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Fire Communications is usually the first contact between the public and the Fire Department. Truly the nerve center of the department, this is where calls for emergency assistance or service are received from the public and information is transmitted to the appropriate units or stations. Fire Communications manages and allocates the fire and rescue resources of the department insuring that the proper equipment is dispatched in a quick, efficient, and professional manner to emergency incidents. Another role of Fire Communications is to provide support to field operations personnel, other agencies and the general public in carrying out many routine, business and non-emergency tasks.
Projects in Communications
Fire Communications is improving its call handling capabilities with a new Integrated Power 9-1-1 Call Handling Telephony System. This system provides advanced features that includes call processing via computer telephony integration, touch screen monitors, caller ID, TTY (communicating with the hearing impaired), call tracking, and single button transfers. This upgrade will afford Telecommunicators the ability to handle emergency calls in a more efficient manner.
Five new positions for call taking are being added to Fire Communications. As secondary PSAP (public safety answering point) to the Police Department, these new positions will heighten the center=s ability to handle more calls for emergency service and enhance our position as back up PSAP to other public safety agencies. This telephone system should be on line no later than August 2003.
Fire Communications is presently in the process of assessing its standards and procedures in accordance with the Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program. This program was designed by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) in conjunction with Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO). Its purpose is to promote superior public safety communication services and to recognize professional excellence. The process involves verifying that established standards are met and successful procedures are acknowledged. The standards are a catalyst for updating standard operating procedures (SOP's), implementing new procedures and policies and upgrading equipment in efforts to provide a more professional and efficient working environment.
Fire Communications, along with other public safety agencies is taking part in a community alerting system. The Intellicast Target Notification System, identifies and notifies a specific portion of the community of an emergency situation. The Communications Division launches a request to have a pre recorded voice message sent by telephone to a determined area of the city, alerting the public of an emergency, with instructions such as evacuation, flooding, chemical spills etc. It is hoped that the City of New Orleans will have this system available during the 2003 Hurricane season.
Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN) is a maritime interoperability pilot program developed to improve communications between local, state and federal public safety agencies. The PSWN Project addresses the interoperability among radio systems. Under this program public safety agencies, using various types of radio equipment (M/A-COM, Motorola) can be patched to speak directly to each other in emergency situations. It is anticipated that this project will go on line by late August 2003.
Plans are in the making for a new 9-1-1 Center that will combine city public safety agencies under one roof. This state of the art site will house Police, Fire, EMS and Orleans Parish Communications District personnel. The proposed location is South of City Park Avenue between Canal Street and Interstate 10. Plans are for the site to be up and running in the spring of 2006.
We are looking forward to receiving the new P7100 Jaguar Portable Radios to replace the original MPA analog radios for the Fire Department. This upgrade of the present MPA is capable of both digital and analog transmissions and includes software to monitor battery status. Another feature of the Jaguar is its enhanced capability to handle exposure to the elements. This is the latest technology in M/A COM portables and has the capacity to handle future feature upgrades. The anticipated time of first shipment is August 2003.
During the last quarter of 2003, Fire Communications will receive the latest Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) upgrade. One of the main benefits of this project will allow for better data tracking and reporting. Also, this upgrade will allow for easier data exchanges among Public Safety Agencies (Fire, Police, and EMS). Along with these improvements, Fire Communications will also receive some of the newest computers. | |
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