The Ventura County Fire Protection District earlier this month updated the Board of Supervisors on steps the agency is taking to improve computer aided dispatch service.
At the board’s Nov. 8 meeting, Chief Mark Lorenzen requested board members approve a five-year contract extension with TriTech Software Systems for computer aided dispatch and mobile computer system software maintenance, and on-site support.
The amendment will cost a total of $4.8 million, and extend the district’s agreement with the company through Nov. 14, 2021. Under the contract, the county will use TriTech’s VisiCAD System and VisiNet Mobile System and Support.
In collaboration with the local Emergency Service Agency, Fire Protection consolidated all emergency dispatch functions for the county and Oxnard City into a single communication center, which opened in 2006.
The district originally purchased TriTech’s system in 2005 to be used in the consolidated communication center, and since initial implementation, the county board has approved two contract extensions with the company for CAD and mobile system services.
Lengthening its contract term with TriTech for a third time isn’t the only thing the Fire Protection District has in store for its CAD solution. At the meeting, Lorenzen elaborated on the district’s plans to establish interoperability with neighboring counties' dispatch systems.
"We are currently in discussion with Santa Barbara County who has the same CAD vendor, and we are talking informally with L.A. County and City to do the same thing, so at some point in time all of our systems will be truly interoperable,” Lorenzen explained.
Board Chair Linda Parks highlighted the effective communication fire departments throughout the state have accomplished and noted that making the systems interoperable is the one thing the district “needs to pop.”
Lorenzen said the ultimate goal of the project would be to have a system in place that always dispatches the closest resource for the benefit of communities and citizens.
