A month earlier, County Fire Coordinator, Al Mann was at council asking for approval of his request. At the time, Mayor Marc Coombs promised an answer in December.
The County will send out a request for proposals if enough support is elicited from the lower-tier councils. The proposals will be asked to consider infrastructure needs and costs.
In March, 2008 the county had a fire communication/dispatch network study completed. It was followed by a needs analysis study and a design alternatives review.
The result was a recommendation that the county go to a three-channel VHF simulcast system worth about $2 million. The request received by Cramahe Council on Tuesday night stated a preference for an in-house centralized system over the use of a private provider.
In the September, 2009 Design Alternatives Report prepared by KVA Communications, the estimated annual operating costs in a purpose-built building would be $1.1 million.
The report appears to differ with the fire chiefs in its preferred approach. The report states, "On the other hand, establishing a purpose-built central Fire Dispatching facility does not seem to make economic sense, purely on the basis of personnel costs approaching $ 1,000,000 per year.
The KVA Report only suggests consdieration of an in-house approach, "If a suitable and affordable external facility cannot be located,... with a focus towards minimizing the operating costs."
Current emergency dispatch staffing costs paid by the lower-tier municipalities are about $380,000. Even though fire protection is a lower-tier function, the proposed system would be operated by the county.
Currently Cramahe is covered by a dispatcher in Port Hope. Within the county there are three different services providing fire dispatch. Cobourg looks after its own and the needs of Alnwick/Haldimand. Brighton and Trent Hills contract out their dispatch to a Sudbury-based company.
By approving the request for proposal made on December 1 by Cramahe Fire Chief, Gary Cammack, council did not commit to the expenditure of any money on a new dispatch service.
In an April, 2009 needs analysis report the top ten problem areas were - dispatching, radio coverage, channel monitoring with pagers, connecting with the county co-ordinator, paging coverage, channel congestion, interoperability, equipment problems, costs, coverage for portables.
In Cramahe the Cramahe Fire Department provides first response fire services for the entire municipality except for a portion along the northern border, which is covered by Warkworth. The department is also responsible for Highway 401 east to Brighton and west to Grafton.
There are two fire stations, Colborne and Castleton; however, due to the limited population base in the central area, there are fewer volunteers for the Castleton Hall. There are a total of 28 firefighters.
The Department has seven Fire vehicles, each equipped with a mobile radio, except for the Rescue Van in Colborne which has two radios, since it is used as a command post. There are 13 portables and 3 base units (Colborne Station has two units). The base radio antenna is roof-mounted at Castleton and at Colborne there are two self-support towers beside the fire hall, which are used to hold the two antennas.
An incoming 9-1-1 call for the Cramahe Fire Department is received at the Port Hope Police Communications Centre and the dispatcher alerts the volunteer firefighters. The coverage area is divided into two response zones, North and South; however, due to the limited resources, there is only one paging group and all volunteers are alerted.
The normal procedure is for the firefighters to report to their local fire hall and one is designated the “radio operator”. He stays back at the Station and provides support for the deployed fire crews.
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