On April 25, the County of Santa Barbara broke ground on the Regional Fire Communications Center which includes an expansion of the Emergency Operations Center. The Regional Fire Communications Center and Emergency Operations Center expansion is being added onto the existing Emergency Operations Center building located at 4408 Cathedral Oaks Road in Santa Barbara. The construction of the Center is an important step towards the creation of a dispatch center dedicated to calls for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and fire response. This change in dispatch functions was first approved by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on July 12, 2017.
The Center will provide dispatch services for all emergency medical services as well as seven fire departments in the county: Santa Barbara County Fire Department, Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District, Santa Barbara City Fire Department, Montecito Fire Protection District, Lompoc Fire Department, Guadalupe Fire Protection District, and Santa Maria Fire Department.
This Dispatch Center will use the existing frequencies from these Fire Departments as Command Nets within their perspective jurisdictions. The Center will be called “CENTRAL” instead of Control. The CalFIRE Frequency Plan will reflect the frequency changes in Zone 37.