Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
In the aftermath of the March 14 fire that destroyed their home, Ryan and Kristie Genre have raised questions about the state of emergency response in the area.
According to official records from both Verizon Wireless (the Genres’ cell phone provider) and the Lake Region Law Enforcement Center (LRLEC), Ryan called 911 at 5:06 a.m. on Sunday, March 14. During the call, which lasted 54 seconds, he reported “a bad fire in his garage.” LRLEC records show that within 3 minutes the fire sirens were activated, the ambulance was paged, and the sheriff’s deputy received a call to 406 Richter Avenue.
However, the first responders to arrive on scene were members of the Community Ambulance Service of New Rockford (CASNR), who logged a 5:32 a.m. arrival. Their crew had to travel 10 miles from their base in downtown New Rockford.
The first Sheyenne Fire Department response on the 911 call log was made at 5:27 a.m., when Fire Chief Elvis Thumb stated that he had just arrived at the fire hall. He requested that the New Rockford Fire Department be paged for assistance. The first unit for the Sheyenne Fire Department arrived on scene at 5:36 a.m., a full 30 minutes after the 911 call was placed.
For the purpose of comparison, Transcript staff looked up the response time for the New Rockford Fire Department on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015, the day the Transcript office burned to the ground. In that instance, official reports showed that firefighters were on scene within eight minutes of the initial 911 call placed by Echo Mila.
The Genres called into the Eddy County Commission meeting Tuesday to address the issue, and they sought to hear from Starr Klemetsrud and Rob Johnson of LRLEC. “We’re not trying to cause any trouble, but something needs to be done so somebody doesn’t have to go through what we went through or even worse,” Ryan Genre said.
Rob Johnson, the administrator for LRLEC, said human error played a role in the slow response time. “There is a pretty long process that the dispatchers have to follow in order to make sure everything works properly, and there were a few steps that were missed,” he told the Eddy County Commission.
Johnson also acknowledged that some of the communication first responders received was not complete; in particular, there were pages sent without audio. CASNR reportedly received such “incomplete” communication, and its members promptly contacted dispatchers via radio to clarify the nature of the emergency.
Genre noted that local volunteer firefighters did not receive alerts from LRLEC until 5:23 a.m., 15 minutes after the siren was reportedly activated. He alluded to a screen shot he received from one gentleman’s phone, which he shared with the Transcript. It clearly shows two “alerts” from dispatch at 5:23 a.m., but no others that morning.
“The fire sirens did not go off until much, much later,” Genre also recalled. He said when he finally did hear the sirens, he actually thought the sound was coming from a fire truck, as it was faint. He said he expected the siren to be much louder.
“I don’t have a way to dispute or not dispute that,” Klemetsrud replied. “I don’t know what time [the sirens went off], and I don’t know that anybody could tell me what time.” She said several Sheyenne residents, including volunteer firefighters, had told her they did hear sirens that morning.
“We don’t test them,” Klemetsrud said regarding the fire sirens, when the commissioners asked who was responsible for evaluating the sirens and ensuring their effectiveness.
Overall, Johnson concluded that the slow response time was the effect of a “system wide failure” on the morning of Sunday, March 14. The solution, he says, is the upgrades that are currently under consideration by the LRLEC board and its partner entities.
As the Transcript reported in early March, LRLEC plans to replace the three aging consoles in the 911 dispatch center and bring LRLEC online with the Statewide Interoperability Network (SIRN). The install at LRLEC is expected to begin this summer, and local agencies anticipate that they will be able to connect to SIRN sometime next year.
Johnson says that the upgrades will simplify processes at the dispatch center, making it possible for dispatchers to page all necessary agencies at one time with the push of a button.
As for the current processes, “There is just too much opportunity for human error,” Johnson said.
“Until this system gets fixed properly, what happens in the event that there’s someone who cannot get out of a building?” Kristie Genre asked. “Then you are talking about lives lost because of this system-wide failure.”
There have been five or six other house fires within the LEC service territory since the Genre fire, according to Klemetsrud.
The Eddy County Commission has stepped up to the plate, committing the resources requested by the LEC. In 2021, Eddy County paid $43,840 to LEC for 911 services. Recently, they approved an additional $39,202 expenditure for the proposed upgrades.
According to commissioner Dave Gehrtz, who represents Eddy County on the LRLEC board, “Rob and Starr have been working very diligently to progress with [911 upgrades],” Gehrtz said, “and Eddy County has been very supportive.” There are other entities, however, who are not yet convinced that the proposed upgrades are worth the $375,000 price tag.
Johnson invited the Genres to the next public LRLEC meeting, which is set for Wednesday, April 21 at 8 a.m. at the Law Enforcement Center in Devils Lake. They will share their story with all the entities who receive 911 services from the agency, as a way of illustrating why the upgrades are needed. We’ll have more on the reaction from other LRLEC members after that meeting.
Other action taken by the Eddy County Commission Tuesday was as follows:
Road Superintendent Todd Weber presented the specifications for the three new blades the county plans to purchase this year. The contract on the current blades is up this year, and in order to receive the guaranteed buyback on the current blades, the county must have a new contract signed prior to the end date. The advertisement for bids is published on page B3, and the bid opening set for May 4 at 9 a.m.
The Central North Dakota Steam Threshers Association requested that the county repair roads at the fairgrounds, including a 1/2-mile stretch of gravel by the crow’s nest and around the arena. Weber anticipated that the county will spend $6,000 in gravel costs, and county employees will complete the work. Commissioners approved the project, and also added Warsing Dam to the road repair list, as the main road to the Sheyenne recreation area is in need of gravel as well. “[Warsing Dam] is so well kept and is so nice. We need to take care of that,” Gehrtz said.
A proposal from Great Plains Towers was also approved. The company plans to complete an inspection of the county communications tower west of Hwy. 281 at a cost of $7,390.
Summer hours at the courthouse will begin May 3. The courthouse will be open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. The hours will remain in effect until Labor Day.
