Lisa Marchesoni
Posted: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:39 pm

ayor Tommy Bragg honors Murfreesboro dispatchers, from left, Becki Green, Erica Sewell, Desir' Thorpe, Kristy Harvey (partially obscured) and Betsy Lee.

Murfreesboro communications supervisor Lt. Billy Gay “stood here in awe” as he watched telecommunicators handle calls flooding dispatch just after the Good Friday tornadoes struck.

“As they answered calls for service, it was amazing,” Gay said. “It all fell together.”

Telecommunicators who answered calls from frantic residents and dispatched emergency responders during the tornado were honored Wednesday for their work during the Good Friday tornadoes and throughout the year.

Murfreesboro Police Chief Glenn Chrisman said there was “no more fitting time than right now in wake of the tornadoes last week” to honor the dispatchers during the annual National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

During the first 12 hours after the tornado struck, telecommunicators logged 487 calls for service and answered hundreds of telephone calls, the chief said.

Gay said telecommunicators routinely average 300 calls per day.

Murfreesboro Fire Chief Cumbey Gaines said he appreciated the job telecommunicators do daily.

“As a city police department and fire department, we’ll only be as good as you are,” Gaines said.

Mayor Tommy Bragg said he honored all of the telecommunicators. He appreciated their efforts during the tornado to link callers and emergency responders.

“These folks (police and firefighters) can’t do their job without you,” Bragg said.

Chrisman said all of the telecommunicators are “Dispatchers of the Year.”

Gay said supervisor Becki Green was chose “Dispatcher of the Year” to represent the police and fire departments because of her leadership and capabilities.

During the tornado, she coordinated efforts while Kristy Harvey handled the radio traffic.

Green thought the communications center would be chaotic.

“Kristy did a great job on the radio,” Green said. “She was seasoned.”

Dispatcher Betsy Lee stepped in and helped everyone keep up with calls.

“We were all doing this as a team,” Green said.

They answered call after call with the telephones ringing for hours.

“Some were panicked,” Green said. “We tried to give the best information at once. Some were screaming. We had a lot of calls all at once.”

Green said her co-workers are a “great team. Everybody came together and wanted to help. I appreciate everybody.”

Gay said they answered the routine calls as well.

“We got the whole world falling down on us and we’ve got to take time to go to a call where someone was assaulted with a knife,” Gay said.