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911 Dispatch & Emergency Coordination
Center
The 911 Center & Emergency Operations Center project is part of a
four pronged approach to enhancing our emergency response capabilities and
investment in the future of public safety in the Flathead Valley. This approach
entails:
4 A comprehensive upgrade to the county radio
communications system
4 A new 911 communication center and emergency
operations center
4 Realignment of major response agencies into one
chain of command to include consolidation of the four 911 centers the functions
of the office of emergency services into one response and emergency management
agency
4 Construction of adequate facilities
This move will enhance response effectiveness and reduce unneeded duplicity in
our current structures. The radio systems enhancement project, 911
Communications Center and consolidation processes are primarily funded utilizing
significant state & federal funds and use of current budget dollars. The success
of the project significantly rests on the availability of funding and public
support for adequate and appropriate facilities. This program will maximize the
ability of city and county governments to serve the public, enhance responder
safety and most of all…save lives.
- In Dennis Smith’s book titled, Report From Ground Zero, a definitive history
of the Fire Department New York’s response to the 9/11 World Trade Center, he
states; “communications is at the heart of most of the analyses of emergency
operations on September 11, and it is the paramount question when considering
why such a large number of fire fighters were lost”. Whether it is 911, Katrina,
the 30 Mile wildland fire in Washington State, or the local response to a stroke
victim, the foundation to the success or failure in emergency response is traced
back to ineffective quality of communications, both technically and
organizationally. Our 911 dispatchers are the “first responders”, they take the
initial call and are responsible for requesting the right response capabilities
(Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement), from the right agency. They must provide them with
the best information available to handle our citizen’s worst nightmares, while
keeping the responders as safe as possible. The 911 communication process is the
foundation of emergency response, and like a building, the response is only as
sound as its foundation. This daunting task is repeated over 100,000 times a
year in the Flathead Valley and growing significantly each year with no increase
in dispatchers in at least five years. In 2005 the county 911 center responded
to 36,216 events, in 2007 it was 52,023 events. Year to date in 2008 we are
currently at 39,002 on target to push the 60,000 event ceiling and these numbers
do not include the three city 911 centers. The four centers combined are
handling well over 100,000 events per year. The universal use of cellular phones
creates even greater call volume and coupled with routine administrative calls,
triple the reportable volume. The skyrocketing workload, coupled with inadequate
expansion space and antiquated equipment make this project the most significant
public safety issue for the Flathead Valley in this generation.
PROJECT TALKING POINTS
Current Status:
4 The County 911 Center dispatches countywide fire,
EMS and the Sheriff’s deputies. The three city centers dispatch their own police
forces. There is currently one primary Public Safety Access Point (PSAP), in the
county, where all 911 calls are routed to; it is located at the Sheriff’s
office. When a call comes in from one of the cities, a county call taker
receives the call and information then transfers the call to the appropriate
city dispatch center where the process is repeated. The caller is put on hold
while the call is transferred and must repeat the information again to a new
dispatcher before help gets under way. Imagine yourself in a life threatening
situation, calling 911, being placed on hold, transferred to another center and
having to repeat your situation to a different dispatcher before help can be
dispatched. The added process wastes critical time, creates unnecessary steps
and delays response times. When minutes, or seconds may mean life or death, our
current capabilities can be deadly.
4 Maintaining four centers creates duplication of
effort, equipment, support needs and unnecessary call steps.
4 No adequate space for expansion to meet current
and future needs.
4 No direct connection between the
911communications information and incident management officials who rely on up
to date accurate information to make critical decisions
4 OES has nearly $500,000 of countywide response
equipment with no central storage capability. Equipment is scattered throughout
different locations throughout the county, with inadequate warehouse storage and
difficult access.
4 Our countywide radio communication system is
antiquated, the skyrocketing
work load has pushed it to the level of maximum capacity and system shortfalls
present a public and responder safety risk.
4 We have several “dead zones” throughout the
county, limited tower sites and the
process for the licensing and development of new sites is not available.
4 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has
mandated that all radio
communication systems must be converted to a narrow band system by
01/01/2012, at a cost of several million dollars.
4 Call traffic is overloading the current system
due to limited channel monitoring capabilities and limited frequencies
4 Our outdated and process intensive computer aided
dispatch (CAD) system has insufficient mapping capability that marginally
integrates with other jurisdictions, no resource tracking capabilities, unit
status monitoring or vehicle location tracking capability.
