressed by the dedication of our employees, who work longer hours and take on extra shifts, often missing breaks and not getting the downtime they need. And we understand the impact this is having on our frontline staff. E-Comm is committed to the well-being of all our employees and will continue to work toward ensuring our organization is properly staffed and funded in a sustainable way.

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About E-Comm

E-Comm is the first point of contact for 9-1-1 callers in 25 regional districts in British Columbia and provides dispatch services for more than 70 police agencies and fire departments. E‐Comm also owns and operates the largest multi‐jurisdictional, tri‐service, wide‐area radio network in the province used by police, fire and ambulance personnel throughout Metro Vancouver and parts of the Fraser Valley. In 2019, E-Comm received more than 1.84 million 9-1-1 calls in B.C. and answered 97 per cent of those calls in five seconds or less.

Media Contact

media@ecomm911.ca
604-215-6248

The post MEDIA ADVISORY: Response to open letter of CUPE Local 8911 appeared first on E-Comm 9-1-1.

Please note that the 9-1-1 system was not compromised during the outage and remains fully functional at this time.

If you continue to experience problems with your cellular service, please contact Rogers directly.

E-Comm continues to advise members of the public without access to a working phone and in need of emergency services, to first try dialing 9-1-1. If you are unable to connect, find alternate means of contacting 9-1-1. This includes using a landline or wireless device serviced by a different carrier, going to a neighbour’s house, using phones at nearby businesses or community centres, or heading to the closest fire department for assistance. We also ask that people refrain from making test calls to 9-1-1. It is imperative we keep the lines open for emergency calls only.

For more information and updates about the outage contact Rogers Communications.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Vancouver, B.C., July 8 —Today, at approximately 2 a.m., E-Comm began to receive reports of a telecommunications outage impacting Rogers and Fido customers across Canada. At this time customers with either carrier are not able to use their phones to make any calls; including to 9-1-1. Please note that the 9-1-1 system is not compromised and remains fully functional. At this time the outage impacts Rogers and Fido customers only.

E-Comm is advising members of the public without access to a working phone and in need of emergency services to find alternate means of contacting 9-1-1. This includes using a landline or wireless device serviced by a different carrier, going to a neighbour’s house, using phones at nearby businesses or community centres, or heading to the closest fire department for assistance. We also ask that people refrain from making test calls to 9-1-1. It is imperative we keep the lines open for emergency calls only.

For more information and updates about the outage contact Rogers Communications.

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Media Contact:
E-Comm 9-1-1
604-215-6248
media@ecomm911.ca

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TELUS has confirmed that this issue has been resolved and all system redundancy has been fully restored and tested.

When E-Comm was first made aware of the issue at approximately 2:30 p.m. on May 5, the emergency communications centre immediately engaged TELUS – the 9-1-1 network infrastructure provider for British Columbia. TELUS technicians began troubleshooting the issue with E-Comm technology staff, and service was restored on a back-up system at approximately 6:00 p.m. that same day.

Impacted areas included the Regional Districts of the Central Okanagan, North Okanagan, Okanagan-Similkameen, Thompson-Nicola, Columbia-Shuswap, Squamish-Lillooet (North), Central Kootenay, East Kootenay and Kootenay-Boundary. During the outage, no other areas of the province were impacted.

The priority for E-Comm during this time was to ensure a workaround was available for people needing immediate assistance from police, fire and ambulance. E-Comm’s Operations team made arrangements with the RCMP to have calls answered via local police non-emergency lines, and the organization took steps via media and social media to direct people to call the ten-digit non-emergency lines if they had an emergency for which immediate action was required.

As of May 10, just before 12:30 p.m., TELUS switched the 9-1-1 service back to the primary system with no interruptions reported.

May 5, 7:45 p.m. – E-Comm is confirming that 9-1-1 calls for the Central and Southern Interior are once again coming through to the emergency communications centre.

At approximately 2:30 p.m. on May 5, E-Comm was made aware of a 9-1-1 system disruption that impacted callers in the Regional Districts of the Central Okanagan, North Okanagan, Okanagan-Similkameen, Thompson-Nicola, Columbia-Shuswap, Squamish-Lillooet (North), Central Kootenay, East Kootenay and Kootenay-Boundary. During this time, callers were directed to call the police non-emergency lines to receive help from police, fire or ambulance. No other regions were impacted by this service outage.

The cause of the outage is currently under investigation with TELUS technicians continuing to work through the night. Further details will be provided in the coming days.

May 5, 4:00 p.m. – A 9-1-1 service disruption is currently impacting callers within the Central and Southern Interior areas. At this time, 9-1-1 service is not functioning and the cause of the disruption is unknown. Technicians are working with TELUS to determine the root cause and restore service as soon as possible.

Until further notice, E-Comm is advising the public in the Central and Southern Interior to call their local 10-digit police non-emergency line if they have an emergency for which immediate action is required: someone’s health, safety or property is in jeopardy or a crime is in progress. Callers in need of urgent medical care or fire response should dial the police non-emergency number and relay this to the call taker.

All local non-emergency numbers can be found at: nonemergency.ca.

To keep non-emergency lines free for emergency callers, residents of the Central and Southern Interior are asked not to call with non-urgent matters at this time. Non-emergency reports can still be made through online reporting at nonemergency.ca.

9-1-1 service is functioning normally for all other areas of the province.

