321.245. Personnel and equipment required for dispatching center. - Missouri Statutes

Personnel and equipment required for dispatching center.

321.245. 1. No central fire and emergency dispatchingcenter shall qualify to receive any funds collected pursuant tosection 321.243 and this section unless it meets or will meet,upon the acquisition or retention of equipment, real and personalproperty, and personnel, at least the following minimum equipmentand personnel requirements:

(1) Two separate transmitters and receivers capable ofoperating on all working fire and emergency radio frequenciesincluded in the area to be covered, together with monitorreceivers for police frequencies, point-to-point police or localpolice dispatchers operating on a twenty-four-hour basis, plus anemergency power source capable of operating all equipment andlights necessary for dispatching for an indefinite period oftime;

(2) Duo-multichannel recording equipment for all radiofrequencies and telephone trunk "hot lines", complete withautomatic transfer on failure of logging recorder and automatictime inserted on recorder and with instant playback on anychannel at dispatcher's position without interruption of regularlog recorder;

(3) A minimum of three trunk telephone lines designated as"hot lines" in reserve for "fire or emergency" calls only, plussuch other lines as may be necessary to conduct the normalbusiness of the center, which may also be used for fire oremergency purposes;

(4) A chief dispatcher to be in charge of operations, whoshall be directly responsible to the management of thedispatching service;

(5) Sufficient senior dispatchers to providetwenty-four-hour attendance at the center;

(6) Such assistant dispatchers as may be necessary toprovide two-person switchboard operation during certain hours asprescribed in section 321.243 and this section;

(7) Alarm circuits to engine houses from dispatching centershall be two of the following type systems: wired circuit or bytelephone line; radio circuit or by tone signaling; or microwaveradio circuit; or such other communications systems as may bedeveloped in the future which provide reliable and accuratecommunications and which are not experimental in nature, so thatupon failure of either circuit the other will operateindependently, and both circuits must be capable of soundingalarm at any agency facility using the joint, central fire andemergency dispatching service;

(8) Radio alarm equipment at each agency facility using thejoint, central fire and emergency dispatching service capable ofoperating without local utility power for a period of at leasteight hours; and paging equipment for fire and emergencypersonnel; and

(9) Radio equipment, both mobile and portable, on all fireand emergency vehicles which answer alarms which will providetwo-way voice communication between the equipment and thedispatching center.

2. A minimum of two dispatchers shall be on duty at alltimes in any central dispatching center between the hours of 7:00a.m. and 11:00 p.m. If only one dispatcher is on duty at othertimes, a twenty-minute watchman's check shall be maintained.

3. All dispatchers shall be at least eighteen years of age.Each dispatcher must be capable of operating all equipment usedin the dispatching center.

4. Each dispatching center shall employ sufficientpersonnel to ensure that no person will be required to be on dutywithout at least twelve hours between shifts.

5. A central fire and emergency dispatching center meetingthe requirements of this section shall qualify to receive anyfunds collected pursuant to section 321.243 and this section andto use such funds for the acquisition, use and maintenance of anyproperty, both real and personal, and for such other uses orpurposes as may be determined by the body governing theoperations of the central fire and emergency dispatching center,and which are* necessary or advisable for the establishment,maintenance or operation of the central fire and emergencydispatch center.

(L. 1969 S.B. 382 § 2, A.L. 1976 S.B. 489, A.L. 1979 H.B. 322, A.L. 1981 S.B. 166, A.L. 1987 H.B. 57, A.L. 1993 H.B. 550 merged with H.B. 910 merged with S.B. 346)

*Word "is" appears in original rolls.