Communications/Dispatch
The Stockton Fire Department Communications Division is a Regional Fire and Emergency Medical Dispatch Center. In addition to the City of Stockton, the center handles emergency dispatch services for the City of Manteca.
The Emergency Communications Division (ECD) was voted unanimously by the Board of Accreditation of the highly recognized International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED) as an accredited Center of Excellence. The ECD is the 129th center in the world to be awarded this highest distinction for ECD's comprehensive implementation and compliance with the Medical Priority Dispatch system (MPDS) and associated "20 Points of Excellence". The ECD was chosen to implement the pilot emergency medical dispatch program for the State of California in the early 1980s by Dr. Jeff Clawson, founding father of Emergency Medical Dispatch.
Personnel currently work 24-hour shifts. Shift staffing includes one supervisor and three telecommunicators who handle approximately 175 incidents per shift. All dispatch personnel are certified in Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Medical Dispatch.
Emergency Medical Dispatch is a system that uses key questions to quickly prioritize medical emergencies. The system allows dispatchers to give a caller instructions to assist sick or injured persons until help arrives. Dispatchers may give relatively simple instructions, for example, to control bleeding with direct pressure, or very advanced instruction such as the step-by-step procedure to administer CPR. The dispatcher who takes the initial call remains on the phone when pre-arrival instructions are necessary while another dispatcher is sending fire and ambulance resources to help.
Fire and medical emergency incidents are the bulk of calls received, but the center also handle calls for public works after regular business hours, on weekends, and holidays. This provides a wide variety of call types and volume each shift. One minute a dispatcher may be providing CPR instructions, and the next minute a dispatcher may be calling a City Public Works employee to handle a fallen tree, sewer problem or other City service.
The service area includes over 350,000 residents in an area of about 87 square miles.
Fees
External Links
There are currently no external links.
This City of Stockton webpage last reviewed on --- 3/21/2011