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ABC News
ABC News
National
Maria Hatzakis

Emergency call handling under flood inquiry spotlight

The handling of triple-0 calls and the emergency response are expected to be further scrutinised at Queensland's floods inquiry today.

The Commission has been examining the way emergency calls are managed and the training call centre operators receive.

Disaster planning, warning systems, triple-0 calls and communication between emergency response groups have been among the key issues examined this week.

Five representatives from the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service and two police officers are among those due to take the stand today, along with a Moreton Bay marine park ranger.

Volunteer firefighter Danny McGuire, who lost his wife and two of his children when water tore through Grantham in Queensland's Lockyer Valley, is also due to give evidence.

Yesterday's hearing was told Toowoomba's police communications centre could not cope with the volume of triple-0 calls when a deadly flood swamped the city in January and more than 800 calls went unanswered.

Some other calls rolled over to response centres in Brisbane and Ipswich but then when operators there tried to call Toowoomba to pass on the information, the phones were clogged further.

The Ipswich disaster coordinator, Police Superintendent Garth Pitman, is among those due to give evidence.

In his statement to the inquiry, he says the Ipswich communications centre received almost 600 calls in the 24 hours after Toowoomba's flash flood.

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