A volunteer wildland fire department is expanding its coverage in Los Angeles by opening a 24/7 dispatch center near the Sepulveda Pass, officials announced Tuesday.
The Southern California Wildfire Response facility will be located in Brentwood, with dispatchers answering calls, routing crews to active incidents, tracking units in real time and staying in constant contact with partner public-safety agencies as situations develop.
Officials said the location was chosen for its central position within SCWR’s operations, proximity to the Santa Monica Mountains where the group is stationed, and access to major transportation corridors connecting the Westside, San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities.
“Every call that comes in, every unit we send out, runs through dispatch,” SCWR Fire Chief Johnathan Martin said. “We were doing that out of a fire station. Now we’ve got a dedicated space built for it, and that’s going to show up in how fast we can respond.”
SCWR previously conducted dispatch operations from its fire station in the Santa Monica Mountains off Coldwater Canyon, which remains primarily designed and equipped for fire response and field operations. The new center will provide a dedicated environment for communications personnel and centralized command functions.
It will incorporate computer-aided dispatch, unit location and tracking, incident mapping, emergency communications, weather and fire intelligence monitoring and systems supporting coordination with outside agencies and organizations.
Founded in 2021, SCWR is a community wildland fire and all-hazard emergency response department providing wildfire prevention and suppression, emergency medical response, incident support and other hazard services throughout Southern California. It is staffed by professional firefighters who “forgo a paycheck for the greater good of the community, training and operating within established public-safety systems alongside government agencies, community organizations, and other emergency-response partners,” according to a statement on the SCWR website.
Additional information regarding the new dispatch center will be announced as construction and systems installation are completed, slated for mid-September.