Director's Monthly Report

June, 2013

 

During the month of May, 2013, the Department of Emergency Services processed 22,913 telephone calls; 791 fire incidents; 3,260 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) incidents; and 29,249 police incidents. The average dispatch time for fire and EMS was 1 minute and 35 seconds. The average dispatch time for police incidents was one minute and 30 seconds. We conducted 382 formal quality reviews for telephone, radio, and emergency medical dispatch. The combined weighted average of 98% remains above the Department objective of 90% and well above the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency's requirement of 80%. COMM-1, the Department's mobile communications vehicle, deployed twice during the month. The first time was in conjunction with the Incident Support Team (IST) for a barricaded subject in West Whiteland Township. The second was for a gasoline tanker fire in West Goshen Township. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) -mandated re-banding project contiues with an anticipated completion date of February, 2014.  The major activity is focused on completing mobile (vehicle mounted) radio installations.  Of the 1,432 mobile radios, 931 (65%) have been installed. We continue to work wit the interested parties at South Coatesville; Embreeville (West Bradford Township); West Vincent Township; and White Clay Creek in London Britian Township concerning new towers for the Vocie Radio Project.  White Clay Creek continues to be the most difficult. Data  connectivity equipment has been delivered and is being installed fo rthe new Computer Aided Dispatch Systems (CADS).  Cutover is anticipated in July 2014; and system acceptance should be in November 2014.

Site Work for the Tactical Village at the Public Safety Training Campus should be completed in June. The construction bid package for the Tactical Village is being compiled with an issue target of July and planned contract award in October. We should be ready for Training at the Tactical Village by late 2014. The environmental study required by the $3.7 million U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) grant for the Range at the Public Safety Training Campus will be conducted by Weston Solutions in Exton. Once that study is completed and approved by DOT we can begin the process of hiring the architect. This will probably be late this year. In May, we hosted 834 people at 41 events at the Public Safety Training Campus.