The new firehouse for Engine 7, contains an OEM Center Control, which presently serves Paterson, and coordinates emergency operations with all 7 firehouses and companies in the City. The City owns and operates all EMS and EMT vehicles, all personnel work for the Fire Department. The Center Dispatch handles approximately 40,000 calls per year, and this new center coordinates the movement and allocations of all vehicles and personnel.
The Center is part of the new Firehouse and is designed to expand. At present plans are being drawn to have a County wide dispatch which hopefully will be housed here. At the time the County wide dispatch is realized, all fire and EMS will be coordinated from this building. The three full time departments, Paterson, Clifton and Passaic, along with all the volunteer companies will report here and train all personnel.
The facility has 100% emergency power back-up, so communications are never interrupted during storms and emergencies.