emergency responders

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After Hamlin Collapsed, Radio Calls Got Intense

Emergency recordings lend insight into grave scene on the field

(Newser) - As Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin continues to heal following his collapse during an NFL game Monday night after suffering from a cardiac arrest, recordings have been released of the red-alert emergency response on the field at Cincinnati's Paycor Stadium. "I don't like how he went down"...

Dispatcher Tells Dying Woman: 'Everyone' Dies Someday

Emergency operators are under severe stress, says union leader

(Newser) - A young woman near death called an emergency dispatch number in France last December and was mocked by the operator, France24 reports. Naomi Musenga, 22, called the ambulance service and in a barely audible voice complained of severe stomach pain and said she thought she was going to die—to...

Detroit's Pokey 911 Dispatchers May Face Charges

Woman shot; another stabbed to death amid slow response times

(Newser) - Detroit 911 dispatchers were slow to send cops during two recent emergencies that ended in tragedy; now, police are mulling criminal charges for the dispatchers. Last week, a woman called 911 multiple times as an argument turned dangerous, her mother says. Police say there were six calls in total; it...

Man Dies as Airport Security Doors Keep EMTs Away

Two teams of responders have trouble getting to him

(Newser) - Emergency responders trying to get to a man inside Kennedy Airport's Delta terminal were twice thwarted at the security doors, and the New Jersey man ended up dying after a heart attack Saturday. Gunseye Adekunle, 50, was waiting to board a flight to Nigeria when he collapsed inside the...

100 Boston Patients Are Out of Hospital

Decade of war meant doctors 'were without question ready'

(Newser) - As of this morning, 100 of the 183 people hospitalized in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing have been released, CNN reports, in a testament to how well area doctors have handled the crisis. Boston boasts nearly 80 hospitals, and they're regarded as some of the world's...

911 Dispatcher Sends Own Mom to Rescue Kayaker

Washington state mom kayaked to woman's rescue

(Newser) - A 911 dispatcher in Washington state who received a call about a stranded kayaker knew somebody who could get there faster than a patrol boat—her mom. Dispatcher Raedyn Grasseth contacted her mother, an experienced kayaker who lived near the area where the 45-year-old woman was stranded, and she came...

Iowa Plans Terror Drill With Immigrant-Hating Gunmen

Anti-illegal immigration groups say exercise builds prejudice

(Newser) - Anti-illegal immigration groups are furious over an anti-terrorism exercise planned in Iowa that will pit Pottawattamie County's finest against a pair of teenage white supremacists. The drill, which is scheduled for tomorrow, is built around a fictional scenario in which an 18-year-old, angered by the influx of minorities—both citizens...

Firefighter Filmed, Posted Video of Woman's Death

Parents sent link to gruesome online clip

(Newser) - A Georgia couple who discovered a gruesome video of their daughter's death posted online wants the rules changed so no other family will have to go through the anguish they suffered. The video was taken with a cell phone by a firefighter who arrived on the scene soon after the...

Technology Makes Us Really Bad Campers

You'd think that GPS would help, but it may not

(Newser) - Technology appears to be making some people a lot stupider when it comes to the great outdoors. Thanks to GPS, cell phones, and emergency devices, more people are heading into the wild ill-equipped…then, at best, wasting rangers’ time with their problems—or, at worst, getting injured or killed. The...

Firefighters Play ER Docs to Uninsured

Medical calls have more than doubled since 1980

(Newser) - Operating in a poor area where many lack health insurance, a DC firehouse battles far more than just flames: Some 80% of its calls are for medical emergencies. Because it is believed to respond fastest, Washington’s fire department zooms to almost all the city’s emergency calls alongside EMS,...

Invasion of the Buddhist Body Snatchers Hits Bangkok

(Newser) - In the chaotic traffic of Bangkok, the first to arrive on the scene of an accident is often not an ambulance but a Toyota pickup packed with volunteers in blue jumpsuits. These are the controversial workers of the Por Tek Tung Foundation, who haul the injured to hospitals and the...

9/11 Responders Show Increased Risk of Rare Blood Cancer

(Newser) - The incidence of multiple myeloma in 9/11 responders appears to be higher than in the general population, according to what one researcher calls "very preliminary" stats. Eight cases of the blood cancer were diagnosed in 28,000 emergency personnel followed between 2001 and 2007; statistically, that number should be...

Iowa 911 Now Accepts Texts
 Iowa 911 Now Accepts Texts 

Iowa 911 Now Accepts Texts

(Newser) - An emergency call center in the basement of the county jail in Waterloo, Iowa, today became the first in the country to accept text messages sent to 911. "I think there's a need to get out front and get this technology available," the county's police chief says, adding...

NYC Gives Jumpy Citizens Heads-Up on Emergency Drill

'Lots of sirens' Sunday in Lower Manhattan

(Newser) - Mindful of the panic caused by the Air Force One flyover, New York is giving its residents fair warning of a massive emergency drill scheduled for Sunday, Reuters reports. The heads-up is “not necessarily” because of the scare, a spokesman said. But “people will see and hear lots...

3 Dead in Ark. Tornado
 3 Dead in Ark. Tornado 

3 Dead in Ark. Tornado

(Newser) - A tornado that swept through the mountain community of Mena, Ark., killed three people and injured at least 30 others, authorities said today after a house-to-house search. The twister descended quickly on Mena shortly after 8 last night after a series of siren blasts warned residents of tornadoes in the...

Police Hunt Silicon Valley Phone Vandals

50K lose service in attack that highlights systems' vulnerability

(Newser) - Authorities in Silicon Valley are hunting for saboteurs who cut fiber-optic telecom cables, leaving more than 50,000 customers—including police and hospitals—in parts of three counties without phone and internet service, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Ten cables were severed, crippling 911 operations, cellphone service, and businesses depending...

911 Centers Easy Targets for Pranksters
 911 Centers
 Easy Targets
 for Pranksters
analysis

911 Centers Easy Targets for Pranksters

Services not updated to handle fake caller ID

(Newser) - Using VoIP Internet-calling services, pranksters are easily duping outdated 911 call centers to disastrous consequences, Ars Technica reports. Using easy-access online services, callers can cover up their real locations, make up stories, and mobilize emergency teams anywhere. Updating call-center systems could fix the problem, but most such places can’t...

Kenya Oil Tanker Blast Kills 111

Explosion occurred as resident scramble for free fuel

(Newser) - At least 111 people were killed when a truck transporting oil crashed and exploded in central Kenya last night, reports Reuters. The explosion, one of the worst recent disasters in eastern Africa, occurred just as Rift Valley residents crowded around the crippled tanker to gather spilling fuel. Rescuers speculated that...

Pot-Growing Dad Busted After Baby Calls 911

Mounties led to operation by toddler playing with phone

(Newser) - Mounties responding to an aborted 911 call from a Vancouver home discovered a cute baby playing with a cordless phone upstairs—and 500 marijuana plants downstairs, the Globe & Mail reports. The boy's pop was arrested and the baby was returned to his mom, who is separated from the...

Storms Test New FEMA System
 Storms Test New FEMA System 

Storms Test New FEMA System

'Dynamic' approach distributes response burden

(Newser) - With three big storms hitting the US within about a week, FEMA is attempting to stay a step ahead, planning emergency response strategies and deploying supplies. The agency's new "dynamic regrouping" plan represents a real-time collaboration between military, civilian, and volunteer personnel, the Christian Science Monitor reports. "The...

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