Dispatchers Speak About Night Of Midland Train Tragedy
By: Marianne Elisak
Updated: November 20, 2012
MIDLAND -- More than 700 calls were placed to the Midland Police Department dispatch center on Thursday evening of the train tragedy.
Eva Luna has been the Communications Manager for over 20 years and says that she hasn't seen this much actions in Midland since the "Baby Jessica" story in 1987.
Luna says that her department has been trained to stay calm under traumatic circumstances, but still they couldn't help but feel emotion for the victims.
"It's tragic, it's sad and so like any normal human beings that we are, it's sad for us" says Luna.
Luna and her team were working Thursday night when they received a flood of 911 calls.
"Most of them were incoming, about 500" says Luna. "Two-hundred and something were outgoing."
On a regular night, Luna says the dispatch center receives just under 300 calls. On Thursday evening that number more than doubled.
After the flood of phone calls, Luna says the dispatchers had a meeting with police officers to have a debriefing of the terrible accident.
Eva Luna has been the Communications Manager for over 20 years and says that she hasn't seen this much actions in Midland since the "Baby Jessica" story in 1987.
Luna says that her department has been trained to stay calm under traumatic circumstances, but still they couldn't help but feel emotion for the victims.
"It's tragic, it's sad and so like any normal human beings that we are, it's sad for us" says Luna.
Luna and her team were working Thursday night when they received a flood of 911 calls.
"Most of them were incoming, about 500" says Luna. "Two-hundred and something were outgoing."
On a regular night, Luna says the dispatch center receives just under 300 calls. On Thursday evening that number more than doubled.
After the flood of phone calls, Luna says the dispatchers had a meeting with police officers to have a debriefing of the terrible accident.
