An agreement for Alpharetta to dispatch Milton's police and firefighters will improve response times to emergency in "problem areas" in both cities, Alpharetta Public Safety Director Gary George told City Council Monday night.
Legislation creating the City of Milton required Fulton County to provide Milton's dispatching needs for up to two years. In exchange, Fulton has kept the $1.50 per cellphone and house phone paid by Milton's residents to offset those costs. The two years ends Dec. 31st. Making the agreement has been a top priority, as ending the arrangement with Fulton County requires 90 days' notice. For a proposed change starting Oct. 1st, the notice must be made by Aug. 1st.
The cities have an automatic mutual aid agreement between fire departments. Milton can respond to North Park, Kings Ridge Christian School and Crabapple faster than Alpharetta.
The trade off comes in the Bethany and Mayfield areas of Milton. Response time is the number one priority.
Both cities have ladder trucks than can be positioned to cover the largest area for both cities. Since Milton parks its ladder truck at its city hall off Deerfield Parkway, Alpharetta could move its ladder truck to its station 3, closer to North Point Mall, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre and those areas of Alpharetta.
Just two weeks earlier, the council approved an agreement that gives Alpharetta control of dispatching Rural Metro's six ambulances in North Fulton. Monitors in the new Command & Control center will show the location of every Alpharetta and Milton police and fire vehicle, plus all of Rural Metro's ambulances. GPS transponders will be installed in all emergency vehicles. The police & firefighter dispatch agreement just makes sense, and would benefit all of the area's citizens.
Labels: 911, Alpharetta, Community Emergency Response Team, dispatch, firefighter, Milton, police
Congratulations to our own Brian Vanderhoff who has successfully completed his CERT training with Alpharetta.
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, and disaster medical operations. Using their training, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event and can take a more active role in preparing their community. CERT graduates can then choose to serve in the AFES Fire Corps program where they get to further their skills in direct assistance to the Fire Department...
But CERT is the starting point for all volunteer service in AFES!
The Alpharetta CERT program is open to volunteers 18 years or older with no criminal history. There is no residency requirement. Classes are taught at the Roswell Alpharetta Public Safety Training Center.
AFES Community Emergency Response Team Training includes:
· Hands on Training with Career Firefighters
· Home Fire Safety Tips
· Disaster Response Training
· First-Aid
· CPR
· Knowledge of the history of AFES
· Flexible class dates & times
AFES is currently accepting applications for future CERT training courses. CERT Application and Consent Forms are available by emailing your request to Lieutenant Gary Robinson at ltgaryrobinson@bellsouth.net.
CERT is about readiness, people helping people, rescuer safety, and doing the greatest good for the greatest number. CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens will be initially on their own and their actions can make a difference. Through training, citizens can manage utilities and put out small fires; treat the three killers by opening airways, controlling bleeding, and treating for shock; provide basic medical aid; search for and rescue victims safely; and organize themselves and spontaneous volunteers to be effective.
For more information please visit:
www.alpharettacitizencorps.org.
Congratulations, Brian!
Labels: AFES, Alpharetta, alpharetta citizen corps, CERT, Community Emergency Response Team
