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The City of Morgan Hill, as a political subdivision of Santa Clara County, has taken the necessary
planning efforts to ensure that hazard mitigation strategies and investments meet the needs of
the city. CPSM recognizes the emergency preparedness and hazard mitigation strategies of the
City of Morgan Hill and Santa Clara County as a
Best Practice
. The level of effort we observed
and the degree of coordination is truly commendable.
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER (ECC)
The City of Morgan Hill operates its Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) at the Morgan Hill Police
Department. 911 calls that originate from landlines within the City are received at the Police
Center. Fire calls that are received by the Police Center are then routed to the CAL FIRE
Emergency Command Center, which is located on the CAL FIRE campus on Monterey Street.
When the city Police Dispatch Center receives an EMS call, it is first routed to the County 911
Center, which is operated by the Santa Clara County Communication Center. The County 911
Center is responsible for screening all EMS calls and will then dispatch a County Ambulance and
advise the CAL FIRE Center of an EMS call that requires a fire response. All calls originating in the
District are routed through the County 911 Center and on the basis of the call type will be
processed by either County 911 or CAL FIRE.
The CAL FIRE Emergency Command Center is operated by CAL FIRE communication operators
and supervised by a Captain who also serves as the Duty Officer. The center is operated on a
24/7 basis, with a minimum staffing of one dispatcher during nonpeak periods and up to three
personnel during peak periods. The center is designed to handle CAL FIRE operations during
wildfire events. Dispatchers are not trained to the EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatching) level
but have limited training on dealing with EMS calls. CAL FIRE dispatchers do not typically talk with
callers who have EMS complaints. The center does not utilize a quality assurance process to
evaluate the actions of its dispatch operations. The center does not routinely establish any call
prioritizations, and subsequently most CAL FIRE units respond hot (lights and sirens) on most
assignments. CAL FIRE units do not talk directly with County EMS units and any unit radio contact
must be first processed through the Dispatch Center. CAL FIRE units carry an additional portable
radio to enable direct communications with County EMS units. Santa Clara County is attempting
to institute a pilot program to facilitate unit-to-unit radio communications between fire and EMS;
however, at the date of this report the pilot program has not been implemented.
The current dispatching operations utilized by CAL FIRE appears redundant and may be more
efficiently operated through a cooperative agreement between Santa Clara County or a joint
dispatching operation with neighboring jurisdictions. The CAL FIRE command center appears to
have wildland dispatch and air operations as its primary focus rather than day-to-day EMS
operations and structural firefighting.
Recommendation: Morgan Hill and SSCCFD should initiate discussions with CAL FIRE
regarding options that can achieve greater efficiencies and operability in their fire and
EMS dispatch operations.