Verdugo Fire Communications Center History
The Verdugo Fire Communications Center concept dates back to 1978 when the Fire Chiefs of the Cities of Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena recognized the need for a regional communications center.
Prior to this time, the Burbank and Pasadena Fire Departments were dispatched by their Police Department Communications Centers.
Glendale Fire Department's Communications Center was located on the third floor of a Fire Station built in 1926. A Gamewell Alarm Room was installed and put into service on May 5, 1930. This alarm system connected 245 street boxes via hard-line circuits at a cost of $180,000.
This alarm system also provided the capability of ringing alarm bells in fire stations to alert personnel of a call. One bell was for the battalion chief, two bells for a single engine response, three bells for a brush fire and four bells for a full assignment. Personnel would have to slide the pole and get into their rigs to turn on the radio to hear the location and type of emergency.
The Gamewell Alarm is now located in an Arizona museum.
On August 1, 1979, Verdugo was established as the founding cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena were faced with limited local resources, voluntary mutual aid with an average 45-minute delay, unfamiliarity with neighboring cities geography, nonstandard firefighting tactics, incompatible equipment, and a lack of common radio frequencies.
The name "Verdugo" was chosen because it was generic and the Verdugo mountain range spanned the three cities. Glendale was chosen for the Center's site as it was a centralized location.
The benefits of a regional dispatch center were recognized immediately. In the first year of operation, Verdugo dispatched 19,385 calls. The agreement among the three cities included "no borders" so the closest apparatus responded to calls regardless of jurisdiction. There were now 23 fire stations in the system. Up to 15 fire engines could be dispatched to a major incident with no delay. Specialized equipment were shared among the three cities, including an Air Utility, Hazardous Materials Unit, and Urban Search and Rescue Unit.
In 1996, South Pasadena and San Marino contracted for dispatching services, which added two more fire stations to the system and an increase of approximately 2,500 calls per year. In latter 1999, the Cities of Monrovia, Arcadia and Sierra Madre joined adding 6 more fire stations to our system. April 2000 brought the City of San Gabriel into the system with an additional two fire stations.
Our regional dispatching system has been very successful, saving taxpayer dollars and providing a higher level of service to our citizens.
