It’s time Sampson County government took its collective head out of the sand and fixed some serious problems that, it appears, its administrators simply cannot see. Communication is key, and as of late, that is sorely lacking.

The most serious of those problems is at the 911 Communications Center where calls directing emergency personnel to fires, accidents and other potentially life-threatening incidents must be precise and, above all, accurate. In several recent incidents, that apparently hasn’t been the case.

This week the issue got so bad the Taylors Bridge fire chief called the Independent to vent his frustration — and his deep concern — about the incidents and the apparent lack of action to resolve the situation. In Chief Alan Williams’ words, the problem is an ongoing one.

And that should be concerning not just to Williams but to every Sampson residents, and the Sampson County Board of Commissioners.

During his call, Williams detailed the latest in a series of what he said were “errors” from the Communications Center that sent emergency crews, fire departments, in particular, to incorrect addresses, delaying response times to active fires.

“When that happens you’re putting departments out there on the road, and they think they’re going to a fire, just to find out there’s no fire there,” Williams said in the Wednesday article. “This has happened several times in the past, even with the protocols in place up there. Things like this shouldn’t happen. But if the person there taking the calls doesn’t follow the protocols, then we get delayed response times to incidents.”

The problems are bad enough, but Williams said he has tried to alert those at the communications center to the problem, but as of last Wednesday, at least, he hasn’t received a satisfactory answer to why it’s happened or how it will be resolved, and when.

“They have not given us the reasons why it keeps happening,” Williams said in the Wednesday article. “I spoke with the communications director, Cliff Brown, and he said it was a failure of protocols, but there’s been no further details. So, after that, I asked for the Emergency Services director, Rick Sauer, because in the last couple of weeks, we’ve had several incidents where there’s been communication errors that’ve impacted us responding to the scenes needed.“

“So when I ask Rick, the only response I ever get from him is, ‘we’ll look into it.’ so I blame it on the leadership at Sampson County Emergency Services and Rick Sauer. It’s his department, he’s in charge and I have repeatedly asked but we can’t get an answer out of him.”

These are the same individuals, it seems, who failed to involve city and school officials during the planning process for Tropical Storm Debby, never inviting them to the table as has been done in the past to discuss shelters, enforcement and every other aspect of preparing for a potential storm.

Communication failed, if it ever existed.

While that was an error, for sure, it pales in comparison to the situation Williams brought to our attention this week. Sending personnel to the wrong address during an emergency can have serious, deadly even, consequences. Fixing it needs to happen now, and those directly involved, like the Taylors Bridge fire chief should be brought into the conversation and his worries calmed by action.

Commissioners have a duty to get in the middle of this situation now and ensure that solutions are found and enacted without delay, and hold those responsible, top to bottom, accountable for the errors and the failure to communicate that exists.

We don’t know Sauer or Brown. We assume by virtue of the very jobs they are tasked with carrying out that they are in the business of helping in a crisis. It’s time they carried out those duties. And perhaps it’s time, too, that they add communicating with others to the top of their job description.