City of Morgan Hill Public Safety Master Plan

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.

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