One year ago, the City of Pearland outsourced its 911 call dispatching for Pearland Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to Harris County Emergency Corps (HCEC) - a move aimed at expanding the City’s level of service in a cost-effective manner.

During this first year, HCEC dispatched Pearland Fire and Pearland EMS to 8,831 emergency incidents inside the Pearland city limits, extraterritorial jurisdiction and to assist neighboring cities through mutual aid agreements. 

In that timeframe, HCEC answered the telephone in less than 10 seconds more than 95 percent of the time. They answered in 11 to 20 seconds 3.5 percent of the time. The average time from answering the phone to dispatching the first unit on an EMS incident was 34 seconds. The average time from answering the phone to dispatching the first unit on a fire incident was 42 seconds. These performance measures are well within expectations and national standards.

During the past year, the Fire Department's call processing time decreased significantly along with the response times. The time improvements come as a result of HCEC using a coordinated combination of call-takers, dispatchers and a GPS-based CAD system. Also, because of this change, the City’s own emergency communications center and its 11 full-time and 4 part-time dispatchers are now able to focus on the ever-increasing demand for police services. 

For more information on Harris County Emergency Corps, visit hcec.com.