An incident that occurred on the Douglas and El Paso County line
last month has spurred El Paso County to request Enhanced 911 –
also known as E911 – to look at a way to validate data entered into
the 911 system to ensure the correct fire district is notified in
the event of an emergency.

The E911 Authority is responsible for mapping and providing data
to 911 dispatchers to determine what entity needs to respond to a
911 call and other details about the call, said El Paso County
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Lari Sevene.

On Feb. 29, it took approximately 17 minutes for first
responders to arrive on scene because Larkspur Fire Protection
District was the first notified of an accident that occurred in
Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Protection District’s
jurisdiction.

Sevene said an El Paso County dispatcher typed in the roads
where the accident occurred and the information from E911 indicated
the accident was in Douglas County’s jurisdiction. However, the
dispatcher looked at the information again and realized the call
was actually in Tri-Lakes Monument’s jurisdiction, so the district
was contacted to respond to the call.

On Feb. 29, a man headed west on Palmer Divide Avenue hit a
vehicle reportedly headed east on County Line Road near the
intersection of Indi Drive.

Castle Rock resident Bill Huddy was one of the people who called
911. He and his friend were coming back from Facinelli Motors in
Palmer Lake, when they saw a man waving his arms, warning people of
a wreck in the middle of the road. Huddy ran up to the scene, which
was about 100 feet from the crest of the hill on Palmer Divide
Avenue near Indi Drive.

Huddy said he arrived minutes after the accident occurred and
went to assist a man in one of the vehicles.

The driver was still strapped in his car and was twitching, he
said.

Huddy yelled at the man to see if he could get a response, but
he did not, so he called 911. He told the operator the jaws of life
and a helicopter might be necessary.

El Paso County dispatch notified the Douglas County Sheriff’s
Office dispatch of the incident about a minute and a half after the
first of several 911 calls was received, the call came in at 5:33
p.m., Sevene said. The office was later updated at 5:39
p.m.

Meanwhile, Huddy did not see anyone coming after about five
minutes, so he called 911 again and, a few minutes later, he called
a third time.

“I was absolutely screaming at them … ‘why is this taking so
long?'” Huddy said. “Then I told the guy, the 911 operator, just
connect me with Palmer Lake.” It was at that time Huddy saw a
Monument police vehicle coming; it was about 5:45 p.m.

The officer said once he got the call, it took him two minutes
from his location in Palmer Lake, then about five minutes later,
Larkspur Fire Protection District arrived on scene, Huddy
said.

According to the dispatch records, a case number was assigned to
the Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Protection District at 5:44
p.m.

Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Protection District Lt. Mike Keough said
it received a page from dispatch at 5:46 p.m. and the emergency
responders were on scene five minutes later.

When Tri-Lakes arrived, Larkspur pronounced the driver of the
vehicle traveling westbound – identified as Timothy Bourdon, 50, of
Pueblo – dead, and the people in the other vehicle were evaluated
by Larkspur and taken to a hospital where were treated for
non-life-threatening injuries.

According to El Paso County’s records, Larkspur arrived on scene
just before Tri-Lakes Monument which, according to its records,
arrived at 5:51 p.m.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office was on scene at 6 p.m.

When dispatchers look at the screen when a 911 call is made,
some of the boundaries are different for law enforcement than they
are for fire districts, Sevene said. In this case, the computer
screen said the accident was in Douglas County, which is why the
county’s sheriff’s office was the first to be notified.

Thankfully, a dispatcher took another look at the area and
noticed it was in Tri-Lakes Monument’s jurisdiction and contacted
the department as soon as she figured this out, Sevene
said.

One of the problems with the county line area is that since
2006, there have been 17 calls for law enforcement to respond, but
there have not been any calls for fire in the area, Sevene said. It
is likely that the fire district jurisdiction over the road has not
been looked at because there have not been any fire calls prior to
the accident Feb. 29.

Updating the 911 system is an ongoing process, because there are
constant changes to the system, she said.

E911 has agreed to help put a system in place that will help
dispatchers find the closest fire district to a given emergency so
dispatchers know who to call to respond to an emergency, Sevene
said.