Fire department gets mobile computers

Mobile data computers will be installed in the fire department’s vehicles.

A $204,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Urban Area Security Initiative will fund the purchase.

“It will give our firefighters the ability to communicate with (911) dispatch without ever having to talk,” said Division Fire Chief Jeff LaTendresse.

Firefighters will be able to transmit information to dispatchers without interrupting incoming emergency calls and get updated incident information, including mapped directions to the emergency site.

The grant covers the complete cost of the equipment and installation costs, including license fees for connection to the dispatch center and for a computer-based “incident command system” to be installed in each chief’s vehicle.

However, the city has to front the money and then seek reimbursement. The council voted unanimously to accept the grant and award the contract to CDCE, the company recommended by the fire department.

The fire department applied for the grant in January of 2005. The city of Santa Ana, which administers the grant for the federal government, only recently approved Laguna’s application.

Fire Chief Mike Macey credited LaTendresse with stewarding the grant application.

— By Barbara Diamond