Chief ignites regional dispatch move
Los Angeles will now be handling Santa Monica’s calls for firefighter services.
The Santa Monica City Council voted in favor on Tuesday of transferring the city’s firefighter dispatch service from its current Santa Monica location to the city of Los Angeles in order to improve service.
The move comes on behalf of Santa Monica Fire Chief Jim Hone, who explained to the council at Tuesday’s meeting that an annual 4.5-percent increase in fire calls over the past 10 years continues to present a risk in stretching the city’s firefighting forces thin, and that the city needed better coordination through a regional dispatch center to handle emergencies.
“The philosophy has come to be, ‘if you need it, and need it now, call 9-1-1 and the fire department will come out to try to help you,’” Hone said.
To address this inundation of emergency calls, Hone said steps were needed to provide better-coordinated firefighting efforts between local agencies, something the regional dispatch center will provide Santa Monica.
As an example, Hone described a recent fire at Lares Restaurant, 2909 Pico Boulevard, requiring the majority of Santa Monica’s firefighting forces to put the fire out. He said that if a fire occurred somewhere else in Santa Monica at the same time, the city’s firefighting forces would have been stretched too thin to respond with the same level of service Santa Monicans have come to expect.
With the regional dispatch system in place, Hone said a neighboring firefighting agency could be summoned from the time of the call in order to assist with an additional fire in the city. Then, as the fires are stabilized, the firefighters would return to their stations.
“(With the regional dispatch approach) the level of service will be better while Santa Monica Fire Department resources are being drained,” Hone said.
Some councilmembers were concerned that Santa Monica might have trouble getting out of such a regional commitment if the city decided the new system was not working up to standards.
“The business of getting back into the business is in no way harmed by this service,” assured Santa Monica City Manager Susan McCarthy.
Hone said Santa Monicans will continue to dial 9-1-1 for emergencies, and that the police will be the first point of contact before calls are routed to the regional center in downtown Los Angeles.
The city is expected to pay $200,000 annually to take part in the program.
The majority of funding is coming from a $1.7 million no-match grant from the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 21, 2005. Read the original PDF.