Fire Department Debuts New Answering System for Business Line

This just in from Chief Thomas M. Cain of the Scarsdale Fire Department: In July 2010 the Village of Scarsdale Board of Trustees approved a plan in which the Scarsdale Fire Department will take advantage of the centralized dispatching service offered by the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services in Valhalla; thus discontinuing the use of Village dispatch personnel. This transition is currently scheduled to take place in the spring of 2011.

As part of phase one of the transition plan the Scarsdale Fire Department will debut a new “Auto Attendant” automated telephone answering system for all non-emergency business calls. Effective February 1, 2011 the new system will be used exclusively for non-emergency calls to the official Fire Department business line (722-1215).

Callers to the Fire Department business line will be prompted to select from a list of custom programmed options matching the most common call types that the Fire Department receives. Callers will select the option that most closely meets their needs and the call will automatically be transferred to that respective party. Callers will also have the option of pressing 0 at any time during the call to speak to a firefighter at Fire Headquarters.

As always, anyone calling to report a fire, emergency or any other type of hazardous or potentially dangerous condition should call 911 directly. Callers to the new non-emergency business line answering system will be instructed to hang up and dial 911 if they are reporting an emergency or hazardous condition.

Please contact the Scarsdale Fire Department at 722-1215 with any questions about the new system or to report any problems.