TO: PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE,
AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT
COMMITTEE
FROM: Robert Sapien, Jr.
SUBJECT: Fire Department
Communications Annual
Report
DATE: January 29, 2026
Approved Date:
2/11/2026
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the annual report on Fire Department Communications activities.
BACKGROUND
The San José Fire Department (Department) is a high-volume, all-hazards fire department providing fire suppression and rescue services, Advanced Life Support, and Basic Life Support services, as well as specialized operations resources, including Urban Search and Rescue, Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting, and a Hazardous Incident Team. The Department deploys resources from 34 fire stations, with minimum daily staffing levels of 190 personnel operating on 34 Engine companies, nine Truck companies, three Rescue medic units, and six command officers (Battalion Chiefs). The Department’s frontline personnel protect 208 square miles, including 181 square miles within city limits and approximately 27 square miles of unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County by contract.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-2025, the Department’s Fire Communications Division was staffed1 by 1.0 Division Manager, 3.0 Supervising Public Safety Dispatchers (Supervising PSD), 11.0 Senior Public Safety Dispatchers (Senior PSD), and 30.48 Public Safety Radio Dispatchers. Dispatch personnel assigned to Fire Communications Operations monitor, dispatch, and track the movement of over 100 frontline apparatus responding from 34 fire stations. Additionally, Fire Communications has 1.0 Senior Office Specialist and 1.0 Analyst who provide administrative and analytical support within the Division. During this period, Fire Communications answered 107,119 9-1-1 1 To address Fire Communications call processing performance, recruitment, and training challenges, 2.0 Public Safety Communication Specialist positions were added through the 2025-2026 Adopted Budget.
PSFSS COMMITTEE AGENDA: 2/19/26
ITEM: (d)2
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
and 10-digit emergency line calls2, and dispatched and supported 111,372 emergency incidents – resulting in a 3.97% increase in 9-1-1 and 10-digit emergency line calls answered in comparison to FY 2023-2024, and a 1.19% increase in emergency incidents.
Dispatchers utilize the Fire Priority Dispatch System (FPDS) 3 and Medical Priority
Dispatch System (MPDS)
4 to ask callers a series of triage questions to identify the nature of the emergency. Based on this information, the dispatcher determines the appropriate resources needed, initiates resource dispatch and maintains communication with the caller to provide life-saving instructions.
Table 1 below shows Fire Communications FPDS and MPDS Call-Taking Compliance for FY 2024-2025 compared to the worldwide Accredited Center of Excellence averages. Compared to FY 2023-2024, Fire Communications had a 1% decrease in FPDS call-taking compliance and a 1% increase in MPDS call-taking compliance while the worldwide average had a 0.21% increase in FPDS call-taking compliance and an average 0.20% increase in MPDS call-taking compliance. Fire Communications’ compliance rates remain well above the worldwide Accredited Center of Excellence averages.
