Fire calls originating in Markham are now being routed through a dispatch service in Barrie.
Barrie and Markham have announced more details about a new partnership between their respective fire departments that will see Barrie handle dispatch calls for the York Region municipality.
During a Zoom call on Wednesday, Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman, Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti, Markham Fire and Emergency Services (MFES) Fire Chief Adam Grant, and Barrie Fire and Emergency Services Fire Chief Cory Mainprize spoke about the transition of Markham’s 24/7 emergency call-taking and dispatch service to Barrie.
The new deal began last Thursday and has made things easier for Markham residents because Barrie Fire is already linked electronically to the Central Ambulance Communications Centre (CACC).
Mainprize said the elimination of several steps has helped speed up emergency response times.
“As (the CACC) receive their call-in information and enter it into their system, we can see it in ours and simultaneously. We can then dispatch our apparatus at the same time as EMS service providers and now Markham will be doing the same thing,” Mainprize said. “When we implemented that system here in Barrie, it was about a two to two-and-half-minute difference in response times.”
If you live in Markham and require firefighters, you dial 911 and that call will be automatically transferred through to Barrie Fire.
Lehman acknowledged that being an emergency dispatcher in a tense situation involves a unique skill set and a system like this should help highlight those skills.
“It is so important that at the difficult moment in their lives, when people reach out with an emergency call, that the person at the end is able to assist them and do so in so many ways,” said Lehman. “Not just by providing the critical information that is needed to dispatch help, but to stay on the line and support them.”
Lehman said it will be a fee-for-service deal where Markham pays Barrie to take over its calls.
“They’ll be paying us based on call volume. It's a straight economy of scale, but the impact does essentially lower the cost for the taxpayer in Barrie,” the mayor said.
Once the person informs the dispatcher of their emergency, they will send crews out within 60 seconds of the call.
Scarpitti said there will be benefits on two levels.
“We would have had to make a significant investment in equipment to get ready for the enhanced network 911, so that capital cost has been avoided,” Scarpitti said. “And then because of the ongoing operational commitment of our stand-alone system in the City of Markham, again that would have added cost to our operations where this is actually saving us money.”
Over the next 10 years, Grant said the savings would add up to between $10 million and $13 million.
“There is a cost, as well, for us to contract the service from Barrie. But that will be the savings to the citizens of Markham and we’re quite proud of that as well because, as the mayor said, not only are we saving and increasing our levels of service, but we’re leveraging our partnership with an industry expert," he said.
