When Teresa's husband stopped breathing on Sept. 15, 2026, the first lifeline wasn't a paramedic at the door. It was a voice on the phone. Teresa called 911, and emergency resources were dispatched within seconds, according to CAL FIRE. For nearly 15 minutes after that, a CAL FIRE communications operator stayed on the line, talking her through CPR until help arrived.
That operator was Alisa Oldag, a Communications Operator at CAL FIRE's Camino Emergency Command Center, according to CAL FIRE
. Oldag coached Teresa through chest compressions for close to 15 minutes while units made their way to the scene, CAL FIRE reported. When responders arrived, they took over CPR and transported Teresa's husband to a local hospital. He survived, and CAL FIRE says he is now home recovering.
Oldag is an Emergency Command Center graduate, according to the CAL FIRE Amador-El Dorado Unit.
A Command Center Built for Two Counties
The Camino Interagency Emergency Command Center, which serves Amador and El Dorado counties and supports local fire and EMS agencies, is an interagency hub.
Weeks after the emergency, Teresa returned to the Camino center to meet Oldag in person and thank her for guiding her through the ordeal. CAL FIRE praised Oldag and the entire Camino ECC team for their role in helping the family. The moment underscored something state law has formally recognized since 2020 — that the work of saving a life often begins before any responder physically reaches the scene.
Why Dispatchers Count as First Responders
California Assembly Bill 1945, signed into law in September 2020, reclassified public safety dispatchers and 911 telecommunicators as first responders under the California Emergency Services Act, according to EMS1. That recognition reflects just how much ground telecommunicators cover statewide — public safety answering points and emergency dispatch centers across California field an estimated 27 million 911 calls every year, per the same outlet.
The clinical stakes behind that legal designation are stark. Research from the American Heart Association presented in November 2024 found that patients who receive bystander CPR within two minutes of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest have 81% higher odds of surviving to hospital discharge and 95% higher odds of favorable neurological survival compared to those who receive no bystander CPR.
Those numbers help explain why Oldag's 15 minutes on the phone with Teresa mattered so much. Nationally, bystander CPR is still administered in a minority of cases — a 2025 CARES report put the rate at 42.5%. And survival odds remain grim: the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation puts the overall survival-to-discharge rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest at approximately 10.5%.
For Teresa's family, the outcome broke in their favor. Her husband is recovering at home, and the call that started with panic ended with a reunion at the same command center where a dispatcher had coached Teresa through CPR.
