The communications tower will send radio waves to and from other dispatch centers so they can communicate about emergencies in the area. There will also be radio communications space, an information technology server and amenities for staff, such as offices, a kitchen, an exercise space, dormitories and laundry. That site is close to the freeway, which allows Cal Fire and law enforcement to get to emergencies quickly, Neer said at the meeting.Īccording to Neer, the center will include a variety of facilities, such as a fire mobile command unit, sheriff bomb truck shelters, a secure armory. The new dispatch center will be built on a lot alongside an existing Sheriff's Office substation and a San Luis Obispo County Department of Agriculture building. It will be able to accommodate 15 to 30 staff members. The new dispatch center, which will be located on north Main Street in Templeton, will include a 18,000-square-foot dispatch building, a 140-foot tall communication tower, 64 parking spots and landscaping, county documents said. 'It's grossly undersized for how much we have grown since the early '80s,' Parkinson said. The Sheriff's Office shares the building with PG&E and the county's Emergency Operations Center, so the agency is not able to expand its office.

The main Sheriff's Office station was built 40 years ago and is too small to accommodate all of the agency's operations, Parkinson said. 'For all types of emergencies - not just fires, but all-risk emergencies throughout the county.' 'It will increase our effectiveness and efficiency and public safety,' Owens said at Tuesday's meeting. Housing Cal Fire and the Sheriff's Office in the same building will improve communication and collaboration between the agencies, Parkinson said. 'You don't have the ability to have face-to-face communication, particularly in some of the major disasters that we do have at times such as fires, which happen all the time, where we have to combine services in so many ways,' Parkinson said. Right now, the Sheriff's Office directs fire and medical calls to Cal Fire's office on north Santa Rosa Street in San Luis Obispo, creating a delay in services, Parkinson said. The cities of Atascadero, Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo have their own dispatch centers that send emergency services to the caller.Īlternatively, 911 calls from Arroyo Grande, Morro Bay and unincorporated areas are directed to the Sheriff's Office's main station on Kansas Avenue just north of San Luis Obispo. When people call 911, the call is directed to different dispatch centers based on the caller's location.

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