Fire department presents Q3 data; regional dispatch center begins operations

Chris Mails, Fire Chief for the Santa Barbara City Fire Department, and Brian Fetterman, operations division chief, gave the commission the department’s quarter‑three incident and operations report at the Oct. 23 meeting.

Chief Mails said the quarter covered the department’s first full quarter operating with the new regional fire communication center (RFCC), which the department moved into June 3. He said the RFCC uses GPS and closest‑resource dispatching and that more detailed dashboards — including which jurisdiction handled individual calls, dispatch time, turnout and travel times — will be available as the RFCC’s data tools mature.

Fetterman presented the Q3 statistics (July 1–Sept. 30): 3,067 calls for the quarter; 54 fires; 2,126 rescue/EMS calls (including vehicle accidents); 123 hazardous‑condition calls; 52 service calls; 531 good‑intent calls (many of which were canceled en route); and 181 false alarms. Quarterly turnout times averaged roughly 78–83 seconds across shifts. Training hours were high for the quarter — about 3,700 hours — attributed in the report to newer firefighters finishing probation and completing final testing. Community outreach reached about 2,098 members during the quarter through events such as the Fiesta Children’s Parade, National Night Out, Senior Expo and school fire‑safety events.

Fetterman and the chief emphasized regional collaboration with Santa Barbara County Fire, Montecito and Carpinteria for joint drills and for operating under the RFCC. The department cautioned that some calls handled by other agencies (County or Montecito) because they were the closest resource may not appear in the city’s department‑only report; the RFCC dashboard is expected to provide clearer cross‑jurisdictional attribution in future reporting.

Commissioners asked no substantive follow‑up questions; the item was presented for information.