Wicomico County Emergency Services Home Page

Our Mission

Wicomico County Emergency Services Department encompasses (4) subdivisions of organizational structure: Administration, Communications, Emergency Management and Radio Division. A total of 24 staff members work within the framework of this structure. Each division has its own individual/distinct function which meshes with the other divisions to make a complete multi- functional operation.

Wicomico County Emergency Services is "Front- line defense" and service driven. Our mission is to provide professional quality service to all citizens of Wicomico County to reduce loss of life and property, giving each and every person a sense of pride, security and confidence, not only in the strengths and qualities of our organization but, that we will be ready to meet their needs and challenges in any emergency event in our County.

Maximizing and utilizing all resources, materials, equipment, facilities and staff at the disposal of the department of Emergency Services to effectively and successfully serve the citizens of Wicomico County at all times.

History

Wicomico County Emergency Services began as Wicomico County Central Alarm in 1975. The office moved from Salisbury Fire Department Headquarters on S. Division St. to the basement of the Wicomico County Courthouse. The original one room (8’ X 14’) dispatch center, located inside the Fire Marshal’s office, consisted of one tabletop dispatch console to dispatch fire trucks and ambulances. In 1977 an Emergency Medical Services console, to allow ambulance crews to talk with the "accident room" at Peninsula General Hospital, was installed. A year later Peninsula General was designated as the Lower Eastern Shore Regional Trauma Center. This increased the office's workload, with ambulances carrying severely injured patients from other Maryland counties as well as Delaware and Virginia using the EMS console to consult with the trauma doctors while in route to the hospital.

As the workload and responsibilities grew, in 1980 the office expanded from a tabletop console to a two bay radio console and installed a Dictaphone logging recorder to record all emergency telephone and radio traffic. The County Government also moved the department from the direction of the Fire Marshal to the supervision of the Emergency Management/Civil Defense Director. Leadership changed again in 1983 when "Central" became its own County department with its own director and operating budget.

In 1984, in anticipation of 9-1-1, the County expanded the office into another office suite in the basement of the courthouse allowing for two dispatch positions and the EMS console. In early 1985 additional personnel began to be added to handle the duties of fire and ambulance dispatcher and 9-1-1 call taker.

As call load, the number of staff, and responsibilities grew so did the need for additional space. On February 14, 1990 the office began functioning from the new facility, and within two hours had its first multi-alarm structure fire, at the Willard's Lions Club, well involved.

Between 1996 and 1997 all Operators in the center underwent training in Emergency Medical Dispatch. The nationally accredited Medical Priority Dispatch program, headed by Dr. Jeff Clawson, did the training. This put Wicomico County, and the other nine Lower Shore counties, as forerunners in Emergency Medical Dispatch in the state of Maryland. Other training includes all Operators hired after July 1, 1997 to be certified as Maryland Emergency Communications Specialist. This is a 40-hour certification class sponsored by the State Emergency Numbers Systems Board.

In July 1997, as a part of government consolidation, with the retirement of the County’s long time Emergency Management director, the offices of Emergency Management and Central Emergency Communications were combined to form "Wicomico Emergency Services".

In November of 1999 the department moved into a new, state-of-the-art dispatch center which, includes three computerized Motorola "Centracom Gold" dispatch consoles and new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) consoles from H.T.E. The CAD consoles not only allow the operators to reference cross streets but will actually show an on-screen map of the location of the call.

As the population, and the demands, of the citizens of Wicomico County continue to grow the Department of Emergency Services continues to grow to meet those needs.