Niagara Region to consolidate emergency dispatch services
Provinces, municipalities must meet new standards by March 31, 2024
A plan to begin consolidating emergency dispatch services has the green light from Niagara Region’s corporate services committee.
The project, to bring together the hodgepodge of dispatches for Niagara’s
first responders, has been discussed for years and was the subject of a detailed study in 2012.
However, progress has been painfully slow because of costs, parochialism and a lack of political will.
“Technology is forcing us to move in a direction to make upgrades,” said Todd Harrison, the Region’s treasurer and commissioner of enterprise, resource management services.
“This technology upgrade is going to impact all of us. We are going to have to take a collaborative approach to meet the challenges.”
The new technology is called Next Generation 911, has the acronym NG911, and is being implemented nationally
through the CRTC. Provinces and municipalities and their dispatch providers must meet the NG911 standards no later than March 31, 2024, when the CRTC disconnects the existing systems.
The current 911 technology in Niagara is voice analog-based, which limits the amount and type of information shared across the 911
infrastructure.
The changeover won’t be cheap. A preliminary cost estimate for the overall transition to NG911, including consulting, capital equipment and maintenance fees, is $2 million.
In Niagara, emergency dispatch is currently divided into five separate fiefdoms starting with Niagara Regional Police, who are contracted to provide 911 service for the entire region.
When 911 calls go to the NRP communications centre, the first question is whether police, fire or ambulance is needed. From there, different services take over.
St. Catharines Fire dispatches fire-related matters for itself and nine other Niagara municipalities under contract with St.
Catharines for the service.
Two municipalities aren’t in the agreement — Tillsonburg handles Fort Erie’s fire dispatch through a joint agreement, and Niagara Falls Fire does its own dispatching for emergencies in the city.
Niagara Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is responsible for deploying all EMS matters in Niagara. It operates under a performance agreement between the Region and the province, which administers the budget and infrastructure.
A report on the project recommends hiring a consultant at $100,000 to help the NG911 steering committee, which is composed of municipal staff and agency representatives from Niagara’s first-responders led by Niagara’s EMS Chief Kevin Smith, who took questions from regional councillors at Wednesday’s committee meeting. The steering committee has been meeting for the past 18 months.
Smith said leadership of the police and Niagara EMS and St. Catharines Fire and Niagara Falls Fire are all on board with the project.
“We are looking for a collaboration to make this project the best it can possibly be for Niagara,” Smith said. “We are looking for direction to proceed with formal discussions on the consolidation of emergency dispatch services.”
He said having the NG911 system integrated and seamless is vital for ensuring an effective, efficient system in Niagara.
“The transition to the new 911 system will expand the ways information will be shared over the emergency network,” Smith said.
“Going from an analog to a digital system will open up all kinds of opportunities for the public to share 911 information with dispatch — and for dispatch to communicate among one another in an integrated manner.”
Smith told councillors the move to NG911 isn’t discretionary, and the CRTC has already extended the deadline for a year due to COVID.
“What the leaders want is a single NG911 system, rather than each of the individual systems having to procure their own … As the work unfolds, we will be looking for our councils and boards to help provide the necessary direction on the recommendations of the consultant and the emergency service leaders.”