The Salem and Centralia 911 answering centers were flooded with calls after severe thunderstorms passed through the Marion County area on Friday morning.
Both Salem Police Chief Sean Reynolds and Centralia Acting Police Chief Steve Whritenour say the communications officers did an outstanding job in handling the call volume and getting information out to the power companies and sending emergency services that were needed.
Salem 911 Communications Supervisor Justin Draper said the department handled 118 calls between five am and 10 am. Of those 118 phone calls, 52 resulted in storm-related dispatches being made to police, fire, and/or EMS. Over half the dispatches were in the first hour of the storm between six am and 7 pm. Most of the calls were related to down tree limbs and power lines, including some of the lines were sparking.
Both the Salem and Centralia dispatch centers had two officers working at the time of the storm with a third being used at times by the Centralia Police Department.
