Dispatch Operations Merger Considered

Seven municipal fire departments would handle their emergency communications out of a state-of-the-art dispatch center in Anaheim under a plan to be considered Tuesday by the City Council.

The merger is expected to produce a combined annual savings of $882,000 for the cities, and lead to significantly faster response times for firefighters and paramedics, said Anaheim Fire Chief Jeff Bowman.

“Out of one control system we will know where field units are in seven different cities,” Bowman said, “and we’ll be able to dispatch them more efficiently. And response time is the magic solution to saving lives.”

Since the summer of 1994, the Anaheim, Fullerton, Garden Grove and Orange fire departments have received and dispatched emergency calls from the North Net Fire Communications Center, on the third floor of Anaheim’s City Hall West.

With the new agreement, the Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach fire departments would also operate out of the computerized dispatch center. The switch-over would take place between June 17 and July 1, Bowman said, pending approval of the seven cities.

The dispatch center at 201 S. Anaheim Blvd. would be renamed the MetroCities Fire Authority Communications Center, and would be managed under a joint powers agreement.

Even with all seven cities using the dispatch center, Bowman said, the computer system would only be operating at 30% of its capacity. The powerful system could easily handle communications for all the independent fire departments in the county, Bowman said.

The fire chief is recommending that some of the cost savings generated by the merger be spent on equipment upgrades, including a satellite-based tracking system that pinpoints the location of fire engines and paramedic units every five seconds. Such a system would be particularly valuable during a large-scale emergency, Bowman said.