Atlanta 911 call center evacuated again, this time due to high temperatures
ATLANTA - Atlanta's 911 system continues to experience technical issues. FOX 5 has learned 911 operators were forced to evacuate the city's emergency operation center two days ago after an HVAC failure.
Temperatures inside the facility climbed to nearly 100 degrees forcing operators to go work remotely the Fulton County 911 Center separate from the dispatchers.
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Atlanta's 911 call center (FOX 5)
A former city manager said the latest problem happened as managers tried to fix a generator which has caused problems in the past.
Part of the issue is also that Atlanta 911 does not own the building that houses the city's emergency operations center. That makes repairs and building maintenance more complicated.
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Atlanta's 911 call center (FOX 5)
A city spokesperson assures FOX 5 that services have not been interrupted.
But former city manager Ken Butler said Atlanta 911 is operating on a shoestring. He said the short term solution is to install more lines at Atlanta 911's facility at the airport so it can serve as a reliable back up.
Instead of the secured desktop computers city call takers are accustomed to using, they attempt to field citizen calls using laptops.
"And what happens when you have a wireless laptop, you get dropped calls," said Butler. "If it is your emergency, that is not good."
In addition to the limited tools available for the Atlanta operators, FOX 5 was on site Thursday afternoon and saw up to a dozen staffers jammed into a tiny room trying to screen incoming calls.
The tight conditions appeared to make an already stressful job worse. While the staffers were ordered not to speak to a reporter, the union representing the call takers mentioned COVID-19 as another reason those workers should not be at the location.
A spokesperson for police chief Rodney Bryant said the Fulton officer that typically would be the backup site is under construction.
It is unknown Thursday evening how much longer the Atlanta workers will have to squeeze into the small space.
ATLANTA SHIFTS 911 OPERATIONS TO FULTON COUNTY DUE TO POWER OUTAGE