B.C. 911 callers wait as long as 30 minutes for operator: E-Comm

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — This long weekend was a busy one for 911 operators, with some callers complaining of long wait times.

Some took to social media, saying they were on hold with operators for up to 30 minutes.

Kaila Butler is with EComm 911. She says most of the longer waits were on Sunday between midnight and 7 a.m.

“Sunday evening, we saw a couple of hours where there were more intermittent delays on the 9-1-1 lines as well.”

Butler says while E-Comm has certainly seen increased demand over the past few months, she wouldn’t necessarily say they’re seeing any larger call volumes than usual for an October weekend.

That said, she explains that part of the issue is the time it takes to transfer calls for help to the ambulance service.

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“When someone in B.C. dials 911 they’ll first reach a call taker and the call taker who asks ‘911, police fire or ambulance?’ At that point, we go ahead and we transfer to the agency of request. So in particular for the ambulance service we transfer all of those calls to the B.C. Emergency Health Services for ambulance call taking and dispatch. Now we’re starting to see some major challenges and we’re actually experiencing quite lengthy delays in transferring those ambulance requests.

And because our 911 call takers stay on the line with a caller or to ensure that call is transferred successfully. We are seeing wait times on 911, as our call takers are tied up with those calls and cannot transfer.”

Butler says this is an incredibly serious issue which is very concerning that these delays impact public safety.

“We’re incredibly committed to working closely with the leadership team at BCEHS to help support with any temporary and longer-term solution, to mitigate these wait times. But the solutions do have to come from VCHS [Vancouver Coastal Health Services] at this point.”