SR-700-014
City Council Meeting: June 14, 2005 Santa Monica, California
TO: Mayor and Councilmembers
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Contract with City of Los Angeles for Regional Fire Dispatch
Introduction
This staff report requests that City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a contract with the City of Los Angeles for Regional Fire Dispatch and related
maintenance services to improve service to the community and enhance firefighter
safety.
Background
During the past ten years, the Santa Monica Fire Department has experienced a 45
percent increase in the number of emergency responses and will exceed 11,200
responses in the current fiscal year, rapidly exceeding the current one dispatcher per
12-hour shift capacity. Without making some change, service response and firefighter
safety will be compromised.
For that reason, the Fire Department has evaluated a number of strategies for
increasing dispatch capacity, from increasing staff to joining a regional dispatch system
as has been highly recommended by the 9/11 Commission and the Los Angeles Area
Fire Chiefs Association. No-match federal funding, including $1.7 million sorely needed
in Santa Monica to replace antiquated radio and station alert systems, is available to
departments that opt into a regional system.
Discussion
After evaluating four regional dispatch centers, a possible restructuring of the Santa
Monica Fire and Police joint communication center, a potential joint communication
center with the Beverly Hills and Culver City Fire Departments, and several increased
staffing scenarios, the department has determined that joining a regional dispatch
center would be most advantageous for our community for two primary reasons:
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Fire Departments throughout the nation, California, and within the Los Angeles
County area have faced circumstances similar to Santa Monica?s and effectively
improved service delivery to the community and firefighter safety by establishing
or joining a regional dispatch system
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By consolidating dispatch resources into a centrally located facility, economies of
scale are realized and response resource availability is increased
The Los Angeles Area Fire Chief?s Association (LAAFCA) representing all 31 Fire
Departments within Los Angeles County supports and is working to establish six
Regional Dispatch Centers to maximize the use of available resources by dispatching
the closest available resource(s) to an emergency in the shortest amount of time,
regardless of jurisdiction. The LAAFCA is designating no-match Federal grant funding
for establishment of these Regional Dispatch Centers and to local agencies that join the
Centers.
Of the four regional dispatch options evaluated by Santa Monica Fire, the Los Angeles
City Fire Department Regional Dispatch Center offers the service delivery the
community expects and safety standard the Fire Department requires. This option also
meets the federal objective to coordinate resources regionally.
Service improvements realized by contracting with LAFD include:
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Emergency Medical Dispatch (trained dispatchers provide medical advice to
callers while paramedics are en route)
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Decreased dispatch times (time of receipt of call to dispatching of emergency
resources)
?
Improved response times to simultaneous emergencies
?
Depth of dedicated dispatcher availability (dedicated positions increased from
one to twenty five)
?
Repair and maintenance provided 24/7 to radio, Fire Station Alerting, Mobile
Data Computer (MDC), Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Records
Management System (RMS)
?
New fire-based MDC, CAD and RMS systems
Safety improvements realized by the contract include:
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New mobile and portable radios for firefighters
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New fire station alerting system
?
A dedicated dispatcher to monitor radio emergency trigger activation (radio
button pushed when firefighters become entrapped or lost inside a structure fire
to transmit information about their situation and location)
?
Fire ground accountability (monitoring the location of emergency resources and
personnel at the emergency)
?
Major incident management assistance by Chief Officers and command staff in
the dispatch center
?
Dedicated dispatchers assigned to major incidents for continuity of information
while other dispatchers process additional calls
?
More response resources at particular emergency incidents
?
Automatic resource move-up to provide coverage in simultaneous emergencies
and during training activities
?
Number of available radio frequencies increased from four to twenty four
?
Increased knowledge/expertise of dispatchers (Fire Dispatchers are firefighters
with at least 4.5 years field experience)
While regionalization means calls are processed faster and resources respond faster
because one dispatcher can verify caller information while another dispatcher
simultaneously dispatches the appropriate resource(s), for the person seeking help in
an emergency, the process will feel unchanged.
A 911 call would still be answered by the Santa Monica Police Department to determine
if the caller is in need of Police or Fire Department assistance. The Police Department
would still transfer the call to a Fire Department Dispatch Center, but to the Los Angeles
City Fire Department Regional Dispatch Center rather than Santa Monica Fire
Department. The Regional Fire Dispatcher will answer the phone, ?Fire/Paramedics.
What is your emergency??
To facilitate regionalization, the LAAFCA has pre-authorized more than $1.7 million of
no-match Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant funds for the Santa Monica Fire
Department, contingent upon Santa Monica Fire Department joining a Regional
Dispatch Center. These funds will be used to secure the new radio equipment, fire
station alerting system, and all ancillary software and hardware. Additional grant
funding may be available to agencies participating in a regional dispatch system.
There are currently five Santa Monica Fire Department employees performing dispatch
duties. The schedule for transition to the regional center provides five months lead time
during which Human Resources will work with the employees to identify fire dispatch
recruitments in the region and vacancies in the Santa Monica Police Department
dispatch center for which they may qualify.
Budget/Financial Impact
The current cost to operate the Fire Department Dispatch Center is $551,000, which
includes all salaries, benefits, overtime, and equipment maintenance contracts. The
cost to contract with the Los Angeles City Fire Department Regional Dispatch Center is
$250,000 for the first 11,000 Santa Monica emergency responses in a year and $23 per
Santa Monica emergency response in excess of the 11,000. The annual fee, paid
quarterly, includes all maintenance and repair costs.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a contract with the City of Los Angeles for Regional Fire Dispatch and
maintenance services.
Prepared by: Jim Hone, Fire Chief
Bruce Davis, Deputy Fire Chief
Rob Wirtz, Fire Division Chief
Reference Contract No. 8484 (CCS).