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During storm, dispatchers handle three times the usual call volume

By Howard B. Owens

A segment from The Batavian's news partner 13WHAM focuses on the high call volume to the Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center over the past couple of days.

On average the dispatch center receives 575 calls in a 24-hour period. Those numbers nearly tripled during Tuesday's snow storm to 1,550 calls.

On Thursday, they received nearly a day's worth of calls in half the time. Senior Emergency Services Dispatcher Jason Holman said:

"We dealt with a lot of vehicles off the road, vehicles that were stuck, motorists who were stranded in their vehicles. So the snow has caused a hazard to the folks out there.

"...The increase in mental stress, mental fatigue is something that we're working with and through, and like I said, we're more than capable of doing that and happy to do our part."

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