Overview

San Jose is the 10th largest city in the US and the 3rd largest in California. The San Jose Fire Department serves the city-proper and other Santa Clara County areas with a total population that exceeds one million. They respond to approximately 74,000 calls for service each year. They also are the emergency service provider for a number of high-hazard occupancies, including an International Airport; a municipal airport; seven major hospitals, including three trauma centers, and seven emergency departments; the SAP Center, home of the NHL San Jose Sharks; San Jose State University; three super regional malls; and 516 high-rise structures.

Challenge

There is a small staff responsible for managing the 33 fire stations within the department. Each station calls in work requests 24 hours a day and the facilities staff is responsible for dispatching those requests to the city’s Central Services Department. Without a formal system to track what was reported, and with no way of insuring when work was scheduled or completed, the facilities captain lost insight into the department’s work load, resulting in lost work orders, poor communication with the stations and intense resentment towards central services.

Solution

Facilitate365 implemented login portals for all 33 stations and a centralized desktop for the facilities staff, listing all of the stations’ requests. When requests came in from the stations, they were all logged. The department utilized Facilitate365’s eWork Request feature to dispatched work to Central Services, who in turn used the reply function to update the department with schedules. The captain in charge also used the various Facilitate365 reports to gain better insight into the depth and breadth of problems amongst the stations.

Result

Within three months, the facilities captain regained control over the departments’ work load. The fire fighters at the stations all embraced the login portal. That they could each track the progress of each request they submitted and see the running chronology of activity helped improve communication between them and the facilities department. Trust was restored and resentment was abated. A decade later, the San Jose Fire Department continues to use and benefit from Facilitate365 and is now utilizing its mobile capabilities with very good success.

Learn more about The San Jose Fire Department by visiting their website.

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