The Stockton Fire Department Communications Division is a Regional Fire and Emergency Medical Dispatch Center. In addition to the City of Stockton, the center handles emergency dispatch services for the cities of Lodi and Manteca.

Personnel currently work 24-hour shifts. Shift staffing includes one supervisor and four telecommunicators who handle approximately 275 incidents per shift. All dispatch personnel are certified in Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Medical Dispatching.

Emergency Medical Dispatch is a system that utilizes key questions to quickly prioritize medical emergencies. The system allows dispatchers to give a caller instructions to assist sick or injured persons until help arrives. Dispatchers may give relatively simple instructions, for example, to control bleeding with direct pressure, or very advanced instruction such as the step-by-step procedure to administer CPR. The dispatcher who takes the initial call remains on the phone when prearrival instructions are necessary while another dispatcher is sending fire and ambulance resources to help.

Fire and medical emergency incidents are the bulk of our calls, but we also handle calls for public works after regular business hours, on weekends, and holidays. This provides a wide variety to our call volume each shift. One minute a dispatcher may be providing CPR instructions, and the next minute calling a City Public Works employee to handle a fallen tree, sewer problem or other city service. Our service area includes over 280,000 residents in an area of about 87 square miles.

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