By Charlie Chapple
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
Copyright 2007 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
ST. TAMMANY, La. — Ten of the 14 fire departments in St. Tammany Parish on Monday will begin operating under a new consolidated dispatching system that officials say will shorten response times to fires and medical emergencies.
Twelve newly trained dispatchers on Monday at 7 a.m. will begin around-the-clock shifts at the parish’s emergency operations center in downtown Covington alongside dispatchers for the Sheriff’s Office and the 911 emergency telephone system.
Dubbed “UniFire” by local officials, the system will have at least three dispatchers on duty at all times, according to Ray Newton, administrator for the parish’s 12th Fire Protection District, which serves an area surrounding Covington.
Newton said consolidated dispatching has been a much-discussed concept among local fire officials that started to become a reality when the board that oversees the parish’s 911 system in May “decided to put its resources into the concept.”
The board made room available for UniFire dispatchers at the 911 headquarters in the emergency operations center. The board also committed $300,000 annually to help pay for the new program. Newton said the 10 fire protection districts in the system also will pay $300,000. Each district will pay a pro-rata share of the $300,000 based on the number of emergency calls handled for each district.
UniFire is designed to shorten response times to fires and medical emergencies, Newton said. “And if we can save time, we can save lives,” he said. “That’s the ultimate goal. . . . When all your dispatchers are all in one place, it’s just so much easier to communicate and respond more quickly to emergencies.”
The system also will result in simultaneous dispatch notices to Acadian Ambulance and fire departments, Newton said.
Now, the parish’s largest fire department — the 1st District — which serves the 8th and 9th wards in the Slidell area, handles dispatching for the 11th District in the Pearl River area, the 12th District, the 7th District in the parish’s 6th Ward, the 10th District in the Sun area, the 3rd District in the Lacombe area and the 2nd District in the Madisonville area.
The 4th District, which serves the 4th Ward, including Mandeville, handles its own dispatching.
The Covington Fire Department, the only municipal department in St. Tammany, has its own dispatch system, which also handles calls for the 13th District in the Goodbee area; the 6th District in the Lee Road community; the 5th District in the Folsom area; the 8th District in the Abita Springs area; and the 9th District in the Bush area.
“It’s clearly not the way to do it,” Newton said.
On Monday, the 1st District will continue to do its own dispatching and handle calls for the 11th District in the Pearl River area. The Covington Fire Department also will retain its own dispatching system, which will continue handling calls for the 13th District in the Goodbee area.
The other 10 departments will become a part of UniFire.
First District Chief Larry Hess said his Slidell-area department did not join UniFire because it would require an estimated $800,000 adjustment to its communications system. “We’re on a different system and it would require a significant expenditure in infrastructure,” Hess said. “But in the long run, I do think we will join it at some point in time.”
Covington Fire Chief Richard Badon said his department is satisfied with its current dispatching. “Why fix something that isn’t broke?” Badon said. The department’s average response time is three minutes and 20 seconds. “It’s working well, so there’s no reason to change it,” he said.
Newton said the 12th District agreed to become the sponsor or “host agency” for UniFire with the 12 new civil service dispatchers put on the district’s payroll.
The new dispatchers on Wednesday night graduated from an extensive 12-week training program that included visits to each of the 10 fire departments and going on medical calls with Acadian Ambulance.
“All of the trainees spent time in each department ... to let them see what goes on on the other end of the line,” Newton said. “Most of them are nationally registered EMTs and all of them are qualified to go on medical calls.”