On Sept. 21 Argo Fire Department responded to a medical call on Hickory Valley Road, but response time took longer than expected.

Argo Fire Department never received the initial page come in from central dispatch.  More than 21 minutes passed before Argo realized there was a problem.

“I just happened to look down at my phone and see a text message,” Argo Fire Chief Mike Platts said.

Platts was off duty at the time, outside in his yard.

“I called central dispatch and asked if we missed a call.”

Argo Fire Department was on the scene five minutes and 18 seconds from the time that page was actually received.

Platts sent out a call to firefighters telling them to stay on the scene until he arrived, so he could explain the delayed response time to the caller and apologize.

Following the call, a test page was given by central dispatch and received loud and clear by the Argo Fire Department.

Platts brought the matter before the city council at Monday night’s regular meeting.

“We can’t just throw our hands up,” Councilman Bill Rutledge said.  “Something has got to be done.”

After discussing possible options to address the issue, the council elected to have Mayor Paul Jennings call County Commission Chairman Stan Batemon.  Jennings spoke with Batemon Tuesday.

“Stan said he was definitely in favor of fixing the problem becuse we face consequences that are dealing with people’s lives,” Jennings said.

Rutledge asked the fire chief and Police Chief James Downing for a record of steps taken regarding communication between the city and central dispatch about how to address the problem.

“Somebody has got to give some answers, some solutions to problems.”

Since Sept. 21 the fire department has kept a log of incoming calls and recorded five missed calls.

“There is no reason we shouldn’t be responding to calls,” Platts said.  “We have had problems for about six months.”

St. Clair County Central Dispatch Operations Administrator Bill Richvalsky said there are many possible reasons firefighters missed the initial call.

“This was just a fluke.  A situation like this does not normally happen, but sometimes in some cases it does,” Ritchvalsky said.

“The county only has one fire dispatcher who may not be able to answer a call immediately if he is responding to another emergency.  We are in the process of working on personnel issues,” Richvalksy said.

Other factors that may hinder calls relate to weather conditions.

Dispatch also receives calls on their frequency from other entities.  Calls from a school bus come in regularly.

“You can hear them just as loud and clear as if we were standing in the same room,” Richvalsky said.

The county is in the process of getting a new digital fire radio system, and Richvalsky hopes the new system will alleviate problems.

“We have got the equipment in.  Now we are just trying to get everything finalized so we can get it installed,” Richvalsky said.  “The county finally received a grant that is allowing us to replace our current system with the new digital one.”

Platts said the Argo Fire Department relies on outside donations from the public and wants to make sure the fire department is serving residents to the best of their ability,

“We receive a lot of support from the community, and it is important that we offer our residents the very best.”

However, central dispatch now faces a new requirement mandated by the FCC scheduled to go into effect Jan. 13.  The new mandate could create more problems because the FCC is requiring the county to switch from a wide band to a narrow band of frequency.

“A narrow band will most likely cause more interference,” Richvalsky said.  “There will be a lot of bleed over because of more traffic.”

Richvalksy said he plans to work closely with Platts to get the situation panned out.