While it may seem costly to shift Centre Wellington fire services dispatch to Guelph, local fire chief Brad Patton said the move will free up firefighters to attend fire calls.
On Aug. 27, council authorized the agreement with Guelph with respect to updated service levels for Centre Wellington Fire and Rescue Services dispatch services, as part of the Centre Wellington fire master plan implementation.
In her report to council, Pat Newson, managing director of community services stated that since 2007 the township has had an agreement with the city for the provision of fire dispatch service. The agreement was revised in 2010 and in 2015.
She explained that part of the township’s fire services master plan was a recommendation for the township to investigate alternative options for the delivery of fire dispatching services.
In February 2018 CW fire began a pilot project where the Guelph Fire Department took over dispatching duties.
In the old agreement, Guelph provided dispatch until the CW first responder reached the fire hall, Newson said.
With full service, all dispatch is handled by Guelph, allowing local firefighters to respond to local emergencies.
For the first few weeks of the full-service pilot CW fire assigned a firefighter to staff up the dispatch consuls and shadow Guelph and assist where needed.
By mid-March CW Fire terminated the role of a Centre Wellington firefighter/dispatcher and all firefighters now go directly to the emergency apparatus and respond to the call.
Although difficult to quantify the time savings by not staffing Centre Wellington dispatch, the department has noticed it is getting emergency apparatus on the road quicker (two to four minutes on average) as well as getting more firefighters on the scene.
Newson said overall CW fire is pleased with the results of the pilot project and recommend that Centre Wellington continue to receive dispatch services from the city under the terms set up in the pilot project.
“Although the service will cost more for the township it allows for faster response times,” Newson said.
In early 2017 Guelph Fire Department started a pilot project providing full time dispatching service for Puslinch Fire Department, then in early 2018 for Guelph-Eramosa (Rockwood Fire Department).
Centre Wellington council’s report states both municipalities are pleased with the project and expect to recommend the same or similar dispatch services agreement as presented here.
Further it noted the Township of Minto is also interested in obtaining full time dispatching services from the City of Guelph.
Dispatch costs (page only service) in 2017 rached $27,278.
The 2018 budget approved an increase of $26,500 for a total budget of $53,800 to allow CW fire to conduct the full service dispatching pilot project.
The 2019 cost for full service dispatch is expected to be $64,390
Patton said that prior to full service dispatch, there was a page-only agreement with Guelph.
That meant the city would activate the firefighter pagers until the first firefighter got to the station to acknowledge the call, gathered and recorded information regarding the emergency.
At that point the local fire department would take over.
“It was the responsibility of the firefighter to record all the times of all activities regarding the call … and dispatching necessary resources such as hydro, gas crews,” Patton said, adding, that version of fire service is quickly becoming outdated.
He noted having a firefighter act as dispatch reduces the number of firefighters attending the emergency.
Patton said it is an issue for the department during weekday calls.
However he said new fire regulations require fire dispatchers to be trained and certified.
Patton said the cost of training is $650 per person for the eight week course.
“The cost to Centre Wellington would be well over $100,000,” he said.
In addition, Centre Wellington would need to upgrade its dispatch operations to the new standards, which Patton estimated could be in the “tens of thousands of dollars.”
Finally, Patton said contracting dispatch services reduces township liabilities by having professional dispatchers on call instead of part-time firefighters.
Councillor Fred Morris noted this was a rolling contract year-to-year rather than a multi-year contract.
Patton said the contract would be reviewed every five years.
He said the only times he forsaw changes in the year to year costs are when StatsCan releases new population figures which are used to calculate dispatch costs.
Other costs could result from upgrades required by Guelph dispatch.
“I’m not sure we are going to see increases every year,” Patton said.
Councillor Stephen Kitras asked whether there was an advantage versus making use of a permanent local dispatcher.
Patton said to undertake local dispatch under the new regulations would require the ability to provide 24-hour service 365 days per year.
“It’s not a matter of hiring one person but 12 to 14 since there needs to be two dispatchers on duty at all times.”
