County Takes Over Chatham Fire Dept. Dispatching

CHATHAM – The Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office took over the fire department’s dispatching duties Monday.

“Everything’s going really well,” Chief Justin Tavano said on Tuesday.

 The change should be seamless for residents. Calls to 911 for the fire and police departments have been answered by the sheriff’s office for some time. Calls to the fire department’s 508-945-2323 number will also be answered by the county, while calls to the department’s business line, 508-945-2324, will be answered at the Depot Road fire station. 

 Tavano said 911 callers will be asked if their emergency involves fire, medical or police; if the latter, the call will be transferred to the police department, which continues to do its own dispatching. If the call is for a fire or medical emergency, the sheriff's office will gather information and dispatch the call to the Depot Road fire station.

 The change frees up a member of the fire department who would otherwise be assigned to dispatch duty on each shift, Tavano said. 

 “It puts another body on the floor to respond to calls,” he said. That meant that Monday when two ambulance calls came in, the necessary personnel was available to respond to both immediately.

 The change has been in the works for some time. Some computer and software upgrades were required, Tavano said, but they were minor since the department already works with the county on 911 calls and in coordinating mutual aid responses with other towns.

 “It’s a pretty efficient operation up there,” he said of the Sheriff’s Office emergency communications center, located at Joint Base Cape Cod. “The actually have positions whose only responsibility is to answer calls, and positions whose only responsibility is to dispatch calls.”

 The change was expected to cost between $55,000 and $100,000 annually, but would be offset by freeing up one firefighter per shift.

 Monitors have been set up around the station that will display call information, including the address and a map showing the location, when it comes in from the county, he said. 

 In the short term, a staff member will remain in the station to address walk-ins, but by April if all firefighters are out on calls, there will be a phone in the lobby via which people can contact the 911 dispatch center, Tavano said.

 He urged people to call 911, no matter what their emergency. 

 “People should never hesitate to call 911,” he said.