Township council has approved a $12,000 expenditure for Mapleton Fire and Rescue’s share of a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system.
The City of Guelph Fire Department has provided pager and radio dispatching for Wellington County fire departments for several years. The city recently moved to the CAD system and has updated it to allow county departments to utilize it.
The CAD system is a method of dispatching emergency services by computer. It is used to send emergency messages to individual fire departments and to store and retrieve data.
CAD systems consist of a software package used to initiate public safety calls for service, dispatch, and maintain the status of responding resources in the field.
“It will allow us to get computer aided dispatch reports sent straight to our Firepro (communication) system,” said Mapleton Fire Chief Rick Richardson.
“It gives us a benchmark when on a call … They will be able to access reports of what time we’re on the scene, when we requested mutual aid, what time (another department) got on the scene – some of the things we’re not getting now.”
Richardson also noted the system will allow personnel to receive information such as addresses on tablet computers.
“The CAD system will allow Wellington County fire departments to ‘sector’ areas of our municipality, sending only stations and personnel as needed,” he explained in a written report.
“It will serve as an aid for future use of tablets in response vehicles and full dispatch services.
“A full CAD system will supply the department with a more complete reporting record and ‘time stamping’ requirements would be provided in future legal proceedings.”
Councillor Michael Martin asked if the system could lead to the elimination of a local dispatcher.
“No. There’s still functions that our local dispatcher can do,” said Richardson, including sending out personnel on a local basis and advising on-scene personnel how many firefighters are still waiting at the hall for potential assignment.
Richardson said Guelph will invoice a one-time charge of $12,000 for each Wellington County fire department. The funds will come from other capital in the 2017 budget.
There will also be an annual fee of $1,800.
