We serve a combined population of 875,000 covering an area of nearly 134 square miles. There are 43 fire stations with over 170 pieces of equipment, and last fiscal year Verdugo dispatched over 63,000 incidents.
Dialing 9-1-1 in any of the cities served by Verdugo Fire Communications Center connects a caller to local police or to CHP dispatchers (for those calling near freeway cell sites), who determine the nature of the emergency and transfer fire and paramedic calls to Verdugo.
When an emergency call comes into Verdugo, a dispatcher enters the pertinent details into the computer and these are immediately transmitted via radio to whichever fire station is being dispatched. Emergency personnel are on the road within a minute or two of receiving the radio call and remain in constant radio contact with the Communications Center as additional details are received.
There are a minimum of two dispatchers and one supervisor per shift with an overlap shift from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Regular shifts are twelve hours and begin either at 6:30 a.m. or 6:30 p.m.
Visitors from communication centers and fire departments around the world have toured our facility, including groups from Australia, China, England, Japan and Russia as well as many dispatchers from all over the United States.
