CONTINUING EDUCATION

As a 9-1-1 Telecommunicator, you will continue your training and education throughout your career.

SHIFT WORK

Tillamook 9-1-1 operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. A schedule can be 8 hrs, 10 hrs, and/or 12 hrs on a day. Days off are typically scheduled together.

TYPICAl SHIFT at 911

In general, a day at Tillamook 9-1-1 is never typical. The unexpected can and will happen at any time.  Our daily duties can vary from moment to moment. In addition to the expected duties of monitoring the phones and radios, there will be other projects that can be worked on during downtime. This can range from maintaining phone and address records for the businesses in Tillamook County, to creating training exercises for continuing education. Any period of downtime is also spent reviewing past work, or keeping up with training.

Dispatchers are expected to multi task. We monitor 9-1-1 emergency and non-emergency lines, along with 7 Police radios, 10 main Fire/EMS radios, and various secondary radio channels. At times there is traffic on more than one frequency at a time, and phones ringing. Each of these needs to be answered as quickly as possible. Any given day can cycle between quiet and chaotic.