By Mary Nevans-Pederson, Telegraph Herald
Original publication date: April 18, 2011 

Maquoketa, Iowa — Veteran emergency dispatcher Bob Lane was working solo on July 4 last year, as part of his regular shift at the Jackson County 911 office at the Maquoketa Law Center. Lane knew that Bellevue’s Heritage Days parade was going on that morning, but even though thousands of excited parade-goers gather for the annual event, he didn’t expect to hear about any trouble there.

In the late morning, the first call came in. Then another and another. Each caller more distraught than the one before.

Near the end of the long, colorful parade, a pair of horses had bolted, galloping with their buggy through the parade crowd, trampling youngsters and adults along the route. The buggy driver’s wife was thrown out and killed before the wild-eyed horses slammed into a parade vehicle and were stopped. Riverview Street was a scene of carnage as emergency workers, already on the scene, and ordinary citizens scrambled to help dozens of injured. Lane knew none of this, but as frantic radio and 911 calls jammed his receivers, he started putting the pieces together in his head.

 “The first call for an ambulance was not really that upset, but all of a sudden, they got pretty excited,” said Lane, 47, a soft-spoken man who has answered emergency calls at the center for 24 years. “The lines just lit up.”

As the extent of the tragedy unfolded, agitated rescuers asked Lane to page local ambulances, then from communities as far away as Key West and Sabula. He had to track down two medical helicopter services and direct them to the scene, with specifics about where to land and what to expect.

As the emergency point person, Lane’s steady voice can be heard on the 911 audio tape, calmly asking questions and passing on critical information to frantic emergency workers.

“In this job, you’ve got to stay calm and detach yourself a little bit to get things taken care of,” he said.

For his efforts, Lane was honored as Iowa’s 2010 top telecommunicator last month at the annual meeting of the Iowa Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials. He was nominated by Maquoketa Police Chief Brad Koranda.

“Bob was the reason our response was so successful,” said Bellevue Police Chief Lynn Schwager. “You can call for all the help in the world, but you need someone coordinating it and getting it there. The dispatcher is just as responsible as the people on the scene.”

“It was nice to get the positive recognition,” said Lane, who supervises six other dispatchers. “We’re always in the background, which is all right by me.”

Emergency dispatch centers have changed a lot since 1987, when Lane began his career. “We had one computer, a paper map to find things on and index cards to keep reports straight,” he said.

Now Lane faces a bank of six screens, where he can track the location of all law enforcement officers, find criminal records and send out pages with a single screen touch. He enters all call information directly into a computer. Not everyone is cut out to be an emergency dispatcher.

“Oftentimes callers are so upset they’re screaming at you,” Lane said. “The hardest to take are the unexpected deaths, like family members who find someone who committed suicide. That’s extremely difficult.” 

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