Seminole County dispatchers handle record 125,000 calls, answer 98% in 10 seconds

A small team of 36 operators at the Seminole County Communications Center handled more than 125,000 calls and answered 98% within 10 seconds, a pace that can decide whether help reaches a crash, cardiac emergency or storm-related fire in time. Dispatcher Keysean Lopez said the work can swing from major crises to routine-sounding calls such as cats stuck in trees, a reminder that every ring still demands the same speed and judgment.

That performance easily cleared the benchmarks used across emergency communications. The National Emergency Number Association says 90% of 911 calls should be answered within 10 seconds during the busy hour, while NFPA 1225 uses the same 10-second target for 90% of requests for emergency assistance. Seminole County’s reported 98% rate also dwarfed the 70,489 calls recorded by the center in 2018, an increase of about 77% and a sign of how much more work the center has absorbed over time.

The dispatch center sits at the center of countywide response. Seminole County says its Emergency Communications Center provides centralized Fire-Rescue dispatch for the Seminole County First Response System, which includes Lake Mary, Longwood, Oviedo, Sanford, Winter Springs, Casselberry and Altamonte Springs, along with unincorporated Seminole County. The Emergency Operations Center is co-located with the communications center, putting call takers and emergency managers under the same roof when storms, fires or other large incidents hit.

Seminole County Fire Department traces its roots to an ordinance adopted on Sept. 10, 1974, when the agency started with 57 personnel. By 2024, the department said it had grown to 576 personnel and served nearly half a million residents, while celebrating its 50th anniversary. Recruitment remains part of the picture: SCFD and dispatch personnel attended more than 25 recruitment events in 2023, and county hiring for additional dispatchers suggests the workload remains intense even after a record year. For Seminole County, the latest numbers point to a public-safety asset that is performing at a high level, but still depends on keeping enough trained people on the phones as storm season approaches and seconds matter.