Two D.C. firefighters were arrested within a three-day span, just another hit to the already beleaguered department. Adding insult to injury, residents of a southeast neighborhood say that a critically injured stabbing victim was left bleeding for more than 40 minutes while waiting for an ambulance. This is just the latest in a string of slow and inaccurate responses involving D.C. Fire and EMS.
After speaking with contacts in both the Police and Fire services, we are convinced that some if not most of these slow and troubled responses can be attributed to dispatch mistakes made by employees of the Office of Unified Communications (OUC), due to a serious lack of training. The Office of Unified Communications is a civilian run department responsible for receiving 911 calls and dispatching the appropriate response. The Mayor has hired a new Fire Chief however there is not much he can do with a faulty 911 communications center that’s run by a civilian Director and civilian employees.
We’ve been told that this agency mostly hires people who know little to nothing about emergency services or public safety, and spends very little of its budget on training and continuing education. We were also informed that the agency has no certified training unit or staff in place to properly train employees on the policies and procedures of the agencies (DCFEMS & MPD) they dispatch to your 911 emergency call for assistance.
The Concerned Citizen thinks it may be time for our new Mayor to take a good look into the Director and upper level managers of the OUC. This agency may need to go back under the control of MPD and DCFEMS respectively. What’s your view on this DC?
Read more about the wait for an ambulance: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/03/40-minute-ambulance-wait-for-stabbing-victim-outrages-southeast-d-c-neighborhood-112199.html#ixzz3UE4CBmWI
Dateline: Washington, D.C. 
The OUC have lost some wonderful employees but one particular in question. A Lead Dispatcher Tisa Ransome was well qualified to do her job, Bucksell job, human resources,training and probably the director job if you gave her the opportunity. We was told that Ms.Ransome was a lead dispatcher on the fire side but more knowledgeable then the supervisors that she worked under. Inside sources reported that Ms.Ransome applied for one of the two announcements for a supervisor both on the fire side. Bucksell was engaged in a conversation with someone who already was a supervisor and they expressed with happiness they couldn’t wait until Ransome was promoted and Bucksell told them Ransome not getting neither one of the positions. Moving forward the two that was promoted Ransome was way more qualified and advanced then them both. One in question is a Mr.Lunsford who knows nothing about fire & ems and yet again Mr.Lunsford is a very close friend of Bucksell. Inside source reported that Lunsford shouldn’t even be working there with several assaults charges and is also unable to activate Wales a system used to run drivers license, tags etc. Ingrid not only told one but two individuals that Ransome will not be getting promoted from a dispatcher to a supervisor and at one point Bucksell told others no one applied. Several occasions it was overheard Bucksell telling Ransome she better assist her two supervisors when they need help, these are the two that was promoted over Ransome. This was yet another retaliation incident Bucksell moved Ransome to night work.
Yes, I have been saying this for years. OUC is a mess that needs new and professional leadership that hires good people and trains them well. It is one of the most important items the new fire chief will have to deal with, but will have little control over. Here’s my most recent mention: http://www.statter911.com/2015/03/02/welcome-to-washington-chief-gregory-dean/
“Two D.C. Firefighters arrested within a two day span…” This is NOT a fault of the OUC (although it is an attention grabber for the rest of the article). OUC has NUMEROUS deficiencies – and it begins at the top. It is mismanaged, and understaffed (like the rest of the public safety agencies in the District), and undertrained (also mirroring the other public safety agencies). None of the aforementioned issues can or will be solved overnight. Nor will they be solved cheaply. Nor will they be solved by throwing wads of cash at the OUC, but in my opinion, eliminating the Clawson Medical Dispatch procedure used by OUC, finding a new OUC Director, and hiring & training competent, fluent dispatchers is a great place to start.
As a former employee of the OUC I can tell you for a fact that there is no training to speak of and certainly no structure in that organization. I left and currently work in a communications center run by the city’s police department, and now I train along side the officers I dispatch to. Works much better!
I’ve been saying this for years. Both MPD and FEMS needs total control over operations in that agency.