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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 02081994 - S.1 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra FROM: Tom Powers,..District One Supervisor _� � Costa z County DATE: Yi Februar 8 1.994 � : SUBJECT: Request the County Administrator and Chief of the C. C. C. Fire District Meet With the Richmond City Manager and Fire Chief to Discuss Improvements to the Fire Communications Dispatch System. SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION Recommendation: 1) Request the County Administrator and the Contra Costa Fire Chief work with the City of Richmond to improve the capabilities of the fire communication dispatch system in the West County Region. i 2) Sched'Ule a meeting between the County Administrator, the Richmond City Manager and the appropriate fire personnel. 3) Request that the County Administrator report back to the Board of Supervisors on the result of the meeting within 60 days. Background: I, Attached materials identify certain concerns and problems with the current fire communications dispatch system for the West County Region. Summary of communication problems: 1) Lack of call'screening, 2) Delayed dispatching, 3) Inadequate field communications (i.e. portable radios, inability to communicate using . modern fire service technology such as the Incident Command System, failure to use tactical channels and failure to use automatic move ups), 4) Lack of response to incoming telephone calls by the communications center, 5) Lack of station printers or mobile.data terminals, 6) Lack of performance:standards for dispatching.personnel, 7) Communications system a whole is outdated, 8) No emergency recall policy for off duty personnel for major incidents and 9) Issue of having a combined police and fire dispatch center. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIG URE: r RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURES : ACTION OF BOARD ON February 8 , 1994 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED .X OTHERX__ In addition to approving the above recommendations , IT IS BY THE BOARD ORDERED that the matter is REFERRED TO THE Internal Operations Committee and the Finance Committee; and as requested by Supervisor Bishop, IT IS BY THE BOARD ORDERED that the letter from Mr. William Lamb is REFERRED to the Finance Committee. VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS(ABSENT AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. ATTESTED February 8 , 1994 CC: Internal Operations Committee Finance Committee PHIL BATCHELOR.CLERK OF THE BOARD OF I; SUPERVISO AND COUNTY ADIAJNISTRATOR 0 BY DEPUTY I. I' WEST COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT 33Q TWENTY-FIFTH STREET RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA 94804 PHONE: 620-6990 January 12, 1994 The Honorable Tom Powers, Chairman Board of Supervisors Contra Costa County Administration Building 625 Court Street Martinez, CA 94553 Dear Supervisor Powers: r At the January 11, 1;994, meeting of the West County Fire District Board of Commissioners, U.P.F.F. representative Russ Greenlaw appeared before the Commission and staff Ito express their frustration with the City of Richmond's fire dispatch system. We,share the same frustration. The frustration stems'it from the lack of progress with certain promised major improvements; namely, fire station dispatch printers, mobile automatic status tracking, adequate radio coverage, as well as written procedures. Several months ago, Richmond representatives conveyed to our staff and Commission that these improvements would be In place mid-1993. To date, there is no tangible evidence to support reasonable progress and, more importantly, adequate emergency dispatch service for our citizens. It appears to us that the City of Richmond has not placed the West County area fire service concerns) on a priority basis. There continues to be poor radio coverage and firefighters complain about not being heard by the fire dispatchers. In some cases,fire dispatchers are assisting on police dispatch matters and fail to hear critical radio infamnation from the field, all of which is extremely difficult for emergency fire commanders. is is We also understand that our concerns are shared by Kensington, EI Cerrito and , even Richmond fire personnel. We strongly support our staff and firefighters' efforts to bring about tangible improvements without further delay. Kathryn armignani, Chair �Y West County Fire Protection District Commission KC:bG. c: City of Richmond, Mayor and Council Members City of San Pablo, Mayor and Council Members Chief Little TO"d O.A.8 Y 92:51 b6/L0/ZA Date: Week of January 24. 1994 Captain on Duty: (Station #69, Anthony Garcia) At approximately 1750 hours Engine 66 (Station Location: Clinton Ave. just below San Pablo Ave.) was dispatched to a particular destination on Shirley Vista in El Sobrante. I was not aware that Engine 66 was dispatched to this call until it went past Station #69 (Code 3: lights & sirens) on Appian Way where I was on duty. At this point in time I called Richmond Fire to inquire why either Engine 68 (Station Location: Hilltop Drive. Hilltop Mall), Engine 69 (Station Location: Appian Way) or Engine 63 (Station Location: Valley View, El Sobrante) had not been dispatched since all of these engine companies were in station in service. But of course their (Richmond Fire Alarm) standard procedure of not answering the phone was enforced. I then tried to communicate to Richmond Fire Alarm over the radio asking them to answer the phone. I was told by dispatch that they were too busy to answer the phone to address my concerns about the dispatching error on Shirley Vista. There was no excessive Fire communications at this point to warrant this hostile action against me. No explanation was given to me (Fire Captain on duty at Station #69) and I was told they would talk to me when they were ready. Battalion Chiel'64 (over the air) told me if the call was in my area to go ahead and respond. I informed him that Engine 66 had been on scene for approximately two minutes. Battalion 64 then called me back and informed me that Fire Alarm had made a ri istake in dispatching to the incident. at Shirley Vista. I was also informed tYiat a dispatches- in training with no Training Supervisor observation had dispatched the call which they had done manually instead of with the computer. When they pulled the cards manually they pulled Engine 66 and Engine 70 (Station Location: San Pablo Ave., San Pablo) for the call to Shirley Vista. This error in dispatching caused a major delay to assist a citizen with a Medical Emergency not to mention the insubordination of this Fire Captain. I would like to request a response to this letter on why this situation developed and how it can be corrected.