Table 1: FY 2024-2025 Fire Department Call-Taking Compliance5 Protocol
Fire
Communications
Average of all Accredited
Centers of Excellence
Worldwide
Fire Priority Dispatch System 94% 87.88%
Medical Priority Dispatch System 96% 88.63%
ANALYSIS
While Fire Communications maintains commendably high-performance levels, authorized staffing numbers and public safety answering point capacity have not kept pace with increased service demands. This limited capacity is most visible in 9-1-1 call answer time compliance and disconnected call rates, measured as “abandoned call rates.” Abandoned 9-1-1 call rates peaked in FY 2022-2023 at 19.38%. These rates then decreased in FY 2023-2024 from 16.00% to 10.26% in FY 2024-2025. In addition, 2 Calls categorized under the “10-digit emergency line” are calls made to (408) 277-8991 and a non-published number maintained for emergency call transfers in accordance with Cal OES standards. 3 https://www.emergencydispatch.org/what-we-do/emergency-priority-dispatch-system/fire-protocol 4 https://www.emergencydispatch.org/what-we-do/emergency-priority-dispatch-system/medical-protocol 5 Percent of call reviews identified through the quality assurance process as being in High Compliance or Complaint with call-taking protocols.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
total call volume declined from 120,291 in FY 2022-2023 to 116,329 in FY 2024-2025, which can be attributed to the decline in abandoned 9-1-1 calls in these two fiscal years. 9-1-1 Call Answer Time Compliance Rate
The State of California 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Branch is operated by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and has established mandatory standards for 9-1-1.6 As of March 2023, the new California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services 9-1-1 call answer time standard is “Ninety (90%) percent of all 9-1- 1 calls arriving at the Public Safety Answering Point SHALL be answered within Fifteen (15) seconds. Ninety-five (95%) of all 9-1-1 calls SHOULD be answered within twenty (20) seconds. The California 9-1-1 Branch realizes that unpredictable spikes may occur and will take abnormalities into consideration when reviewing statistics.” Table 2 breaks down Fire Communications’ 9-1-1 call answer time compliance from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025. Based on this data from the last five fiscal years, Fire Communications has not met the standard. As call volume has increased, compliance rate decreased. When call volume decreased in FY 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, the compliance rate increased. From FY 2023-2024, there was a 5.70% increase in compliance for 9-1-1 calls answered within 20 seconds and a 5.79% increase in compliance for 9-1-1 calls answered within 15 seconds.
Table 2: 9-1-1 California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Call Answer Time Compliance FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025
Language Access
In response to community emergencies, verbal communications are critical in the Fire Communications Center. Dispatchers obtain incident details and provide pre-arrival instructions to 9-1-1 callers while field resources are en route. Fire Communications dispatchers utilize language interpreter services provided by CyraCom (formerly 6 https://www.caloes.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/PSC/Documents/Chapter-I-Standards-update-2023.pdf Fiscal
Year
9-1-1 Lines
Answered Within
20-Seconds
(95%
Compliance)
9-1-1 Lines
Answered Within
15-Seconds
(90%
Compliance)
9-1-1
Lines
Call
Volume
9-1-1
Lines
Answered
Within 20
Seconds
9-1-1
Lines
Answer
Times 15
Seconds
20-21 88.28% 87.28% 75,276 66,456 65,699
21-22 86.36% 85.30% 83,521 72,125 71,245
22-23 79.12% 78.13% 94,864 75,055 74,117
23-24 81.11% 80.11% 91,827 74,480 73,561
24-25 86.90% 85.81% 89,728 77,972 76,999
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
Voiance), which is contracted by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to assist in processing incoming 9-1-1 calls. The Department utilizes Language Line Solutions for interpreter services when needed for calls received on non-emergency phone lines and for face-to-face interactions.
Bilingual Capabilities
Fire Communications has one dispatcher certified by the City as proficient in Spanish and one certified as proficient in Vietnamese. Not all dispatchers who speak another language choose to undergo the voluntary certification process. Dispatchers who do not speak another language, or do not choose to undergo the voluntary certification process, utilize CyraCom when needed for interpreter services. Dispatcher recruitment materials advertise bilingual pay as an available benefit and include oral fluency in Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese as a desirable qualification. Dispatcher recruitment brochures are maintained and distributed in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Chart 1 below displays frequently encountered language needs in which CyraCom and Language Line Solutions were utilized in FY 2024-2025.
Chart 1: Fiscal Year 2024-2025 CyraCom and Language Line Interpreter Service 63%
21%
7%
2% 2%
1%
1%
1% 1% 1%
Spanish
Vietnamese
Mandarin
Other
Farsi (Persian)
Punjabi
Korean
Tagalog
Russian
Cantonese
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
Emergency Phone Call Volume
From FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025, Fire Communications’ emergency phone call volume increased by 19.14%, from 97,641 to 116,329. However, compared to FY 2023- 2024, call volume decreased slightly by 1.18% in FY 2024-2025.
