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Orange County Fire-Rescue Study Oversight Committee <br />Preliminary Recommendations <br />June 7, 2006 <br />Page 3 of 5 <br />Emergency Communications <br />There are three primary recommendations in this area, each having financial implications. <br />First, the implementation of the 800MHz. system appears to be seriously under-funded. Many of <br />the fire departments and the rescue squads do not have sufficient reserves to acquire the needed <br />radios for the conversion. Also, the County has not set aside funds to acquire the radios that will <br />be required to make the system work. Our final recommendations provide a listing of the radios <br />needed by each of the organizational units for proper implementation. <br />However, we believe the County should adopt a $.Ol rate for a period of two years <br />specifically allocated to the implementation of the 800MHz. system. This should generate <br />an additional $1,000,000 each of the two years allowing Emergency Management to supply <br />the County volunteer departments the necessary radios for successful implementation. At the <br />end of the two years this $.O1 would be eliminated. <br />There is no point in arguing over whether the departments that did not put sufficient reserves <br />away should have or were not financially able to do so. Emergency services delivery requires a <br />comprehensive communications system through which all the providers can communicate. The <br />reality is that the system will be an abysmal failure if there are components of the system (i.e., <br />emergency service providers) that are unable to communicate over the system. <br />Second, the communications center will need additional communicators/dispatchers as the 800 <br />MHz. system is implemented. The use of computer truncated tactical channels and "talk groups" <br />necessitates that channels being used by significant incidents (working fires, mass casualty EMS <br />calls, and natural disasters) are monitored and are part of the incident management process. <br />While the EOC will ultimately be activated for some of these incidents, even in those cases. tele- <br />cornmunicators are required to provide logistical and communication support to the incident as <br />well as handle other "normal" emergency traffic. As the 800 MHz. system is implemented, we <br />believe that in the first year 2 additional communications specialists are required and <br />another 2 in the second year. We estimate the cost of this to be approximately $100,000 this <br />year and another $100,000 additional next year. <br />Third, while the Emergency Communications Center is technologically sound, some of the <br />procedures relating to support of the fire department are comparable to those used in the 1960s. <br />The card /notebook system for response protocols is antiquated and should be replaced. <br />Protocols should be an integrated part of the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. We do <br />not yet have an estimate of the cost of this project. Departments have limped along using this <br />process for many years now and the project could begin with existing resources as available and <br />be completed with additional project funds, possibly funded by a grant, in the second year of our <br />planning horizon. <br />