Fire Department Fire Communications
Status Report
Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
February 19, 2026
Item (d)2
Presented by:
Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief, Fire Department
Michael Wodnick, Division Manager, Fire Communications
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Protocol SJFD Average of all Accredited
Centers of Excellence Worldwide
Fire Priority Dispatch System 94% 87.88%
Medical Priority Dispatch System 96% 88.63%
Fire Communications Dispatch Services
2 Thursday, February 19, 2026
• Secondary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP)
• Fire Priority Dispatch System (FPDS)
• Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS)
• Emergency Medical Dispatch Accredited Center of Excellence ("ACE") 9-1-1 Call Answer Time Compliance Rate
3 Thursday, February 19, 2026
• California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) 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.”
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
Answer Within
20-Seconds
9-1-1 Lines
Answer Within
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
Language Access & Bilingual Capabilities
4 • Third-party interpreter services
CyraCom and Language Line
Solutions
• 35 languages accessed
• 3,523 uses - calls on
emergency phone lines
• 169 uses - calls on nonemergency phone lines
or use by field personnel
• Personnel certified by the City
as proficient in:
• Spanish (1.0 FTE)
• Vietnamese (1.0 FTE)
Thursday, February 19, 2026
63%
21%
7%
2% 2%
1% 1% 1% 1% 1% Spanish
Vietnamese
Mandarin
Other
Farsi (Persian)
Punjabi
Korean
Tagalog
Russian
Cantonese
9-1-1 and 10-Digit Emergency Line Call Volume
5 • Differences between 9-1-1 and 10-digit emergency line • 19.14% increase in 9-1-1 and 10-digit emergency line call volume from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025
• 54.68% increase in 9-1-1 and 10-digit emergency line call volume from FY 2011-2012 to FY 2024-2025
Thursday, February 19, 2026
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
9-1-1 Call Volume and Abandoned Call Rate
6 • Increase in 9-1-1 call volume and abandoned call volume in the last 5 Fiscal Years • Call Transfer Process
• Call Circumstances
Thursday, February 19, 2026
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%
9-1-1 Abandoned Calls Location
7 Thursday, February 19, 2026
• Highest volume of 9-1-1 abandoned
calls found within portions of Council
Districts 3, 6, & 7
• Aligns with Council Districts where
the highest volume of 9-1-1 calls
originate
5,848
5,852
5,866
6,624
6,910
8,018
10,364
12,723
13,124
5,225
1,978
1,975
1,811
2,321
2,039
1,990
2,629
3,972
3,794
1,622
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000
4 8
1 9
2 5
7 6
3 Other
Incident Volume
Council District
Incidents by Priority & Council District
Priority 1
Priority 2
Emergency Medical Event Triage
8 Thursday, February 19, 2026
Fiscal Year Medical
Events
Percentage
Medical
Event
Change
Medical
Events with
a MPDS
Final Event
Type
Percentage
Medical
Events with
a MPDS
Final 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%
Emergency Medical Event Triage
9 Thursday, February 19, 2026
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
Fire Communications Staffing
10 Thursday, February 19, 2026
Public Safety Radio
Dispatcher
Senior Public Safety
Dispatcher
Supervising Public
Safety Dispatcher
30.48 11 3
Authorized Budgeted Dispatcher Staffing Levels
Shift Public Safety Radio
Dispatcher
Senior Public
Safety Dispatcher
Day Shift
6:30am – 2:30pm 5 1
Swing Shift
2:30pm – 10:30pm 5 1
Midnight Shift
10:30pm – 6:30am 4 1
Standard Staffing Levels by Shift
Fire Communications Staffing
11 Progress:
• Increase in Public Safety Radio Dispatcher Trainee applications • 2025-02 increased by 98.77% in comparison to 2023-02
• 2025-02 increased by 2.86% in comparison to 2024-01
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Vacancies Per Classification
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
Questions?
12 Robert Sapien, Jr., Fire Chief
Fire Department
Michael Wodnick, Division Manager
Fire Communications
Thursday, February 19, 2026
Fire Department Fire Communications Status Report
Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
February 19, 2026
Item (d)2