MINTO – Council here has approved a move to having local fire dispatch services entirely handled from Guelph.
On April 16, council authorized an agreement to provide full fire dispatch services to Minto Fire.
Guelph Fire Dispatch currently provides basic level dispatching services for the local department, explained Fire Chief and acting CAO Chris Harrow in a report.
This level includes answering of Minto’s 9-1-1 calls, paging out the appropriate station and acknowledging when firefighters are back in service after the incident is complete.
“The agreement has worked well and Guelph Fire has provided excellent service to us,” stated Harrow in the report.
The report notes all fire departments in Wellington County are currently dispatched by Guelph Fire, with Centre Wellington, Puslinch and Guelph-Eramosa utilizing full dispatch services.
Full dispatch services involve entire calls being monitored and answered by Guelph, with all trucks en route to the scene, at the scene and after the incident responding directly to Guelph Fire Dispatch.
Currently Minto trucks all radio back to a person sitting in its dispatch room at the local fire hall.
“This works well as long as we have someone available, which currently happens most of the time,” stated Harrow.
“However, we feel it would be a better service if we moved to full dispatching services at this time. It would not only give us professional, reliable service all of the time, but it would also free up another person to perform other roles during an incident.
“The other added benefit is all of our times will be digitally stamped and kept on a proper record,” Harrow told council. “And all of our calls will be recorded on their brand new recording system they have down there in Guelph.”
Harrow noted the switch will not displace firefighters who currently handle dispatching duties, as they will be assigned other duties.
The move will come at a cost, as Minto currently pays Guelph $1.25 per capita for dispatching services, approximately $9,000 annually. That rate would rise to $2.25 per capita for full dispatching service or about $19,500.
Harrow noted the increase was included in the department’s 2019 operating budget.
