Warren County and City of Vicksburg first responders come in a wide array of forms. From firefighters and medics to police officers and sheriff’s deputies, many emergency situations call for some, or all, of the men and women who make up the front-line, essential jobs in the area. But, regardless of who is needed, it is the Vicksburg Warren E-911 dispatchers who serve as the vital link between those in need and those responding. 

Alaya Burns is the lead dispatcher for the E-911 Charlie Shift (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and she said no one day is the same when it is spent answering calls that could be the difference between life and death.

“(Our calls) are a combination of everything,” Burns said. “We get police, fire, medical, sheriff’s department. Even public works sometimes. We contact the coroner, if needed. We get a lot of different calls.”

Burns said the dispatch center currently employs approximately 17 dispatchers, with four typically working each shift.

“We’re a little understaffed right now,” she said. “We want four on a shift.”

Burns began as a dispatcher in January of 2023. A graduate of Vicksburg High School, she is currently an online student at Arizona State majoring in biochemistry.

“I always say God sent me here,” she said. “There were days when I was like, ‘Oh. Is this for me?’ But God told me to just keep on going.”

Burns said dispatchers are often overlooked when it comes to recognizing first responders, but said E-911 is in the background of every emergency situation, guiding officers, medics and firefighters through tumultuous situations.

“It’s not quite like a TV show,” she said. “But there are some really high highs and some really low lows. I would say you definitely have to have a passion for it. We see all types of stuff. And we hear a lot of stuff.”

Burns said dispatchers have to remain alert at all times, as all calls are potential emergencies.

“You never know,” she said of the nature of calls, ranging from life-threatening to non-emergency. “It’s very sporadic. It almost feels like it’s residuals sometimes. I wouldn’t say it’s more or less for either side of it, because you just never know.”

And Burns said dispatchers must also be prepared to not only lead a variety of responders through a wide range of different emergencies, but in a town the size of Vicksburg, they must also be prepared to do so when the person or persons in danger are people they personally know.

“It can be (difficult),” she said. “But you kind of just have to separate that part of it, as far as knowing the people. But, for me, I treat every call as if it is somebody who is family. But, when it is somebody that I love, it does hit a little harder.”

Burns said another aspect of the dispatcher job is that it often continues mentally long after a shift has ended.

“That was a big part of it when I was training,” she said. “I would just go home and think about stuff and it would weigh heavy on me. I would think, ‘Was there something else I could have done? Was there something else I could say?’ But you just have to remember that we do our very best and we train, and we give people our very best. And we do it with all our heart. You can’t hang on to that type of stuff.”

Burns also said the same group of dispatchers typically works shifts together, making each of them tight-knit pods that often lean on one another during emotional or stressful times. She added that which shift may get the more harrowing calls on any given day is anyone’s guess.

“The weather is a big (factor),” she said. “Nighttime, I would say. But you really can’t say. It’s just so sporadic that you might get high-priority at night, or on the weekend, but then Monday morning, something’ll jump off. It’s kind of, you just never know.”

At the end of the day, Burns said she thinks the biggest misconception about E-911 is that many people don’t realize they are not speaking directly to law enforcement.

“I don’t think the public realizes that 911 is its own entity,” she said. “We do have the police department. We do have the sheriff’s department. But 911 is its own thing. So, a lot of the times when we have calls, a lot of people think they are talking to the police department or the sheriff’s department, but they are actually talking to a dispatcher.”

And while Burns said E-911 is always on the lookout for good people, the job has been a great fit for her.

“I’m thinking about going into the medical field,” she said. “So, this has been a perfect fit for me. I get to talk to people and I get to help people.”

For anyone interested in working in dispatch, information may be found online at co.warren.ms.us.