During major storms and other significant events, our dispatchers are inundated with emergency calls from E911 call centers, direct emergency calls, calls for police services, and many many others. They are in contact by radio with Montpelier Police units as well as fire and ambulance units from the 18+ public safety agencies around Washington County for whom they dispatch. Our dispatchers must answer every call that comes in by phone or radio and document each interaction.
In other words, they are extremely busy people.
We'd like to encourage community members to only contact 911 if you have a true emergency: to save a life, stop a crime, or to report a fire or hazard. Calls to our dispatch center here at MPD should be reserved for the above emergencies or matters involving public safety. Please be patient with our dispatchers as they are being pulled in many directions at once.
Some links that can help provide many levels of assistance without unnecessarily straining our dispatch resources are below:
For information on or to report power outages: http://www.greenmountainpower.com
Green Mountain Power
https://www.washingtonelectric.coop/
Washington Electric Coop
For general resources or assistance: http://www.vermont211.org/
Vermont 211
For road conditions and construction: http://vtrans.vermont.gov/
vermont.gov/VTrans511/511live.htmVTrans
For information about when to call 911 and its capabilities: http://e911.vermont.gov/Vermont 91
Other information pertinent to Montpelier is available on the City of Montpelier, VT - City Government Facebook page and
website: http://www.montpelier-vt.org/
Original source can be found here.