CALIFORNIA – In honor of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott is taking this opportunity to thank all of the personnel at Cal Fire’s 21 Emergency Command Centers (ECC), Northern and Southern Operation Centers and the Sacramento Command Center for their continued efforts to preserve the public’s safety.
Last year, Cal Fire answered the call for over 400,000 emergencies and calls for help.
“Our ECC personnel are the frontline of all types of emergencies and they set the tone of an incident,” says Pimlott. “They are the voice on the other side of the phone or behind the radio and often go unnoticed by the public. Even with a dozen calls at once and multiple incidents running at the same time, these men and women keep the calm.”
Pimlott notes that ECC personnel don’t “just” answer phones and talk on the radio, they are experts in multiple technology dependent programs like CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch), ROSS (Resource Ordering and Status System), HEMS (Hired Equipment Management System), AFF (Automated Flight Following) and WIMS (Weather Information Management System).
They simultaneously maintain maps, aircraft locations, resource movement and allocation while making notifications to cooperators, and in some Units, all while giving pre-arrival medical instructions to panicked family members or bystanders.
“Please take a moment and join me in thanking those in our Emergency Command Centers that answer the call each and every day!”
Yosemite National Park also asks that people take this week to pause and thank their dispatchers for the vital link they provide to public safety.
Yosemite Dispatch is covered by 8 full time employees who are providing 24/7 services to all of Yosemite, Lassen Volcanic National Park and Devils Postpile National Monument. They handle around 76,000 telephone calls and 20,000 some incidents a year.
As the “behind the scenes” personnel of the park, this is a great opportunity to let them know they are appreciated year-round for a job well done.
