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Dispatch
What
We Do at a Glance  | Firefighting | First
Responder | Rescue | Hazmat | Dispatch | Prevention| Customer Service| Pre-Incident
Planning |
We Dispatch for 17 Surrey Fire Halls with a dedicated staff of 16 full time Dispatchers and 5 part-time staff. We also dispatch for 12 other Cities, White Rock, Langley City, Langley Township, Port Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, and Pitt Meadows, North Vancouver City, North Vancouver District, West Vancouver District, Bowen Island and Lion’s Bay. We don’t only dispatch Fire Departments, we also handle the after hours and weekend calls for 11 of 12 Cities Public Works Departments.
We work with various radio systems such as VHF and 800 Mhz. We have an Enhanced 9-1-1 system, this means when you call 9-1-1 it will be routed to ECCOM (9-1-1 call center) and this is when they will ask you, “Police, Fire or Ambulance”, “What is your Emergency”, and “for what City?” Once that information is ascertained, they downstream it to the appropriate jurisdiction, we will get the name, address and phone number of the person making the call. The data is then sent to us electronically where we can make sure that the information sent is accurate, with our new FDM CAD system we proceed with the information and send the call to the appropriate Dispatcher.
Our Dispatchers work four 12 hour shifts in a two platoon system. We work all holidays and weekends for 24/7/365 coverage. We answer a variety of calls that are emergent and non-emergent in nature; we get some really interesting calls. Now even more interesting since the North Shore has joined our center. Our new dispatch center is state of the art. The new workstations give the option of sitting or standing, and provide a more relaxed and quieter area to do our jobs.
We provide a comprehensive in house training program for new dispatchers. The program runs a couple of times a year. This keeps our 6 dispatch trainers very busy. We are continuously rewriting the training manuals to keep up with the technological enhancements of our new system.
We sometimes assist with Public Education initiatives in our off duty hours. We go into schools to teach children how to use 9-1-1 properly, and what to expect when they make a 9-1-1 call. We have developed a unique specialized tool with help from Telus. This system allows the child to go to another room, then make a mock 9-1-1 call to the dispatch instructor. It has been a very good system and has helped many children throughout the City of Surrey. Other Dispatchers have volunteered their time to go to the BC Professional Fire Fighters Burn Camp as camp counselors. They have also helped out with blood drives and other charitable efforts organized by the Surrey Fire Fighters Charitable Society. We are all part of the team to help keep our City Safe.
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