High-Tech Fire Dispatch Center Opens

The tour of the Ventura County Fire Department’s new communications center was a bit hard to follow unless you were up on the latest in computer-aided communications technology, but the underlying message came through loud and clear--this stuff is state of the art.

On Thursday, the department held an open house taking guests on tours of the new facility located at the Camarillo Airport in a one-story building loaded with computer displays and radio equipment.

The new center, which has the latest in computer-aided dispatch equipment, computer mapping technology and sophisticated radios, cost about $416,000 to put together. The center will be paid for with proceeds from a local half-cent sales tax earmarked for public safety agencies.

The center, which is open 24 hours a day, replaces the old communications center that officials said was too small, said Fire Capt. Mike Lindbery. The center keeps a minimum of five personnel on duty during the day and three at night, Lindbery said.

Fire officials said in the last 10 years the department has had a 68% increase in the number of emergency calls. Last year the department received about 31,000 calls.