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Emergency call center in California integrates technology and operations | 02.15.2007 | 06:47:34 | Views: 5410 | ID: February 15 '07: In Ventura County, California, a new emergency call center has incorporated technology and operations into one location designed specifically for 911 emergency services, the Ventura County Star reported via LexisNexis. The 16,000 square-foot building cost $6 million to build and is equipped with a $9 million situational awareness system that incorporates satellite imaging, global positioning systems and interoperable communications equipment. Having technological abilities such as GPS, dispatchers are able to tell 911 callers where the fire and emergency crews are, when they will arrive and how long that will be, the Star reported. Ventura County Fire Department dispatcher Cheryl Timpani told the Star, "When I'm speaking with the reporting party, previously I would only be able to give them a rough estimate when we would be there." "Now I can see (the engines) on the screen and tell the reporting party that we are turning on their block. I think that really helps the reporting party to know that we can track exactly where our units are. That comforts them as well, which makes our jobs a lot easier," Timpani continued. The new operations center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is equipped with high speed Internet, and eight-foot screen that displays "information about available hospital beds in the county," and a weather map. Two other large screens show security camera images and CNN. The center focused emergency call operations from three buildings into one and it handles roughly 250,000 calls a year and serves about 600,000 people.
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