Pa. 911 Center`s Traps Fail to Catch Bedbugs
Aug. 18--A pest control company set 140 traps at the Allegheny County 911 dispatch center but didn't catch any bedbugs over the weekend, Allegheny County Emergency Services Chief Alvin Henderson Jr. said Monday.
The county will fumigate the Point Breeze 911 center and conduct extensive cleaning of the dispatch stations.
The Terminix traps cost the county $12,000, Henderson wrote in an email.
The cleaning and maintenance of the dispatch consoles will cost $33,000. It was scheduled to happen later this year.
Dispatch operations will move temporarily Tuesday to Pittsburgh's old 911 center on Railroad Street in the Strip District, two mobile command centers outside the North Lexington Street headquarters and other rooms in that building and remain there until Friday.
People calling 911 will not notice a change in service, county officials said.
A dispatcher found one bedbug at a workstation Friday.
On Saturday, the union representing dispatchers raised concerns about the condition of the Railroad Street center. The county said its Health Department gave it the "all-clear" to use the building. Union leaders questioned the Health Department's evaluation Monday, noting that it had not been made public and claiming that the facility was quickly cleaned over the weekend.
"We are calling upon the city of Pittsburgh to have an independent third-party conduct an evaluation," Dave Schuilenburg, a county dispatcher and union board member, said in a statement.
The union will inspect the Railroad Street facility Tuesday.
Guy Costa, Pittsburgh's operations chief, gave the Tribune-Review a tour of the Railroad Street center. County workers were in the building preparing it for operations. It had a strong odor of cleaning solvents.
Costa and a reporter walked through every room. Paint was peeling from at least one wall and a rug in the operations room showed signs of wear, but there were no indications of mold, as dispatchers had feared Saturday.
Union leaders raised security concerns about the mobile command centers but did not elaborate.
"While these mobile command posts are state-of-the-art, and have more technology and capabilities than an average 9-1-1 center, SEIU Local 668 has shared security concerns, specifically as to the staging location of these mobile command posts, with management," said Rick Grejda, a union spokesman.
The dispatchers' contact with the county expires at the end of 2016.
Aaron Aupperlee and Bob Bauder are staff writers for Trib Total Media.
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