STUART — With a video monitor wall and ergonomic office space, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Rescue revamped their shared dispatch center, after almost 20 years, to help reduce emergency response time.
First envisioned in 2022 and with five months in the making, the project culminated May 29, adding updated software, equipment and more screens to a communications and dispatch center on the second floor of the Sheriff’s Office, 800 Southeast Monterey Road.
“We updated much equipment to include electronics, consoles, lighting, make it a little bit more comfortable for (dispatchers),” sheriff’s Dispatch Assistant Manager Kelli Pfeifle said.
The $2 million project was paid for with $1 million in grants to the Sheriff’s Office and the remained by Martin County government, according to Capt. Matthew Immordino of the sheriff’s Administrative Operations Division.
“You don’t want to have to do this again in 10 years, 20 years down the road, so we put the best technology we could possibly afford that made sense cost-effectively,” Immordino said. “We wanted to make sure that it was future proof so that we didn’t have to rip this whole thing up again.”
Originally built in 2007, the Sheriff’s and Fire Rescue administrative offices have shared the communications room.
With more calls per day and deteriorating furniture, the remodeling allows dispatchers to work more comfortably and efficiently, Pfeifle explained.
The room’s layout changed to relay information more efficiently, according to Martin County Fire Rescue Division Chief David Hays.
“We’ve moved the room supervisor into the middle so that way they can have better situational awareness of what’s going on,” Hays said. “We’ve been able to add additional positions, so when we have large-scale events or catastrophic disasters, such as hurricanes or even the tornadoes of a couple years ago, we’re able to upstaff and we have room to bring those individuals on.”
Making the space more comfortable for the dozens of dispatchers that keep the center running 24/7 during 12-hour shifts was also a goal for the remodeling of the room they call a second home.
“The dispatchers are where the emergency begins and oftentimes, they call them the ‘calm voice behind the scenes,’” Hays, said. “What we’ve tried to accomplish in this room is provide them with that tranquil environment, that calmness.”
Dimmable lights and more space for coffee breaks were included, to help dispatchers manage stress.
“We have some ambient noise in the background for peace, which is nice for relaxation because we do need it sometimes,” Brandi Baldasty, said Martin County Fire Rescue senior telecommunicator. “We live here and with these people half our life, so it just makes those things that much better.”
Emergency phone lines opened at the new facility on June 3, Pfeifle said.
A seamless relay of information
The highlight is a sizable video monitor spanning across the center’s south wall.
The wall-turned-monitor displays maps, camera footage and information from different divisions allowing dispatchers, supervisors and other officers to share feedback during rapidly developing emergencies.
“That information is getting fed down into the real time crime center through all of their investigative means,” Immordino said. “Then they can actually pump that information up into the dispatch center real time instead of having to worry about calling down or radioing down, back and forth.”
The seamless relay of information between the communications center and the real time crime center, a division monitoring crime through databases, cameras and other technology, will better inform deputies on the field.
The synergy envisioned to connect the different teams has already been put in practice through the video wall monitor, according to Hays.
“We had a structure fire yesterday and they actually had two individuals from their drone team respond to that structure fire,” Hays said. “We were able to use their drones with their thermal imaging and view from an aerial view of different hotspots and that’s just how we strive to work together as a public safety entity.”
Across the room, Fire Rescue ramped up the number of screens at their disposal. Four screens display department updates, radar information, intersection cameras and maps, according to Baldasty.
Reducing response times when a 911 call comes in
Whether it’s a home on fire or a store burglary, when someone dials 911 in Martin County, Sheriff’s Office dispatchers pick up the phone.
“The dispatcher obviously is going to immediately determine if you need police, fire, or medical,” Pfeifle said. “(We) immediately ask for your phone number and as soon as we have the basic information of what it is, one dispatcher is taking the call and another dispatcher is dispatching that deputy.”
When a call is transferred to Fire Rescue, another dispatcher across the room coordinates with first responders to aid, always staying on the line with the caller.
“On the Fire Rescue side, just us alone, we answer about 66,000 calls annually in that room,” Hays said. “That burden is taken on by about 20 dispatchers. We run five during the day and four at night.”
The goal is to answer 100% of the calls within 15 seconds and send help in under 80 seconds. The Martin County Fire Rescue has achieved that goal consistently in the past years, in line with National Fire Protection Association guidelines, according to Hays.
Similarly, Sheriff’s office dispatchers are trained to get important information such as an address and a rundown of the situation to send deputies within 3 minutes of picking up the phone to a high-priority or in-progress call.
In most calls, deputies are dispatched within that time frame, according to Martin County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer, Trisha Green.
Automated dispatch systems have also helped the personnel in the center to reduce response times.
“By changing our call-taking software, we were able to control it and tier it for what Martin County’s needs are,” Hays said. “We track when our units receive the call to when they respond. Per NFPA, during the daytime, it’s 60 seconds, nighttime, it’s 90 seconds. We consistently meet that 60-second mark on a monthly average.”
Beyond the high-tech and efficiency, the renovation’s goal was to better equip dispatchers to keep emergency response below 3 minutes. The entire project was envisioned to better serve the Martin County community, according to Pfeifle.
“We do this for them. We answer the calls for them,” Pfeifle said. “The center is for them in the event that they need law enforcement, fire rescue, anything like that. We’re here to serve them and we’re doing what we can do to get that done as quick as possible.”
Adrian Jimenez-Morales is a reporter for TCPalm/ Treasure Coast Newspapers. You can reach him at adrian.jimenez@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida county revamps emergency dispatch center for $2 million
Reporting by Adrian Jimenez Morales, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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By Adrian Jimenez Morales, Treasure Coast Newspapers | USA TODAY Network
