Fire Communication Center

The Fire Communication Center (FCC) is the vital link between the public and the fire suppression force. Through a modern system of telephone and radio communications, operators at the FCC receives fire and emergency calls through the City's Enhanced 911 system (E911) and immediately dispatches the appropriate companies to handle the calls. Once a dispatch has been made, responsibility for the incident shifts to the incident commander (IC) in the field, but the operators remain in radio contact with the IC and provide support services until all units are back in quarters.	Old Communication Console
New Dispatch Workstation	In March 1999, the FCC began a total transformation beginning with an infrastructure upgrade including electrical, air conditioning, flooring, painting, lighting, and partitioning work. The dispatch workstations were then replaced with a modular system to accept the new 800 MHz dispatch equipment, a new Computer Aided Dispatch System (CADS), and the new personal computer-based E911 equipment. A new computer driven audio recording system was also installed to record all telephone and radio communications.
Assistance in the field is often required from other agencies such as the Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu Emergency Medical Services Department, Poison Control Center, the Crisis Center, the U.S. Coast Guard, Oahu Civil Defense Agency, Hawaiian Electric Company, Honolulu International Airport, and Honolulu Harbor Control Center. The FCC has direct phone and radio communication to all of these agencies.
A Battalion Chief heads the FCC. They work a normal 40-hour per week schedule. The rest of the bureau personnel are divided into four shifts and work a rotating 24 hour work schedule with three days off. Each shift consists of a Captain, a Firefighter III, and three Fire Fighter IIs. The bureau is staffed like any fire station, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and handles approximately 35,000 fire, emergency medical and rescue alarms a year.	New Workstation