All but one of Cleveland's police dispatchers evacuated the city's dispatch center at the Third District police station early Monday morning when the city said a chemical agent started to seep into a hallway. The lone dispatcher stayed behind to handle all of the city's calls but the city said proper protocol was not followed.
"We're going to be giving out code ones only," said the unidentified dispatcher over the radio at the time of the incident. "Please if you can, keep in your cars, no traffic stops, nothing unless anyone is in danger."
The city said a non-toxic fire suppressant was activated in a room full of battery back-ups, but nothing overheated and there was no fire. The company behind the suppression system is fixing it.
That suppressant, called FM-200, created a smoke-like atmosphere.
The city said no one was forced to evacuate but most did. Fire and EMS dispatchers stayed put but only one police dispatcher stayed.
"AM32 we can still communicate amongst each other, right?" said an unknown officer over the radio. "We don't have to keep the air clear, do we?" he asked. "Yes sir, I'm asking to keep the air clear because if somebody calls out, they're getting shot at, they need an ambulance, I'm the only one monitoring five channels," said the dispatcher.
The city said had the police dispatchers routed the calls to the Cuyahoga Emergency Communications System, the calls wouldn't have all fallen on one dispatcher. That dispatcher could have left as well. Instead, the city said calls were routed over VOIP, voice over Internet Protocol, which doesn't allow trace back information on cell phone calls.
Additional training will be provided to dispatchers, according to the city. There were no missed calls or missed emergencies. Police dispatchers returned about a half hour after the incident started.
Cleveland Fire said FM-200 required no clean-up.
