Santa Barbara County officials and community members gathered Tuesday morning to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Regional Fire Communications Center at the county’s Office of Emergency Management site on Cathedral Oaks Road.
The center, known as the RFCC, centralizes fire and medical emergency dispatch for all seven Fire Protection Districts in Santa Barbara County. Previously, emergency calls were fielded by several dispatch centers corresponding to different areas and agencies throughout the county. In contrast, the RFCC supports “borderless dispatch,” meaning dispatchers can send the closest available first responders to incidents regardless of incident location.
“For the first time — not just here, but really for one of the first times in the state of California — fire chiefs were willing to say, ‘That little line on a map that shows where I’m responsible and I’m in charge, and where you’re in charge doesn’t really mean anything to us,’” said former County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig, who led much of the transition to the new center before his retirement on December 7.
“We would rather get the right resource as quickly as we can to the people that need it, no matter where they are on the other side of the line, no matter what color the fire engine is that responds, no matter what equipment, no matter who it is and whoever’s paying for it,” Hartwig continued.
The RFCC began operations when staff began the transition to the facility on May 11, taking calls from the Montecito and Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection Districts. By June 30, the remaining five districts — Guadalupe, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and the county, which handles calls from Goleta, Buellton, Solvang, and unincorporated areas — had fully transitioned to the new system.
To date, the RFCC has processed more than 32,000 calls and dispatched 64,000 pieces of equipment, according to the new County Fire Chief Garrett Huff, who took over the position from Hartwig on December 8.
“Together, we have created a system that is stronger, smarter, and more responsive than any one agency could have done alone,” said Montecito Fire Chief David Neels.
The RFCC, which took years of planning efforts, is an expansion of the existing Emergency Operation Center building. The County broke ground in April 2023, but construction delays, vendor transitions, technology issues, and leadership changes pushed back its opening by more than a year.
The new center features a digital, IP-based 9-1-1 system rather than analog phone technology. In addition to fielding fire and medical emergency calls, dispatchers can also monitor live camera feeds of several high-fire-hazard areas throughout the county.
“You can’t really think of a more fundamental way to keep us all safe than a 9-1-1 system that’s coordinated and state of the art, and that’s what we’re doing here today,” said County Supervisor Laura Capps.
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