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Fire dispatchers getting new digs By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Local wildland firefighter dispatchers soon will have more elbow room as they move into a new dispatch center. Construction workers are putting the finishing touches on a 2,000-square-foot dispatch center next to the Medford District Bureau of Land Management's Biddle Road office in Medford. The center will house BLM and U.S. Forest Service dispatchers who currently operate out of a Forest Service center at the air tanker base, located at the Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport. "We're getting excited about moving in there," said Phil Cardin, dispatch center manager. "It has the potential to be a really nice set-up. All the dispatchers who work here will be comfortable there. We're looking forward to it. We're all jammed into one relatively small room now." BLM and Forest Service dispatchers have been working together at the current center for nearly two years, he said. Dispatchers expect to begin moving this month, and hope to be fully settled in February. The new facility has adequate room to allow Oregon Department of Forestry dispatchers to move in if the state agency chooses to do so, according to Forest Service and BLM officials. The facility also provides increased space for dispatchers working on large wildfires. With a kitchenette and other amenities, the center allows round-the-clock operations, Cardin said. "We can live and sleep in there if we want to," he said this week. In addition to sending out firefighters, dispatchers also mobilize equipment and aircraft, and check BLM employees in and out as they come and go from the BLM office, he said. The cost of the new center is $496,358, according to Jeanne Klein, acting public affairs officer for the BLM. The center was built because of the expected closure of the air tanker base, which would have left dispatchers without a workplace, according to Cardin. Closure of the base was suspended following outcry from area residents and Jackson County Commissioners worried about increased flight times for air tankers flying in from a base in Klamath Falls. The ultimate fate of local air tanker operations remains uncertain. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -