Communications Division
The mission of the Fire and EMS Communications Division is to provide the citizens and visitors of the City of Bossier with prompt, accurate dispatching of firefighting, rescue and medical equipment and personnel in order to minimize the impact of fire, disaster, hazardous conditions, illness and injury through information, quality service, and proper utilization of resources. The Communications Center of the Bossier City Fire Department is a stand-alone, 24-hour emergency communications center. The Communications Center is responsible for matching the public's request for service with the resources of the Fire Department and assuring prompt response to fire and medical emergencies.
The Communications Division has a Chief of Communications, four Shift Supervisors and eight Fire Communications Officers. All Fire Communications Officers must pass extensive hiring and training procedures and are required to be certified APCO Public Safty Telecommunicators, Emergency Medical Dispatchers, and Fire Service Coummicators, and First Responders. Many have, or are pursuing, additional certification as Basic Emergency Medical Technicians and most are certified Firefighter 1.
In 2011, Fire Communications Officers processed 9,233 actual emergency response calls in addition to the hundreds of routine, non-emergency calls. Over 99.62% of the calls were answered within 15 seconds and dispatched within 60 seconds. This quick response helped our department maintain a Class 1 insurance rating.
In 2002, the Bossier City Fire Department upgraded its communications center by adopting emergency medical dispatching. This means our team of communications officers is trained to provide emergency medical instructions to assist persons until response units arrive on scene. The center also relocated to a new state-of-the-art and innovatively designed self-sustaining facility next to the central fire department.
This transition follows many other communications improvements made within recent years. During that time the department has installed a system to store and retrieve emergency medical records, and implemented a new department-wide system for managing information. Mobile Data Browsers (MDB's) were installed in all response vehicles in order to provide dispatch information directly to responders. In addition, the computers at each fire station have been connected to the City's Wide Area Network.
The Communications Center is also responsible for the management of the Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD). The CAD system provides department communications officers with fire and EMS unit configuration recommendations, unit status, and incident tracking for all emergency incidents. Since its installation in 1995, the CAD system has proven to be a powerful tool in effectively managing department resources and emergency personnel.
The Communications Division encourages both positive and negative feedback concerning citizen interaction with members of our agency. Please do not hesitate to commend an employee or file a complaint when necessary. If you have a complaint, comment, or commendation, please contact Chief Don Taylor, Internal Affairs, at 318-549-4520.
