MFPD News

This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, and the Montecito Fire Protection District would like to acknowledge and thank their dispatchers for their dedication, hard work, and amazing skills. “They are the heroes behind the scene, processing emergent and non-emergent calls for service on a daily basis,” said MFPD Communications Coordinator Jackie Jenkins. 

The Montecito Fire Communications Division (South Coast Dispatch) is staffed with three full-time Public Safety Dispatchers who are responsible for the receipt, documentation, and disposition of telephonic and radio calls for routine and emergency “9-1-1” situations for both the Montecito and Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Districts. The Dispatch Center is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. It is the responsibility of the Public Safety dispatcher to identify the nature of your call as quickly as possible and assist the caller in solving the problem. The Dispatcher is the critical link between the citizen and the firefighters, as they are responsible for obtaining information from the caller and transferring that information to the firefighters and emergency personnel. Because each incoming call is unique and can vary from requests for general information to reports of life threatening incidents, the Dispatcher must ask specific questions to accurately prioritize the call and assign it appropriately to emergency responders. “The faster this critical information is obtained determines how quickly firefighters are able to respond,” Jenkins added.

Montecito Fire Protection District is extremely proud of its Dispatchers, and recognizes the daily sacrifices they make to provide excellent service to the communities they serve.