The genesis of fire communications in the Slidell area began with a siren above the B.T. Carroll Plumbing Building with varying rings indicating a general direction of the source of the alarm.  Eventually, phones in volunteer’s homes would ring whenever the “red phone” in the Chief’s Office was lifted and the location of an emergency incident could be relayed. In the mid 1970’s the first “dispatch center” was established in a old storeroom at Central Station.  Three dispatchers working 12 hours shifts were backed up by firefighters on duty. 

Today, St. Tammany Fire Protection District No.1’s Communications Division dispatches for all 12 Fire Protection Districts in St. Tammany Parish, the City of Covington Fire Department and the Coroner’s Office from the St. Tammany Communications District No.1 911 Center in Lacombe. Communications Officers are provided state of the art equipment and resources to assist with providing the highest level of care to all citizens and visitors to St. Tammany Parish when reporting emergencies.  The Communications Division dispatches from 10 positions within the Communications Center. 

The St. Tammany Fire Protection District No.1 Communications Division consists of the Chief of Communications, four Communications Shift Supervisors, 16 full-time Communications Officers and 11 part-time Communications Officers.

St. Tammany Fire Protection District No.1 utilizes TailorBuilt CAD for Computer Aided Dispatching, Priority Dispatch Fire and Emergency Medical Dispatch among other physical and digital resources to provide for appropriate response and pre arrival instructions to 911 callers. Dispatchers communicate with agencies through the St. Tammany Parish 700 MHz P-25 Radio System integrated with the State of Louisiana’s LWIN system built by Motorola, an 800 MHz backup radio system in partnership with the City of Slidell as well as a a parish wide fire service backup VHF radio system. Automated Vehicle Location and bi-directional Mobile Data Terminals and other telecommunication resources are utilized to manage incidents efficiently and effectively.