The Cecil Democrat, a weekly newspaper, published a series of interviews with public officials about local agencies in 1967. That August, the paper put the “spotlight” on Civil Defense and the nearly six-year-old central fire dispatch system, as a reporter spoke with Marie Cooling.
“Fire headquarters” had gone on air in October 1961, working out of a concrete-block one-story building behind the jail. The “operators,” as they were known, dispatched fire and ambulance calls and relayed messages to the Elkton Police Department, Sheriff’s Office, and the Maryland State Police. Before the launch of the 24-hour operation, companies had radio-equipped vehicles and bases at fire stations, but a system-wide network didn’t exist. Earlier, Marie noted that people called the companies directly, dialed the operator, or telephoned the canal dispatcher in Chesapeake City.
Four county employees staffed the 24/7 operation, as one dispatcher, working alone, juggled the telephone calls and radio traffic at fire headquarters. In addition to Marie, the “operators” included James Penhollow, Rosemary Culley, and Roland Reynolds.
The reporter asked whether there had ever been a general alarm in the county requiring all apparatus. “Oh yes. Once we had a big fire at Marysville, and we had everything in the county, plus equipment from Havre de Grace and Newark.”
The “control center” was preparing to move deep below the ground of the new courthouse that was under construction into a specially constructed fallout shelter that was designed to allow the local government to continue functioning during a nuclear attack. “It is intended to be bombproof,” she remarked.
