ST. LOUIS--(KMOX)--Public Safety Director Charles Coyle says 9-1-1 dispatchers were swamped with more than a thousand calls in a two hour period, when a tree fell on a car, fatally trapping a Grove woman during a thunderstorm Saturday.
"Nine calls per minute they had to address," Coyle said, "So you can see how overwhelming it is."
33-year old Katherine Coen died at the scene Saturday, despite the efforts of firefighters to revive her.
Witnesses have told KMOX they got busy signals when they tried to call for help.
Others have reported getting recordings.
Coyle says investigators want to hear from those who tried to get through, but couldn't, so they can use their phone numbers to determine why the system wasn't working properly.
Social media posts while the woman was stilled trapped happened at 3.54.
But the first 9-1-1 call received by the city came in at 4.16, and they say they had crews there by 4:24.
How the City's 9-1-1 System Works:
Call 9-1-1 in the city and the first place you go is the city's police dispatch .
All calls, whether you're calling about a fire, heart attack or shooting go first to the police.
There are supposed to be as many as ten police dispatchers on duty. But at the time of the tragedy, Coyle says they only had five, plus four "call takers" who help, but aren't dispatchers.
When the calls pile up at police dispatch, what happens?
Under the current 9-1-1 system in the city, calls are answered in the order received , with those on hold getting a recording to help speed things up by pressing 1 for and EMS (ambulance calls), 2 for a fire truck or 3 for police.
But, if a caller is on hold for more than a minute-and-a-half, it's supposed to "roll over" automatically to the fire department's 9-1-1 dispatchers.
Calls also roll over for another from police to fire dispatchers for another reason--if too many people are calling 9-1-1 at the same time.
The police phone system has 21 lines for 9-1-1 calls. Anymore than that, and they roll over to the fire department.
(Officials say the first call to arrive Saturday about the woman trapped in her car was a rollover car that was picked up by a fire department 9-1-1 EMS dispatcher.)
The city is hoping to hire more 9-1-1 dispatchers, following passage of pay raises for the position.
The Police Department communications division, which includes 9-1-1 dispatchers is authorized to have 98 employees, but only has 59.
The EMS division is authorized to have 19 EMS dispatchers, but only has 8.
The Fire Department is authorized to have 14 dispatchers, and is only one short, with 13 on staff.
Coyle says they also plan to cross train new hires to work all three types of calls--police, fire or EMS. And they plan to construct a new building to house all 9-1-1 dispatchers under one roof as early as 2025.
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