Despite orders from the Spokane City Council to maintain an independent dispatch crew for firefighters, the city is now relying on a new regional system to handle emergency calls. As it prepares for the rest of the county to move forward with a new regional 911 dispatch system, the city has lost so many fire dispatchers that it can no longer fully provide fire dispatch services to itself or its neighbors. The city is now relying on Spokane Regional Emergency Communications – which the City Council explicitly took action last month to prevent the city from joining – to provide fire dispatch services because so many of the city’s dispatchers have been laid off or left. It is the latest development in what has been a monthslong standoff between the administration and the City Council over whether to join the new system.