By MARY WESTON – Staff Writer, Oroville Mercury Register (California), November 4, 2011

OROVILLE, CALIFORNIA — When you have a car crash, a fire, a fall or another emergency in the city, your call for help will be answered by a dispatcher at the Oroville Police Department.

The new combined Oroville police and fire dispatch station began fielding calls at 7 a.m. Tuesday, and Oroville Police Chief Bill LaGrone said the transition has gone smoothly.

“At this time, I don’t think the community has even noticed the change, and that was our goal,” LaGrone said by telephone on Wednesday.

In the early 1990s, the city outsourced dispatch for the Oroville Fire Department to the Cal Fire-Butte County command center. What was to be a temporary agreement for dispatch became permanent because of economic factors, LaGrone said.

In April, the City Council approved a proposal by LaGrone and Oroville Fire Chief Charles Hurley to consolidate city police and fire dispatch. The idea was to expand the existing dispatch station at the police and fire station on Lincoln Street and update the dispatch equipment in order to bring fire dispatch services back to the city.

The council’s decision began a long road to remodel the dispatch room and equip it with a new computer-aided dispatch and records management system to accommodate both police and fire calls.

Police and fire staff worked together to develop a plan and carry it out. Two new dispatchers were added to the team to provide consolidated dispatch services with two dispatchers on duty 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

“The dispatchers are doing a very good job,” LaGrone said. “I think our dispatchers had some anxiety at first, but when they starting taking calls, they did a very good job.”

The dispatch and response time for public safety calls has met with the city’s expectations.

For example, dispatch received a call reporting a traffic accident at Oro Dam Boulevard and Zephyr Way Thursday at 2:43 p.m., and the first fire engine and rescue team was at the accident in three minutes.

“That was our goal,” LaGrone said.

Another advantage to the new dispatch and radio system is that the center can accommodate dispatch for other agencies or transfer city dispatch services to another dispatch center.

For example, Wednesday and Thursday the Gridley Police Department will be undergoing some remodeling, so two Gridley dispatchers will be at the Oroville dispatch center fielding calls from the Gridley area.

Likewise, Oroville police and fire dispatch could be handled at another dispatch center if needed.

The city is also working with the El Medio Fire Department to provide dispatch.

The center will start dispatching calls for El Medio in December or January.

“We wanted to get it started and let the dispatchers become more familiar with it before we took on new responsibilities,” LaGrone said.

LaGrone said they have been working closely with the Fire Department as the new center went online. Battalion Chief Dean Hill was assigned to the center earlier this week to help with any issues about fire calls.

Copyright © 2011 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.