As shown in Table 3 below, the combined 9-1-1 and 10-digit emergency line call volume rose sharply from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2022-2023 and slightly decreased during FY 2023-2024 and FY 2024-2025.
Table 3: 9-1-1 and 10-Digit Emergency Line Call Volume
FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025
Fiscal
Year % Change Total Call Volume 9-1-1 Call Volume
10-Digit Call
Volume
20-21 4.21% 97,641 75,276 22,365
21-22 10.70% 108,085 83,521 24,564
22-23 11.29% 120,291 94,864 25,427
23-24 -2.14% 117,715 91,827 25,888
24-25 -1.18% 116,329 89,728 26,601
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
Chart 2 provides emergency line volume from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025.
Chart 2: FY 2024-2025 9-1-1 and 10-Digit Emergency Line Call Volume Abandoned 9-1-1 Call Rate
Abandoned 9-1-1 calls are defined by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) as “an emergency Call in which the caller disconnects before the Call can be answered by the Public Safety Answering Point.”6 Fire Communications’ abandoned calls include both calls where callers disconnect and when Police Communications cancels the call transfer attempt. If all Fire Communications personnel assigned to calltaking duties are already on active calls, Police Communications can cancel the transfer attempt, create a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system event for Fire Department and ambulance response, and then attempt the transfer again. This ensures that Department and ambulance response resources can be quickly dispatched even before Fire Communications personnel can speak with the caller to triage the event. This occurrence is captured in 9-1-1 abandoned call statistics, as a canceled transfer attempt is considered by the phone system to be an abandoned call. Police Communications stays on the line when transferring 9-1-1 calls to Fire Communications until Fire Communications answers the call and determines the location and nature of the 6 “Abandoned Call,” NENA Master Glossary of 9-1-1 Terminology, National Emergency Number Association, January 20, 2020, pg. 18 of 206. https://www.nena.org/page/Glossary 8,345
7,613 7,520 7,742
6,957 7,624 8,104
6,710 7,379
6,552
7,636 7,546
2,393
2,370 2,451 2,295
2,167
2,364 2,056
2,070
2,067
1,946
2,288 2,134
0 2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
9-1-1 Call Volume 10-Digit Call Volume
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
emergency. Therefore, the Police Communications call taker is aware when a caller disconnects before Fire Communications answers the call.
Table 4 below provides the Department’s historical abandoned call rate data, ranging from 7.76% during FY 2020-2021, to its highest rate of 19.38% during FY 2022-2023 when compared to overall 9-11 emergency line call volume. The Department has observed a gradual decrease in the proportionate volume of abandoned call rates from its reported peak in FY 2022-2023. In FY 2024-2025, the Department reports an approximate 5.74% reduction when compared to the last reporting year.
Table 4: 9-1-1 and Abandoned Call Rate FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025 Fiscal Year 9-1-1
Call Volume
9-1-1 Abandoned
Call Volume
9-1-1 Abandoned
Call Rate
20-21 75,276 5,840 7.76%
21-22 83,521 9,691 11.60%
22-23 94,864 18,382 19.38%
23-24 91,827 14,689 16.00%
24-25 89,728 9,210 10.26%
*Note: The data presented reflects reports ran on September 29, 2025.
It is important to note that the Department’s abandoned call rate is calculated with calls exclusively received through the 9-1-1 emergency line. Fire Communications’ phone system reporting software does not have the capability to record abandoned call data from the 10-digit emergency lines.
9-1-1 Abandoned Calls Location
To better understand the nature of abandoned call rates in San José, Fire Communications engaged with the Department’s Geographic Information Systems team to create heat maps for abandoned call volume by City Council District using data in FY 2024-2025. Figure 1 shows the highest density of 9-1-1 abandoned calls for FY 2024- 2025 within portions of City Council Districts 3, 6, and 7. This aligns with the City Council Districts where the highest volume of 9-1-1 calls originated. These results are comparable to FY 2023-2024, where the highest density of 9-1-1 abandoned calls were also within portions of City Council Districts 3, 6, and 7. Additionally, FY 2023-2024 only measured the highest density of 9-1-1 abandoned cellular calls due to limitations in the phone reporting software that have since been resolved for FY 2024-2025.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
Figure 1: 9-1-1 Abandoned Calls in FY 2024-2025
*Note: 37 abandoned calls did not have location data.
