Today, the Woodacre fire dispatch center sits empty. Penned schedules on whiteboards have been mostly erased, chairs pushed aside. Its computers are gathering dust, and its phones are quiet. Until late June, this 80-year-old, wood-paneled building, nestled in a residential neighborhood of Woodacre, was the nerve center for 911 calls in Marin County.
As part of a comprehensive modernization plan, dispatch operations were relocated this summer to a newly established, countywide emergency command center in San Rafael. The facility now handles all emergency calls for Marin.
Firefighter Robert Rocha said the Woodacre fire station felt quiet without the dispatchers. “It felt like losing our family,” he said. “We miss them a lot.”
Before the relocation, the Woodacre station’s three dispatchers worked rotating shifts, with additional seasonal workers joining during the busy fire season from June to October. The setup required dispatchers to be constantly on call, even during meals, sleep and bathroom breaks (there is a phone system built into the walls of the bunkroom and restroom).
“In the old Woodacre model, you had to be available every minute of the day,” said Kaitlyn Teasley, a dispatcher who has transitioned to the new command center, where six to eight dispatchers work at a time on 48-hour shifts. “Here, thankfully, I can take a break, clear my head, go to the restroom. The simple things.”
The new $7.7 million facility, located on the third floor of a nondescript office building adjacent to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office at 1600 Los Gamos Drive, now houses a team of 20, including 15 dispatchers, three captains and a division chief, according to county fire department spokeswoman Mari Ochoa. A captain is always on duty to direct resources and manage the floor of dispatchers.
Before the new center opened, seven local fire agencies, including those in San Rafael and Novato, had their calls dispatched through the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, while the Marin County Fire Department and the county’s volunteer departments had their calls taken by the in-house dispatchers in Woodacre. Ms. Ochoa noted that consolidating the dispatch process will lead to a more efficient and coordinated emergency response.
Funding for the new command center was covered by the county and Marin’s fire agencies, excluding the volunteer departments. The facility has a gym, sleeping quarters, a large conference room and a spacious dining area and kitchen. The wide hallways are decorated with archival photos chronicling the history of the fire department, dating back to before its inception in 1941.
The dispatchers like their new stations, which consist of eight computer monitors that display information such as radio frequencies for fire agencies and 911 calls made through a computer system. In the old dispatch center, there were only three monitors, and the technology was more rudimentary.
Ms. Teasley, who began her career as a 911 operator straight out of college after “stumbling into the profession by accident,” first worked for the Fortuna Police Department and then Cal Fire before joining the Marin County Fire Department. “It’s the only thing I’ve ever done,” she said.
Reflecting on the transition from Woodacre to San Rafael, Ms. Teasley noted the increased call volume but spoke positively about the change. “I’ve got six fully qualified partners who have my back,” she said. “It’s not just me anymore. Having that backup is invaluable. Now I can step off the floor to take a break if I need to after a tough call.”
Despite the advantages of the new location, Ms. Teasley misses the close-knit feel of Woodacre. “It’s definitely a journey from small-town life to big-city dreams,” she said.
Mr. Rocha believes that while there are now more full-time personnel, the job has also become more demanding. “They’ve shifted from managing 10 to 12 full-time stations, including volunteers, to overseeing emergency services for the entire county, from Novato to Sausalito,” he explained.
Ms. Teasley finds fulfillment in her role as a dispatcher, driven by a desire to be a part of something bigger. She enjoys the challenges of multitasking and problem-solving, likening her work to solving puzzles. Her workstation is a wide cubicle flanked by multiple screens that show complex maps and communication systems. She wears a headset, ready to respond.
The room’s atmosphere remains surprisingly calm, considering the emergencies unfolding on the other end of the lines. But things get busy quickly.
“We go from zero to 60 in 2.4 seconds,” said Mike Marcucci, the division chief and director of the command center. Chief Marcucci is a third-generation firefighter with the county, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Transitioning from his role as the fire chief for Cal Fire in Sonoma County, where he oversaw a team of 600 employees, he now leads the emergency command center in what he views as his retirement. He appreciates the “laser focus” of his new position.
“We can concentrate intensely on a community and, within a year, provide what will be a world-class command center,” he said. “We have all the pieces.”
Calls come every few minutes, with few breaks. People phone in for a wide range of reasons, from gas leaks and car accidents to mental health crises and domestic assaults. Emergency operators are repositories for the surrounding world’s traumas.
“No one calls 911 to say hello,” Chief Marcucci said. “People are calling when they are having their worst moments.” The dispatchers’ assurances of “we’re on our way” echo through the office space.
To help them manage the emotional aftermath of particularly intense calls, the dispatchers have a support system that helps them leave their work behind when they clock out.
“You learn to compartmentalize the really difficult calls,” Ms. Teasley acknowledged. “You’re taught early in your career that people dial 911 truly on the hardest day of their lives and you have to be able to calmly and eloquently handle those situations.”
For Ms. Teasley, knowing that she’s helping people move through life-or-death situations gives her a sense of purpose. “This is exactly where I want to be,” she said. “We’re doing something here that really matters.”