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Dispatch centers approve Tacoma-Lakewood fire merger
Pierce County: Tacoma Fire, Lakewood Fire District to combine efforts by 2015; no proposal yet for payment
The two dispatch agencies that handle virtually every fire call in Pierce County want to consolidate – first by sharing a building, then by merging their communication operations into one.
Tacoma Fire and the Lakewood Fire District signed a memorandum of understanding outlining their plans on Feb. 25. Now they’re pitching the idea to local government leaders.
They haven’t started looking for a joint site for Tacoma’s Fire Communications Center and Lakewood’s Fire Comm, nor figured out how to pay for it.
But Jim Sharp, assistant fire chief for Lakewood, told elected officials at a meeting in Lakewood on Monday that the goal is to share a building with Tacoma Fire by 2013 and fully merge by 2015.
“It not only provides a better system, but also a more cost-effective system,” Sharp said of the plan.
Tacoma’s dispatch center has 17 employees who handle all fire and medical calls for the Tacoma Fire Department, which also covers the cities of Fircrest and Fife. The center also dispatches for Central Pierce Fire & Rescue, which covers Puyallup and seven smaller communities.
Lakewood’s Fire Comm has 22 full-time dispatchers who handle calls for 17 fire and EMS agencies, including Lakewood, University Place and Gig Harbor.
Together, the two centers account for 99 percent of fire and EMS calls in Pierce County.
Local fire and police have discussed improving dispatch systems since 2003, according to a report on the proposed consolidation.
In Pierce County, most 911 calls are first answered by operators at the Law Enforcement Support Agency in Tacoma. (Four smaller dispatch centers in East Pierce also take some calls.)
The operator determines whether the caller needs a police, fire or medical response, then routes fire and medical calls to a secondary dispatch center – either Tacoma’s Fire Communications Center or Lakewood’s Fire Comm, depending on the location of the emergency.
Last year, an audit by a Texas consultant confirmed what local police and fire officials already knew: Staff and funding shortages left LESA at risk of being overwhelmed, particularly during a major emergency. The audit also found that transferring calls between centers is costly, and that precious seconds can be lost in saving lives.
The audit recommended uniting all police and fire dispatch in one center. Retaining separate centers for police and fire, it concluded, would not save money and would not address delays caused when calls are transferred.
Sharp said Tuesday he hadn’t read last year’s audit in detail. The push to consolidate fire dispatch, while keeping police calls separate, is based on the recommendation by a 2008 task force of high-ranking police and fire officials from throughout Pierce County.
Tacoma Assistant Fire Chief Dan Crotty said a reason for having two dispatch centers – one for police and one for fire – is to preserve a backup if one center goes out of service, such as during an earthquake.
Both Tacoma’s center and Fire Comm have outgrown their aging buildings, according to fire department leaders.
The 2008 task force recommended a sales tax increase of 1/10 of 1 percent to pay for consolidation efforts. But there’s no official proposal on the table to pay for a joint fire dispatch center.
The agreement comes as the Lakewood Fire District prepares to ask voters to approve a merger with the University Place Fire District in 2011. The move, officials say, will improve efficiency and reduce costs, as similar fire department mergers have done throughout Pierce County in recent years.
Sharp said the memorandum of understanding to join Tacoma and Lakewood fire dispatch centers also is significant.
“Finally, we have two major (dispatch centers) that are saying, ‘We’re ready to move forward,’ ” he said.
_________________ President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC) Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!Bunnery definition for the under-fives
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