As construction of the new Regional Fire Communications Center continues, County Fire and Office of Emergency Management staff have expressed excitement for the new center that’s anticipated to begin operations on July 1, County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig told Noozhawk.

Construction for the new center — which will officially be named the Santa Barbara County Emergency Operations Center and Regional Fire Communications Center — began in April and is expected to be complete by June 21.

Kelly Hubbard, director of the Office of Emergency Management, said that a lot of the foundational work has been done and they’re expecting to see walls going up soon.

The new communications center is an expansion of the current Emergency Operations Center at 4408 Cathedral Oaks Road and will consolidate nearly all fire and emergency medical dispatch in the county into one location.

Hartwig said that the only fire agencies that will not be involved in the dispatch center are the Vandenberg Fire Department and the U.S. Forest Service. 

Otherwise, Hartwig said the new center will allow for a boundary drop for every other fire resource in the county — the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District, the Santa Barbara City Fire Department, the Montecito Fire Protection District, the Lompoc Fire Department, the Guadalupe Fire District and the Santa Maria Fire Department — providing a “borderless” response where the closest resource will respond to emergencies, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries.

“Generally, from the Fire Chiefs Association and the operational area chiefs, there’s a lot of excitement,” Hartwig said. “We’re all looking forward to it and spending a lot of time right now to make sure that we’re ready for July 1 [when it opens].”

Hartwig said they are working on the transition plan that takes dispatch services from the existing center at the Sheriff’s Office headquarters to the new Regional Fire Communications Center, and the county’s fire chiefs have been at the County Fire headquarters to work on the plan and come up with standardized response procedures since each agency currently has its own way of responding to emergencies.

While the new center will not be ready by the time the ambulance services contract transitions to County Fire in March, Hartwig said ambulances will continue to dispatch from the current dispatch center until the new Regional Fire Communications Center opens in July.

“As part of the launch, dispatch call-takers will be hired and trained to answer 95% of 9-1-1 calls within 15 seconds of the first ring,” officials said on the county’s website. “The call-takers will provide each emergency call received with appropriate assistance, including pre-arrival instructions.”

Meanwhile, the expansion for the current Emergency Operations Center is set to include a new, larger Joint Information Center and call center to be activated during emergencies to answer questions and provide information for the public and the media.

Hubbard said the Office of Emergency Management is “kind of ready for [the expanded Joint Information Center and call center], in a way.”

She said previous incidents have required a larger Joint Information Center — such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they were receiving more than 400 to 600 calls each day — and the Emergency Operations Center already has purchased the equipment needed to support a larger call center, such as phones and headsets, as well as fiber optic cables.

When a larger call center has been needed, Hubbard said they have brought in trailers from the Sheriff’s Office or rented in order to expand the space.

“We have been able to expand as needed, but it’s not ideal, so this new call center will be great,” Hubbard said. “We’re super excited.”

She added that the current Joint Information Center will be used as an area for outside agencies to come in for enhanced collaboration. Additionally, the expansion will include a new entryway for the overall building and support administrative offices for the dispatch center.

According to the county, the estimated project costs total more than $17.6 million, and the center is being built by Santa Maria-based Edwards Construction Group.