Poudre Emergency Communications Center
Poudre Emergency Communications Center (PECC), located at the Fort Collins Police Services building, is the 9-1-1 answering point (PSAP) for all 9-1-1 calls within the Poudre Fire Authority [PFA] & Wellington Fire Districts. PECC dispatches calls for service for Fort Collins Police Services [FCPS], PFA, Poudre Valley Ambulance Service [PVAS], Wellington Fire, & Platte River Fire & Rescue. The dispatch response area covers over 2,100 square miles.
PFA has nine paid stations located throughout Fort Collins & in LaPorte, as well as three volunteer stations, located near Horsetooth Reservoir, one in Timnath, and one in Redstone Canyon. Within the PFA district, fire units respond with PVAS paramedics on all medical calls.
PVAS has paramedics located at three stations at various locations within Fort Collins.
In 2002, over 154,000 phone calls came into the Center. Requests for assistance through the 9-1-1 system comprised nearly a third of these phone calls.
There were over 156,000 police incidents, nearly 14,000 Fire/EMS incidents (including medical responses) and approximately 11,600 ambulance calls for service (including non-emergency patient transfers.
PECC has 23 dispatchers, 6 supervisors, and the Manager.
After an extensive hiring process dispatchers are trained in call-taking, fire/EMS dispatching, and police dispatching. During the nearly year-long training program, dispatchers are also required to become certified by the National Association of Emergency Medical Dispatchers. This allows them to help callers during medical emergencies, and provide instructions while the paramedics & firefighters are en route to the scene.
PECC works with many other agencies within Larimer County, including the Sheriff's Office, the Colorado State University Police Department, the Colorado State Patrol, Loveland Communications, Airlife, and the Windsor Fire Department.
The Center was recently expanded to 11 state-of-the-art consoles, which includes seven radio and four call taking positions. The consoles use the VESTA 9-1-1 phone system, an 800MHz radio system, and a Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.
In 2004, the Center plans to have a new CAD system in place, which will link them with the Larimer County Sheriff's Department, the Colorado State University Police Department, and Estes Park Police Department.