Emergency Medical Event Triage
MPDS triage is a preliminary assessment used to determine the urgency of a patient’s condition and type of care needed. In the Fire Communications environment, a medical event is considered triaged when an Emergency Medical Dispatcher assigns an MPDS determinant, which classifies the emergency based on the information provided by the caller. The MPDS determinant guides the Department’s resource assignment, response level (Code 2: no lights/no sirens or Code 3: with lights and sirens), and is used by County Communications to determine the ambulance dispatch level. Additionally, CAD events are classified as either triaged or untriaged depending on whether the final event type assigned to the event was or was not an MPDS determinant.
In FY 2024-2025, for events created at Fire Communications terminals, the medical event triage rate was 86.56%, which is a 0.14% decrease from FY 2023-2024. When considering events created at both Fire Communications and Police Communications
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
CAD terminals, the combined triage rate was 65.92%, which is a 1.99% increase from FY 2023-2024. Events generated by Santa Clara County Communications and received via a CAD interface reflected a triaged final event type at a rate of 51.04%, which is a
4.15% increase from FY 2023-2024. This figure is based solely on the final event type within Fire Communications’ CAD system. Fire Communications may change the event type when needed and communicate updated resource needs to County Communications by telephone.
Table 5 breaks down the emergency medical events created at Fire Communications terminals from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025. Additionally, this table shows the percentage of medical events with an MPDS Final Event Type and the percentage of medical events with a non-MPDS final event type.
Table 5: Emergency Medical Event Triage FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025 (Events Created at Fire Communications Terminals)
Fiscal
Year
Medical
Events
Percentage
Medical
Event
Change
Medical
Events
with a
MPDS
Final
Event
Type
Percentage
Medical
Events
with a
MPDS
Final Event
Type
Medical
Events
with a NonMPDS
Final Event
Type
Percentage
Medical
Events
with a NonMPDS
Final Event
Type
20-21 49,086 0.01% 40,979 83.48% 8,107 16.52%
21-22 54,103 10.22% 45,787 84.63% 8,316 15.37%
22-23 57,307 5.92% 49,589 86.53% 7,718 13.47%
23-24 55,915 -2.43% 48,476 86.70% 7,439 13.30%
24-25 58,001 3.73% 50,203 86.56% 7,798 13.44%
Chart 3 further demonstrates untriaged medical events created at Fire Communications terminals in FY 2024-2025. A manual review of each individually untriaged medical event found that 16.43% were actually triaged, but the CAD event type was later changed or upgraded to an untriaged event type to facilitate appropriate resource deployment. An additional 80.83% could not be triaged due to a documented reason, and 2.74% lacked documentation indicating the reason why the event could not be triaged. In contrast to FY 2023-2024, the percentage of untriaged medical events that were actually triaged decreased by 0.79%, events that could not be triaged for a documented reason decreased by 0.16%, and events lacking documentation increased by 0.95%.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
Chart 3: FY 2024-2025 Reasons for Untriaged Medical Events Standard Staffing Levels
Fire Communications maintains standard staffing levels to ensure the provision of critical services. Current standard staffing levels are stated in Table 6.
Table 6: Standard Staffing Levels by Shift
Shift Duration Standard Staffing
Day 6:30 AM - 2:30 PM 6
Swing 2:30 PM - 10:30 PM 6
Midnight7 10:30 PM - 6:30 AM 5
7 Standard staffing is augmented to six personnel on Friday and Saturday nights from 10:30 PM - 2:30 AM based on statistics on activity levels where the highest period of call volume is experienced historically. Every shift requires 1 Senior PSD present.
