Storm prompts flurry of 911 calls

The Daily Inter Lake

A lot of wet snow Thursday evening translated into a blizzard of calls for help to Flathead County's 911 center at the Sheriff's Office.

It began without even a warning squall at 5:50 p.m. Then "it was an absolute madhouse," said dispatcher DeAnn Sampson.

There were traffic accidents from Hungry Horse to Bigfork. One, near Glacier Nursery on Montana 35 by Creston, caused serious injuries, according to early reports. Road surfaces had ice in some places and deep slush in others.

Dispatchers answered calls - probably 60, Sampson estimates - in just more than an hour.

Dispatcher Tammy Brown sent the six deputies and one reserve officer who were on duty to a variety of crashes and other calls. Tracy Finn was training new dispatcher Luwanna Jensen and sending out ambulances and fire departments.

The 911 center is built on the premise that four dispatchers are needed at a time. On Thursday evening, there were only three, so dispatcher Jared Lako was called in early for his Thursday night shift.

"At 1800 [6 p.m.], they started pouring in," Brown said of accident reports.

There was one at the intersection of Montana 40 and U.S. that caused no injuries. There were three or four on Montana 35. Slide-in accidents were reported on U.S. 93 and Montana 83. At Berne Park near Hungry Horse, someone ran into a rock face and left. There were no injuries at a crash on U.S. 93 and Meridian Road or on U.S. 93 and West Reserve Drive.

But a woman involved in the crash on Montana 40 decided she was hurt after all, and an ambulance was dispatched for her.

Multiple people called to report the same crashes. Calls about crashes that had no injuries were transferred to the Montana Highway Patrol.

During that frenzied hour, plenty of the calls weren't accident-related, but needed officers' attention. Among them was a call from a woman who had gotten home from work to find her husband had died. Another call involved a woman who was reportedly driving after swallowing a dangerous amount of medication.

It was impossible for Sampson to answer all the calls single-handedly, so Finn and Brown picked up as many as they could.

Not all of them were emergencies, but callers still used the 911 emergency line. A woman who had slid off the road needed a wrecker, but was stranded without a phone book. Sampson put her on hold until she could help her.

Another caller wanted someone to check the identification number on a vehicle he wanted to buy to be sure it wasn't stolen.

Dispatchers also talked to a man who hoped to have a deputy stand by while the man conducted some personal business with someone and anticipated conflict that might require law enforcement.

After an hour or so, the calls slowed to their typical pace. Adrenaline abated and the relieved dispatchers teased each other a little.

There was no guarantee how long that relief would last. A wind advisory was to take effect at 11 p.m., and a winter-storm warning was issued for above 4,000 feet, with 9-18 inches of snow expected at that elevation and from 3 to 6 inches in the valleys by tonight.