Dispatch shifts to Surrey

Barb Brouwer - Salmon Arm Observer Published: May 04, 2010 6:00 PM

Cell phone in hand, Columbia Shuswap Regional District Fire Services co-ordinator Jack Blair called 911 last week and asked for fire dispatch. “Within five seconds they knew I was on the North Shore and within 10 seconds they knew I was 64 metres from the corner of Squilax Road and Wharf Road,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing.” Blair was checking out the new technologically advanced fire dispatch system in Surrey, that as of April 30 at noon, began providing fire dispatch service to the region.

While savings to CSRD taxpayers will be upwards of $370,000 and more than $200,000 for the City of Salmon Arm, there is also a cost. Four full-time and four relief fire dispatchers in Salmon Arm have lost their jobs. “It’s certainly going to be a better service for us, but the crappy thing is the guys are going away from us,” said Fire chief Brad Shirley. “We’re losing the personal touch.” Meanwhile, Blair says dispatching costs for the whole of the regional district will drop from $113,000 to $18,000 - and offer a big bang for the bucks. “The biggest thing is taking advantage of the latest technology available for dispatching calls and pre-fire planning,” says Blair, noting firefighters will. “Once we get the system up and operating, when a fire call comes in an incident report will be available to the firefighters upon their arrival at the fire hall – a printed sheet that contains all pertinent information to that call, including location, street corners, cross streets.”A printout of a map showing exact location of the house and any nearby fire hydrant will also be available, says Blair. Another advantage of the new technology is that fire dispatch can enter popular names of places known to longtime residents, but not necessarily to firefighters.Places like Five Corners in Salmon Arm and Beer Bottle Bay near Herald Park will be included in the data, along with the proper identification.

“This way, when Surrey dispatch brings up the information, they’ll see exactly where Beer Bottle Bay is on the map and who will respond – in this case, Tappen/Sunnybrae Firehall.” One feature is that when Surrey Dispatch receives a 911 call from a cell phone, they will be able to get GPS co-ordinates to within 150 metres of the phone. “It’s not just about the money, the safety of our firefighters is the paramount thing in my mind,” says Blair. “To give them the best tools and highest technology we can to assist in doing some very dangerous work.” Any 911 call made from the Shuswap is picked up at a police dispatch office in Kelowna. As always, calls for an ambulance will continue to be forwarded to Kamloops and police calls to the Salmon Arm detachment. ‘As for our customers, when dialing 911 and reporting a fire, they should see no difference,” says Shirley.