The fourth response. When a Missoulian is in crisis, the best emergency response often arrives in a minivan.

If you dial 911 anywhere in Missoula County, your call will be answered by a dispatcher in a windowless room in the basement of the county courthouse.

It might be answered by Ashley Barrow, in jeans and a pink sweatshirt, with Birkenstocks on her feet and a smudge of hot orange polish on her big toe. Barrow will have a “dispatcher’s ear” cocked to the radio traffic and the lines that her colleagues are monitoring. She may be dealing with other emergencies—like the smoking SUV that just hit a tree on Big Flat Road—but she’ll aim to answer your call by the third ring. The first thing she’ll want to know is your location, so she knows where to send help.