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The investigation found that the disruption was a result of a series of isolated technical malfunctions, related to important system changes/upgrades to the back-up network that had been put on hold or not fully tested due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Issues that were experienced on April 24 included temporarily not being able to transfer 9-1-1 calls within the back-up network (this was quickly identified and resolved), intermittent audio issues for some Vancouver Island callers, and in some regions in the central and southern interior there were issues with 9-1-1 calls failing over to back-up mode resulting in calls being triaged temporarily by the BC Ambulance Service.

These technological issues occurred during a planned E-Comm evacuation exercise, which was scheduled as part of the organization’s regular preventative maintenance work and routine redundancy planning. The intermittent issues experienced were unusual compared to previous evacuations, and during this time, E-Comm’s operational and technology leadership teams worked diligently to ensure there was as little impact to incoming calls as possible.

During planned evacuation exercises, E-Comm call takers and dispatchers operate from a back-up site allowing the team to stress-test evacuation procedures and systems, while simultaneously conducting critical technical maintenance and upgrades on primary systems and networks while these are not operational.

With the constantly-evolving nature of technology, each planned evacuation exercise – including the one on April 24 – provides E-Comm and its technology partners with key learnings and insights used to enhance the back-up network and improve the overall stability of the platform.

In response to what was learned from this investigation, E-Comm is enhancing communications between the organization and its technology partners, adding extra checks and balances to processes, and increasing the early monitoring of systems to help identify and address issues more quickly.

April 24 – On Sunday, April 24, E-Comm experienced intermittent technical issues which appear to have had an impact on some callers’ ability to contact 9-1-1.

These technological issues occurred during a planned evacuation exercise, which was scheduled as part of the organization’s preventative maintenance work and routine redundancy planning. During this time, E-Comm call-taking and dispatch operations moved to a back-up site to execute and stress-test evacuation procedures and systems, while allowing for critical technical maintenance and upgrades to take place at its emergency communications centres.

The intermittent technical issues experienced on April 24 were unusual compared to previous evacuations, and E-Comm worked diligently to ensure there was as little impact to incoming calls as possible. The organization’s top priority is to now identify the root cause(s) of these challenges, and E-Comm is working closely with its core technology partners to conduct a full investigation. Once the investigation is complete, the results and key findings will be made public.

All 9-1-1 services are currently functioning normally across the province. Any British Columbian experiencing an emergency situation should dial 9-1-1 as usual to get the urgent help they require.

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Media Contact

E-Comm
604-215-6248
media@ecomm911.ca

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Unfortunately, we are also seeing more callers taking out their frustrations on our staff. Our call takers need to help first responders determine if there are any COVID-related risks to them or to the caller before the first responders arrive on scene – this means call takers may need to ask some additional questions about the situation at hand. We understand that people are feeling anxious and stressed out, but we ask everyone to try to recognize that the voices you hear on the other end of the phone are your friends, your family members, your neighbours, and they are doing everything they can to get you help as quickly as possible.

About E-Comm

E-Comm is the first point of contact for 9-1-1 callers in 25 regional districts in British Columbia and provides dispatch services for more than 70 police agencies and fire departments. E‐Comm also owns and operates the largest multi‐jurisdictional, tri‐service, wide‐area radio network in the province used by police, fire and ambulance personnel throughout Metro Vancouver and parts of the Fraser Valley. In 2019, E-Comm received more than 1.84 million 9-1-1 calls in B.C. and answered 97 per cent of those calls in five seconds or less.

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Media Contact

media@ecomm911.ca
604-215-6248

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Vancouver, B.C.—E-Comm, the organization operating the largest 9-1-1 call centre in B.C., is now providing dispatch services for 15 fire departments in the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) and seven fire departments in the Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO).

Dispatch moves occurred over the last two weeks, with E-Comm completing all transitions at 6:05 a.m. today.

E-Comm has been the 9-1-1 answer point for the RDNO and FVRD since 2014 and 2016 respectively. This transition further strengthens this public safety partnership as E-Comm will now be providing call-taking and dispatch services for fire departments within these same regions.

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E-Comm is the first point of contact for 9-1-1 callers in 25 regional districts in British Columbia and now provides dispatch services for more than 70 police agencies and fire departments. E‐Comm also owns and operates the largest multi‐jurisdictional, tri‐service wide‐area radio network in the province used by police, fire and ambulance personnel throughout Metro Vancouver and parts of the Fraser Valley. For more information visit www.ecomm911.ca.

Media Contacts:

E-Comm
Jasmine Bradley
604-215-5023
jasmine.bradley@ecomm911.ca

Fraser Valley Regional District
Jennifer Kinneman
604-702-5056
jkinneman@fvrd.ca

Regional District of North Okanagan
Ashley Gregerson
250-550-3707
ashley.gregerson@rdno.ca

The post MEDIA ADVISORY: 22 fire departments transition dispatch to E-Comm appeared first on E-Comm 9-1-1.

All agency transitions for the region are now complete.

Media Contact: 
Jasmine Bradley
E-Comm Corporate Communications
604-215-5023

The post MEDIA ADVISORY: Agency transitions now complete for the South Island 9-1-1/Police Dispatch Centre appeared first on E-Comm 9-1-1.

Media Contact: 
Jasmine Bradley
E-Comm Corporate Communications
604-215-5023

The post MEDIA ADVISORY: Vancouver Island Centre go-live: Saanich and Oak Bay police departments appeared first on E-Comm 9-1-1.