John Preston

Assistant Chief of Fire Rescue

Stephen Krivjanik

Chief of Fire Rescue

Issue Statement: In 2002, Broward County residents voted by charter amendment to establish and fund communications infrastructure for fire and emergency medical services to facilitate a closest unit response  program for life-threatening emergencies and support for regional specialty teams.

Since that time, Broward County has been working to establish a countywide communications infrastructure to provide this capability with all fire agencies within the county and develop a plan for the phased implementation of the Closest Unit Response (CUR) program by the end of 2022. In 2018, the cities of Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale, and Sunrise began a pilot program to test the proposed CUR.  The Pilot CUR program provided a first look at the operational processes providing City Oakland Park a true emergency response framework using CUR that provided residents and visitors with timeless and seamless emergency response.

Broward County seeks to implement the CUR program Countywide, enabling ALL municipalities this response framework.  The implementation of the program Countywide requires the execution of a Countywide Interlocal Agreement for Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Medical Services through Automatic Aid and Closest Unit Response to create the proper legal framework. The Interlocal Agreement was prepared by Broward County in a collaborative effort with the Fire Chief's Association of Broward.  

Recommended Action: City Commission adopt the resolution authorizing the appropriate City officials to execute an Interlocal Agreement with Broward County, Broward Sheriff’s Office and municipalities to allow participation in the Regional Interlocal for Automatic Aid and Closest Unit Response initiative.

The closest unit response initiative allows for Broward County Regional 911 Communication Centers to identify the exact location of Broward County Fire Rescue Vehicles utilizing Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology and state of the art mapping systems.  By installing GPS and broadband capable mobile data terminals in each fire rescue frontline emergency vehicle, coupled with 911 dispatch and mobile mapping software, vehicles will be able to respond to incidents more quickly. 

Given the need for Fire Rescue Departments to establish communication interoperability and decrease lifesaving response times throughout Broward County; this initiative is consistent with the Fire Rescue Council and Broward County Commissioner’s goals of providing multi-agency interoperability and closest unit response capability for all fire rescue agencies within Broward County. 

In 2002, the Broward County residents voted by charter amendment to provide for the establishment and funding of communications infrastructure for fire and emergency medical services to facilitate closest unit response for life-threatening emergencies and support for regional specialty teams.  In April 2018, the Oakland Park City Commission adopted a resolution approving automatic aid/closet unit response interlocal agreements between h the City of Fort Lauderdale, City of Tamarac and the Sheriff of Broward County as a contract agent for the City of  Lauderdale Lakes.

The proposed agreement is broader in scope than the 2018 agreements and would be countywide; all parties would provide automatic aid via closest unit response for life-threatening emergencies as defined herein as Agreement, and as part of the normal day-to-day operations of all of the Parties while not providing such aid to subsidize normal day-to-day operations.

The stated purpose and intent of this Agreement is for the Parties to cooperate with each other on a basis of mutual advantage and thereby to provide services and facilities that will harmonize geographic, economic, population, and other factors influencing the needs and development of local communities.