(May 12) The cities of Upland and Montclair are ending their decades-long arrangement with the city of Ontario for the provision of fire and emergency medical dispatch service in favor of a new contract with the Consolidated Fire Agencies of San Bernardino County, known as CONFIRE.
CONFIRE is a joint powers authority composed of San Bernardino County, Rialto, Redlands, Colton, Loma Linda and Rancho Cucamonga. The cities and communities of Running Sprigs, Twentynine Palms, Apple Valley, Big Bear and Baker contract with CONFIRE for the provision of  fire and medical emergency dispatch.
Beginning in the 1970s, Ontario had the premier emergency dispatch system on the west side of San Bernardino County, which utilized computers to assist dispatchers in efficiently dispatching the most immediately available firetrucks and ambulances to scenes of emergency.
CONFIRE has acquired an even more advanced computer assisted dispatch system, and gradually cities on the west end of the county are switching to CONFIRE’s system.
Whereas many dispatch systems typically divide cities into quadrants and dispatch emergency vehicles and responders to emergencies based largely on those pre-set divisions, Brian Acosta, the interim communications director for CONFIRE, this week told the Upland City Council that his agency’s dispatch division “sends the closest avabile units to the incident.”
At present, most fire department calls are for medical assistance. “Emergency medical dispatch makes up 80 percent of our calls,” Accosta said.
Upland and Montclair merged their respective fire departments’ managment and administration divisions earlier this year.
Both department’s have given Ontario a 180-day notice of their intent to terminate their contracts with that city for emergency fire department dispatch.