County Fire Presents List of Possible Department Improvements

The Board of Supervisors this week heard a series of possible steps that the County Fire Department could take to improve services. Fire Chief Michael Dyer, going off of the findings of independent consulting group Citygate Associates, told the board that the department largely agreed with Citygate’s recommendations. Dyer spoke of the need for another training complex — possibly one in partnership with Allan Hancock Community College in Santa Maria — and assured supervisors that, while the department still needs to reduce response times, GPS technology has better enabled dispatchers to trace emergency calls from cell phones.