Mayor Mark Farrell today announced that his two-year budget will feature more than $44 million in additional investments for emergency response measures. That total includes $8 million in new funding for the Department of Emergency Management to train 90 new dispatcher recruits, ensuring that staffing levels are met to maintain the department’s goal of answering 90 percent of 9-1-1 calls within 10 seconds.

“9-1-1 is a critical service for any City and we must remain vigilant and committed to improving our response times,” said Mayor Farrell. “These new investments will help us continue to build on our recent progress. Having enough dispatchers to answer emergency calls and to dispatch first responders is critical for the safety and wellbeing of our communities.”

The San Francisco dispatch center has experienced a 44 percent increase in call volume since 2011, causing the City’s dispatchers to answer approximately 1,000 more calls a day today than they did seven years ago.

“Last year, our 9-1-1 dispatch center was falling short of answering calls in a timely manner, and recognizing the vital importance to address this, Mayor Lee created a special task force to improve 9-1-1 response time,” said Anne Kronenberg, Director of the Department of Emergency Management. “Since then we have hired, trained, and retained more and more dispatchers, resulting in a call response time improvement from 66 percent to 88 percent. To keep this trend, we must continue to increase the number of 9-1-1 dispatchers.”

The Mayor will pair the hiring increases with new funding investments for technology and infrastructure upgrades at the 9-1-1 call center. Those investments include increasing the size of the dispatch floor to allow for eight additional dispatcher stations, and improving infrastructure protections to ensure continuous electricity in the event the center loses power, in which case all computers and phone systems will experience a seamless switch to an uninterruptable power source.

Along with the new investments for the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), the Mayor will include additional funding for emergency response support systems at the San Francisco Fire Department, including a $1.5 million two-year budget enhancement to create a Medical Assistance Response Team. The new unit offers 24/7 medical response to calls for services requiring resources lower than those provided by an ambulance or fire engine, and will focus on high-need areas within the Tenderloin and Civic Center neighborhoods.

In addition, the Mayor’s two-year budget includes $13.3 million in funding to replace aging firefighting apparatuses and support vehicles.

“I would like to thank Mayor Farrell for his continued support of the Fire Department,” said Joanne Hayes-White, Chief of the Fire Department. “These budget enhancements help address the increased demand for services seen in recent years. “These resources support the critical work of the brave men and women of our department and expand support for Fire Department priorities identified during Mayor Lee’s tenure.”

DEM also received funding to launch a pilot of a Watch Center that would further enhance the City’s emergency response capabilities. The Watch Center will provide comprehensive emergency and disaster response coordination for San Francisco.