Regional Communications Center

Introduction 9-1-1 Protocol Cellular Phones Typical Responses Frequencies

Introduction

Business : 925-941-3330
Emergency Call : 911 or 925-933-1313

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Telecommunications Division includes both technical and non-technical aspects. The focal point for the Division is the operation of a multi-agency fire & EMS Communications Center known as the Contra Costa Regional Fire Communications Center (CCRFCC), or Comm Center.

The CCRFCC provides fire and Emergency Medical Services dispatch, coordination, and technical support services to the agencies and public that we serve. All Center employees are responsible for maintaining the highest degrees of professionalism and competence.

User Agencies

User agencies receive the same level of service and priority from CCRFCC as the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. In addition to the cities and towns covered by the County Fire District, CCRFCC user agencies include:

Crockett-Carquinez Fire Protection District

• Crockett
• Port Costa

East Contra Costa Fire Protection District

• Brentwood
• Oakley
• Knightsen
• Bethel Island
• Byron
• Marsh Creek/Morgan Territory

Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District

• Moraga
• Orinda

City of Pinole Fire Department

• Pinole

Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District

• Rodeo
• Hercules

Center of Excellence

In May 2003, the National Academies Emergency Dispatch designated the Contra Costa Regional Fire Communications Center as an Accredited Center of Excellence (ACE). To achieve this, the highest distinction the Academy can bestow, our center achieved and maintained all of the Academy's standards of excellence for an emergency medical dispatch communications center. The 20 points of accreditation include proper system oversight, medical control, and a quality improvement program, demanding careful protocol compliance and certification for all medical dispatchers. .

Calls for Service

In 2007, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District was dispatched to 57,428 Calls For Service, of which 46,882 were EMS calls. Call For Service is defined as a count of one if a call occurred within CCCFPD's jurisdiction (regardless of whether CCCFPD responded to it or another automatic aid partnering agency responded to handle it) plus one count for each incident that CCCFPD responded out of its jurisdiction. See a table and chart of calls for service from 1994-2007.

9-1-1 Response Protocol

Calls are first answered by the law enforcement agency dispatch center having jurisdiction and is one of the following:

• Antioch Police - For the City of Antioch and the City of Brentwood
• Concord Police - For the City of Concord and the City of Clayton
• Martinez Police - For the City of Martinez
• Pleasant Hill Police - For the City of Pleasant Hill
• Walnut Creek Police - For the City of Walnut Creek
• BART Police - For areas within BART Police jurisdiction
• East Bay Regional Parks - For areas within the East Bay Regional Parks District
• Contra Costa County Sheriff - For the City of Lafayette, Town of Moraga, El Sobrante, City of Orinda, City of Pittsburg, and all Unincorporated areas within the area covered by CCRFCC
• Pinole Police – For the City of Pinole, and City of Hercules
• Richmond Police - For the City of San Pablo
• Wireless 9-1-1 calls are currently answered by the California Highway Patrol Center located in Vallejo, however some wireless 9-1-1 calls will be answered by the municipal law enforcement agencies above in the near future.

If the caller is requesting medical assistance or reporting a fire or hazard, the call is immediately transferred over a dedicated telephone 9-1-1 trunk to the Fire Communications Center. CCRFCC dispatchers then answer the call and interrogate the caller. Along with the transferred call, the dispatcher receives on a display, the telephone number and address of the caller. CCRFCC dispatchers enter information given by the caller into a Computer Aided Dispatch system. The CAD system:

• Verifies the validity of the address range
• Provides nearest cross streets
• Provides map page and coordinates
• Determines proper units to dispatch based on incident type
• Provides information on Premise when available
• Activates the alerting system in the Fire Station and sends a printout to the station printer
• If the call is for medical assistance, the CCRFCC dispatcher will ask the caller to stay on the line and will provide "Pre-Arrival" and "Post-Dispatch" instructions.

Dialing 9-1-1 on a Cellular Phone

From your cell phone, you dial 9-1-1 and when the call is answered you may hear the words “California Highway Patrol”. The following information clarifies the process for routing 9-1-1 calls.

In Contra Costa County and cities, a 9-1-1 call from a residence or business land-line goes to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Dispatch Center. Not so for a cellular 9-1-1 phone call.

When you dial 9-1-1 from a land-line, the dispatcher will receive computer aided information such as police, fire and medical jurisdictions, telephone number making the call, and the address the call is being made from.

When a person calls 9-1-1 on a cell phone, the call is captured by the nearest cellular tower and directly routed to the nearest California Highway Patrol (CHP) dispatch center. In most of the county, calls go to the CHP dispatch center in Vallejo. When a dispatcher receives a wireless 9-1-1 call, the only information the dispatcher normally receives is the cell phone number making the call. The dispatcher will inquire as to the location of the caller and will transfer the call to the appropriate local dispatch center if needed.

If you make a cellular 9-1-1 call it is important to stay on the line and provide the dispatcher with the exact location of the emergency to ensure the help can be dispatched to the correct location. The CHP dispatch center in Vallejo received over 2 million cellular 9-1-1 calls last year. Some cellular users prefer to program their local police and fire dispatch numbers into their cell phone to speed up the emergency process, and save the loss of time involved in the transferring of the call.

Cellular phone users in these service areas can program the following local numbers into their cell phones. However, if you are outside the local service area, you will be calling the wrong dispatch center, and you will experience a transfer delay.

*auto forwards to 925-933-1313

Typical Responses

The following are the standard responses for each type of incident:

Medical-Code 2 Response - Ambulance Provider only is usually dispatched
Medical-Emergency Response - Nearest Fire Unit plus Ambulance Provider
Exterior Fires & Misc. Calls - Nearest Fire Engine
Structure Fires - Four Engines OR Three Engines and a Truck plus Battalion Chief
Vegetation Fires - Four Engines plus Battalion Chief OR Single Engine.
Vehicle Accident - Single Engine plus Ambulance Provider
Vehicle Accident with/Rescue - Single Engine, Single Truck, Battalion Chief plus Ambulance provider

The District uses a state-of-the art Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system to recommend the appropriate types of units to respond to incidents. The system also uses Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technology. The AVL makes a response recommendation based upon the closest appropriate resources to the scene of the incident, regardless of jurisdiction, allowing for the shortest response time possible. An additional benefit of AVL allows the Fire Dispatchers to visually locate all apparatus on a map and watch them driving to the scene of incidents.

Scanner Frequencies

Agencies included: Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District, Pinole Fire Department, Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District, Crockett-Carquinez Fire Protection District

F32 Lowband System

Background information about the F32 lowband system.