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Las Vegas Fire Department earns dispatch award for Oct. 1 work

Updated June 21, 2018 - 7:15 am

The Las Vegas Fire Department’s Combined Communications Center will receive a “Team of the Year” award for the staff’s work dispatching emergency personnel during the Oct. 1 shooting.

The award is from the Association of Public-Safety Communications and will be presented Aug. 5 during the opening session of the organization’s annual conference in Las Vegas, according to LVFD spokesman Tim Szymanski.

During the Oct. 1 shooting all requests for fire and emergency medical personnel were coordinated through the Combined Communications Center, Szymanski said. Staff dispatched medical units to hospitals and ensured that none of them were overloaded. More than 500 people were injured during the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival that left 58 people dead.

The center receives emergency fire and medical calls for Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County — an area that spans about 6,000 square miles with more than 2 million residents.

Szymanski said the Oct. 1 shooting is considered the largest mass casualty incident the center has handled in over 25 years.

Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter.

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