HOLBROOK — Director Steve Hooke reports that the Holbrook Regional Emergency Communications Center handled a total of 110 911 calls during the heavy rain and wind storm that hit the southern Massachusetts area on Friday, Feb. 7.
In addition to the 911 calls, 281 calls were made to the HRECC business lines, and 162 entries were documented into the HRECC dispatch log, according to data collected between 3-11 p.m. Friday.
At the height of the storm, HRECC had eight telecommunicators working, including a supervisor.
The storm hit the area at approximately 3:30 p.m., knocking out power to thousands of residents throughout Norfolk and Plymouth counties. All of the member towns of the HRECC — including Holbrook, Abington, Whitman, Rockland, Canton and Sharon — experienced power outages.
Calls into the HRECC included reports of downed wires and trees, medical emergencies, fire alarms, burglar alarms, public assistance requests and motor vehicle crashes.
Additionally, a fire in Whitman resulted in mutual aid from fire department crews in Abington, Halifax, Hanson and Rockland.
Calls per town during the storm included: Abington, 28; Canton, 10; Holbrook, 35; Rockland, 32; Sharon, 15; Whitman, 18; 911 transfers, 12.
“These types of storms have the potential to cause widespread damage, and high winds tend to increase our call volume exponentially due to the rapid nature at which they occur,” Director Hooke said. “I am grateful to the efforts of our entire staff and the responders of the towns we serve, who worked diligently to ensure residents received the assistance they needed as quickly and efficiently as possible.”