Backup system failed because of being overloaded
By Joshua Lynch
The Rochester-Olmsted County law enforcement and fire dispatch system was disrupted Sunday by what authorities called “a minor crisis.”
Rochester Police Lt. Pat Donnelly said dispatch operations were moved from their headquarters at the Law Enforcement Center to the emergency operations center after an electronics failure silenced phone lines about 3:45 p.m. Sunday.
Deputy Rochester Fire Chief Lyle Felsch said this morning that dispatch operations at the government center were down for about five hours. The emergency 911 system was out for about 30 minutes, he said.
Donnelly said Sunday that authorities believed the shutdown was due to a power outage and subsequent failure of the backup system, which became overloaded.
Felsch said this morning that there was a brown-out and the auxiliary battery began smoking, and the auxiliary generator failed to kick in. A public announcement was made and all dispatchers moved to the emergency center near the airport. Felsch said fire dispatching was done by fire department radio. Rural fire and ambulance services were able to be notified of any emergency calls via a paging system.
Donnelly said Sunday that soon after the computers went dark, dispatchers at the Law Enforcement Center realized their phone lines were dead.
As dispatchers struggled to assess the situation, they diverted their attention to deal with a small fire flaring within the dispatch center. Donnelly said the fire caused minimal damage and was quickly extinguished.
Donnelly said the chain of events gave way to an “organized panic,” as dispatchers transferred duties to the emergency center at 7300 Brataas Drive S.W.
“It’s very seldom that our power goes out” at the Law Enforcement Center, he said. “Almost always, the emergency power generators kick in. For whatever reason, the overload caused the emergency system not to kick in.”
Donnelly said all 911 calls placed Sunday in Rochester were received and handled.
By early Sunday evening, power and phone service had been restored to the Law Enforcement Center.
Despite the day’s chaotic nature, Donnelly said it was little more than just another day at the office.
“We deal with important issues every day and this was just another one of those things you take in stride,” he said. “It’s just a matter of contacting the right people to fix the problem.”
https://www.postbulletin.com/news/dispatch-center-back-on-line-after-power-loss
