Initially, station's 1 and 2 had live-in dispatchers.  Station 1 had a second floor apartment and station 2 had an apartment on the south end of the station.  This arrangement for the live-in dispatchers started when the fire district first began and continued until approximately 1980. 

Radio Room - Circa 1956

With the growth of the fire district, there was a need to hire more firefighters.  The hiring of more firefighters created a need for their living space - this marked the end of the live-in dispatcher era. The dispatching was now performed by a mix of daytime clerks, shift officers, and firefighters. 

Communications - 1983

The first center was located within station 4 at 5745 LaGrange Rd in Countryside.  The center consisted of an old Motorola radio console.  The phone system consisted of three separate red phones for emergency calls and one 14-line business style phone.  The center contained an electronic monitoring board for fire alarm systems and a “reel-to-reel” tape recorder for playing back phone calls and radio activity. 

During the early 1980’s, the growth of the fire district continued and the need to have every available firefighter responding to calls instead of working "the desk" was a priority.  This was the start of the new communications center.

In 1985, the Communications Center started to become an organized dispatch facility.  The center had a regular staff of trained, mostly part-time, civilian telecommunicator's answering phone calls for emergencies and dispatching the apparatus to handle those emergencies.

 

The communications center in early 1985                                                                                                                     

The dispatchers handled approximately 1,200 calls per year.  But as time went on, the need for full time staff was becoming necessary - call volume was increasing, the first 911 systems were coming on-line, and the need to have highly skilled and trained staff to answer the calls was a must.  All telecommunicator's were trained as Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMD).  EMD uses a protocol system that allows the telecommunicator to give instructions to callers over the phone so they could provide basic first aid treatment to a victim before the paramedics arrive.

In 1990, the district continued to grow, and the need to replace Station 1 was seen.  The district decided to build a new station 1 and the dispatch center was moved to the new station in February of 1992.

In the process of transitioning to a new station, the fire district also added a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system.  The CAD system assists the Telecommunicator's with dispatching and was also used for fire report writing, records management, and department e-mail.  Previous to the CAD system, everything was written on paper.  The CAD system is a very useful tool and created efficiencies within the communications center as well as the fire district.

In 1995, Pleasantview and Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District signed a cost-sharing agreement.  This agreement had the two fire districts combine their personnel into one facility at Pleasantview and dispatch for both organizations.

Today, the Pleasantview Communications Center is manned with 7 full-time personnel.  The center is located in the basement of Station 1.  Every dispatcher is a State of Illinois licensed EMD and certified through the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch System.  The center monitors over 650 business and residential fire alarm systems for both Pleasantview and Darien-Woodridge and processes approximately 6,400 emergency calls per year.  The Center also coordinates multi-alarm emergency responses for the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS), Division 10 East.