TFD CAD system has successful test, dispatch problems possibly fixed

The Tulsa Fire Department's struggle to get a new computer dispatch system working properly may have had a breakthrough Wednesday.

TFD Deputy Chief Scott Clark tells KRMG that about 10:30 a.m., they conducted a successful test of the TriTech CAD System, which handles what are called "drops" from dispatchers to the fire stations.

CAD stands for "computer-aided dispatch," and it's designed to interface with another system called Zetron.

In the event of a drop, Zetron automatically opens the doors and turns on the lights and speakers at a fire station, alerting the firefighters that they have an incident.

The TriTech CAD system was not communicating properly with Zetron, and the vendors had spent weeks trying to iron out the problems.

Wednesday morning, Chief Clark told KRMG "TriTech has re-written the code, and they did some testing, and they seem -- at this point, as of this moment, which is the best I can do without some (more) time to test -- to be working flawlessly...that's some great news, great news."

He said firefighters weren't missing calls, because they still monitored their radios, and could open their own doors.

But "every second counts," he admitted, and the malfunctioning system -- which cost the city an estimated $2 million -- was frustrating.

He stressed that public safety wasn't at risk, because of several redundancies built into the system.

But some critics have said the dispatch issues have led to some delays, though it's unclear if anyone has suffered serious injury or death directly attributable to the malfunctioning system.

EMSA and police were not affected because they don't use Zetron.

Further testing of the system continued Wednesday.