Roswell Takes Over Ambulance Dispatch from Fulton

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – City of Roswell officials say their ambulance response has decreased by 3 to 5 minutes since they took Fulton County's 911 Center out of the picture this month. Fulton's emergency communications center has been the subject of intense scrutiny lately, after an operator mishandled a call from a Johns Creek woman who later died.

Before, Roswell fire and police often couldn't confirm whether Fulton County had actually sent an ambulance to an emergency call. Roswell Fire Chief Ricky Spencer says that now, the city will know that, and dispatch ambulances faster.

SPENCER: We've worked with Fulton County, but it was quite a task for our 911 center to take a call for an ambulance, pick the phone up, call Fulton County, and wait for the ambulance to be dispatched, when we could have been doing this all along.

When Fulton County stopped subsidizing ambulance services in July, Roswell was among many cities in the north to negotiate directly a new contract with its ambulance provider.

Next week, an outside auditor will begin reviewing Fulton County's 911 center, to evaluate its operational efficiency.