1,791
1,651
1,392
1,281
601
567
214 140 127 34
Calls From Non-SJFD Dispatch Centers
Communications Barrier
Abort + Canceled Events
Event Was Triaged - CAD Event Type
Changed
or Upgraded to an Untriaged Event Type
Law Enforcement Related Events
Calls From Field Personnel
Documentation Does Not Indicate
Other
Non-SJFD Generated Event
Auto Aid + Mutual Aid With Other Agencies
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
Table 7 shows the FY 2024-2025 authorized budgeted full-time equivalent (FTE) positions by classification.
Table 7: FY 2024-2025 Authorized Budgeted Positions by Classification Classification FTE
Public Safety Radio Dispatcher 30.48
Senior Public Safety Dispatcher 11.0
Supervising Public Safety Dispatcher 3.0
The authorized FTEs within the dispatcher classification series had remained stagnant since 2010, while 9-1-1 and 10-digit emergency call volume increased by 54.68% between FY 2011-2012 and FY 2024-2025. In FY 2010-2011, 3.0 Senior Public Safety Dispatcher FTEs were added to support the Department’s dynamic deployment initiative. In FY 2011-2012, 2.0 Senior PSD positions were reclassified to Public Safety Radio Dispatcher positions for a total of 44.48 FTE.
It should be noted, however, that through the 2025-2026 Adopted Budget, the Department increased its total authorized budgeted positions by 1.0 FTE resulting from the elimination of a vacant Senior PSD position and adding 2.0 Public Safety Communication Specialist positions. The Public Safety Communication Specialist positions will focus on call taking to offer incremental improvement of call answer time compliance and reduction of abandoned call rate. Additional resources needed to support an increased level of service would need to be evaluated within the context of the City’s overall budget picture, including tradeoffs with other City Council priorities.
Solutions to staffing levels will be weighed against the Department’s budget and staffing constraints.
Fire Communications Attrition
Over the last five fiscal years, Fire Communications has experienced varying vacancy rates across the Public Safety Radio Dispatcher, Senior PSD, and Supervising PSD classifications.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
Table 8 shows the vacancies from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025 for each classification.
Table 8: Vacancies Per Classification from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025 During the recruitment for Academy 2025-02, applications for the Public Safety Radio Dispatcher Trainee classification increased by 2.86% compared to 2024-01; however applications have nearly doubled in comparison to recruitment for Academy 2023-02, largely due to the implementation of recommendations in the Fire Communications Recruitment Plan. A new recruitment was not performed for Academy 2025-01 which instead utilized the applicant list from Academy 2024-01.
While increased recruitment has increased applications, additional strategies are needed to ensure vacancies are filled. Two approved temporary overstrength positions have played an important role in filling the vacancies, by allowing Fire Communications to extend additional conditional job offers to offset the loss of candidates who do not successfully complete post-conditional hiring steps. Candidates initially hired into temporary overstrength positions have ultimately transitioned into permanent positions following attrition. In those cases, without the temporary overstrength positions, hiring into those positions would not have been possible until the next hiring process.
COORDINATION
This memorandum has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office and City Manager’s Budget Office.
Public Safety
Radio Dispatcher
Senior Public Safety
Dispatcher
Supervising Public
Safety Dispatcher
Fiscal
Year Vacancies Budgeted FTEs Vacancies Budgeted FTEs Vacancies Budgeted FTEs 20-21 5.48 30.48 2 11.0 0 3.0
21-22 5.48 30.48 3 11.0 1 3.0
22-23 11 30.48 3 11.0 0 3.0
23-24 5 30.48 2 11.0 0 3.0
24-25 6 30.48 1 11.0 0 3.0
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
January 29, 2026
Subject: Fire Communications Annual Report
Robert Sapien, Jr.
Fire Chief, Fire Department
For questions, please contact Michael Wodnick, Fire Communications Division Manager, at [email protected] or (408) 794-1285.