Fire Department Upgrades Communication System

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan unveiled $6 million in new equipment Wednesday to improve Fire Department communications, including 700 computer terminals linking the city’s 102 fire stations, 500 portable radios and 19 fax machines for fire engines.

At Fire Station No. 88 in Sherman Oaks, Riordan presented the department with equipment for a wide area network to replace the current system, which Fire Chief Bill Bamattre said relied on conference calls and pagers.

Bamattre said the new technology will cut costs and save the department more than 30,000 hours of staff time previously used to perform administrative tasks.

The fax-equipped fire trucks, for example, will be able to receive weather reports at brush fires and information on dealing with hazardous chemicals at fire sites, the department said.

The equipment was purchased with money appropriated by the City Council in the department’s regular budget.

Riordan said he was sure firefighters would adjust to the new system quickly.

“I’m confident that once they get used to using them regularly they will have no problems,” Riordan said of the computers.

Councilman Mike Feuer said the equipment is particularly important considering the city’s recent rain storms.

“This greatly enhances neighborhood service,” he said. “For example, it currently takes about a dozen phone calls and countless hours for a battalion to assess a need for sandbags during heavy rains. The wide area network will allow assessment and distribution instructions to be sent via e-mail in a matter of minutes.”

Fire Station No. 88 is the first fire station to be totally upgraded, with other stations to follow in the next few months.

And after studies which found that a comprehensive computer system would free its officers to spend more time on the streets instead of writing reports, the Los Angeles Police Department is also in the process of upgrading its computer system.

During Wednesday’s fire department unveiling, Riordan toured the station, fiddled with the new computers and watched as Battalion Chief Dennis Kean tested the new system by sending a message to another fire station. Kean, who served as coordinator for the modernization project, said the $6 million investment will please firefighters and make the department more efficient.

“There are a lot of firefighters who use their computers at home,” he said, to study topics such as search and rescue equipment and techniques. “But they never could bring it to the station. Now they can bring their disks and search-and-rescue material here to work.”