4 The system has very limited capabilities for
providing dispatchers with critical response information to share with
responders, i.e. hazardous materials stored at the response location or history
of prior response, to provide better responder safety and response capability.
4 Call traffic is overloading the current system
due to limited channel monitoring capabilities and limited frequencies
Project Enhancements:
4 The new building will allow for the consolidation
of the four centers, integration of the 911 communications and the emergency
operations center, provide state of the art technology capabilities far into the
future. This will provide logical, efficient expansion capabilities for up to 25
years, and beyond, so we are not faced with the same crisis we are currently
facing. The consolidation will eliminate the need for transfer of calls between
the county and city centers saving critical minutes.
4 New state of the art dispatch equipment,
increasing the number of stations from four to seven, will integrate with the
new trunked radio system greatly enhancing dispatcher efficiency and
effectiveness.
4 The new building will allow for the consolidation
of all emergency management coordination personnel in one location and
consolidation of all countywide response equipment into one area with adequate
indoor storage for high dollar vehicles and highly technical response equipment.
4 In addition to enhanced operational capabilities,
combining 911 and OES provides significant management efficiencies. Separate,
each department would need a director and administrative support…combined those
functions are shared, saving two .5 FTE and an average of $40,000 to $50,000 per
year. Additional annual savings will be achieved through combining support
needs, i.e. copiers, meeting rooms and other anticipated task level job sharing
between the two.
4 Vacating OES from the Justice Building will free
up approximately 1600 sf of critical office space averaging $20.00 per SF
(includes triple net) for a potential annual offset of $32,000 per year.
4 The consolidated center will require fewer staff
compared to the combined staffs of the current centers.
4 The proposed annual operating budget for the
consolidated center is approximately $100,000.00 per year below the combined
budgets of the four centers
4 The multi-million dollar radio enhancement
project is part of a statewide communications network that of which Flathead
County is a significant partner. The Interoperable Montana project is assisting
the county by funding a new “trunked” radio system that will address the over
utilization of available channels and rebuild a large portion of the
communication tower system to include new towers systems on Big Mountain,
Blacktail Mountain and the Kalispell City Water tower. This program is primarily
funded through state and federal grants.
4 The 911 Board has received over $3.8 million in
federal and state funding to complete the transition. The project includes new
tower and radio systems on Blacktail Mountain, Big Mountain, Kalispell water
tower and a 5 year contract with BNSF to utilize their fiber optic
communications system through the HWY 2 East corridor to the county line.
4 New Computer Aided Dispatch systems are very
complex, expensive technology but they increase dispatcher effectiveness, save
valuable minute/seconds and ultimately save lives.
4 We have been awarded a $732,000 National Fire
Academy, Assistance to Fire Fighter Grant, a $222,000 COPS Grant, and the 911
Board will provide a $183,000 match from board capital improvement funds, to
purchase a new state of the art CAD system. The new system will address the
above issues and provide other significant system improvements and increase
dispatcher effectiveness and efficiency.
4 The new Computer Aided Dispatch program will:
-- Decrease call times through use of real time GPS unit location
-- Enhance quality of response and responder safety by alerting responders of
potentially dangerous/hazardous situations based on prior incidents, warrants,
previous medical responses, etc.
--Provide automatic vehicle locater capabilities to pinpoint response vehicle
locations and immediately dispatch closest resource
--Enhanced E-911 & Cell Phone Call support
--Enhanced mapping to include pictometry, visual and written response routing
directions
--Resource tracking and unit status management to maximize closest resource
dispatch and enhancing response times
--Instant access to critical law enforcement, fire and medical information
Cost Analysis:
Building and Infrastructure: $6,900,000 (See CTA Projected Budget)
911 Call Center Equipment: $530,000 ($485,000 State Grant)
Computer Aided Dispatch: $1,200,000 ($732,000 AFG/$222,000 COPS Grant)
Countywide Radio System: $4,000,000 ($3,800,000 State & Federal Grants)
Estimated Total: $12,630,000
Grant Totals: $ 5,239,000
Bond Issue: $ 6,900,000
911 Board CIP Funds $ 491,000 (Includes $182,000 AFG Match)
*** $6.9 is a high estimate, the bond issue reads “up to”. We estimated high
(worst case) because of unstable material costs and didn’t want fall short. We
fully anticipate coming in below the bond request level.
Click on the links below for further information.
911 Project Budget
911 Plan
911 Overview
911 Perspective
Additional information is available at
www.flathead911center.com
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