engine968

I'm not familiar with the response system in P.G. County. What agency currently provides emergency-ambulance service in Kentland's district? And is it paid or vollie? Are the response times excessive, which would necessitate an ambulance at Station-33? Sounds like P.G. County government is a friggin' zoo. And here I thought my own Nassau County, Long Island was bad.........

I agree with those who say booster lines still have their place. My company's 2 engines each have 2 booster reels. We use them for brush and small rubbish fires. But their use for structure fires was "outlawed" in my dept. almost 30 years ago. In addition to our 2 booster reels, each engine also has a 100' preconnect for car fires, dumpsters, etc. We also use the boosters during the overhaul stage of a structure fire, while the 1 3/4 line is backed out and repacked. One goes into the bldg. for overhaul. The other is used in the street to wash down tools as needed. Like it always was and still is: The right size line for the right size fire". And BTW, our standard attack line on commercial structures is the 2 1/2 inch line.

NYPD has called their dispatchers "Central" back at least through the 1950's

I think at the time he made those comments, he had probably already dispatched units based on a previous call that we never got to hear, where he got all the info. Also, a 3 week suspension is not a slap on the wrist. He's either losing 3 weeks vacation or 3 weeks pay, depending on what form of suspension is used. That seems like a hefty disiplinary action to me. Imagine yourself losing that amount of pay or vacation time.

PVFD: I pretty much agree with you; there are no easy answers. Interesting that you mentioned wrong locations from police at scene. We've had a problem here with the State Police on that. The accident will turn out to be at a different place than originally reported, and either the trooper on scene doesn't tell his dispatcher the correct loc. or the disp. absent-mindedly gives us the original reported loc. instead of the correct one. I've had a couple of interesting exchanges with them when FD responded to where they said the trooper is and found nothing. Then they say, oh well, it's actually at the next exit, which is in a different fire district. Now we've sent a dept. out for nothing and have to re-dispatch the call to the correct dept. and 10 minutes has been lost in some cases. Very aggravating............

JBE: I agree with you. As long as you notify the already responding units, that you're getting conflicting reports of different conditions at different locations, you are covered. If the responding agency arrives and finds it's not in their district, they can then tell you to send the other department, or just notify that they handled a call in the other's area. This happens a lot in my county too, and if everyone uses common sense it all works out. :wink: PVFD: The SP and SO may actually be saving you a lot of unnecessary runs. You're right that if it's a serious incident, it's better to have the FD already responding. But I'll tell you this. A lot of cell phone calls are received from idiots who have no clue about giving accurate info or the correct location. Many women especially call in all kinds of nonsense that doesn't need to be called in at all (like the one this week who called in a cloud of dust as a brush fire) If FD/EMS were to be sent out on every single report, there would be so many nonsense runs, that all the volunteers in the county would be burned out from all the B/S calls. We're halfway there in Nassau County already. :sad:

Re: EMD; I'm with pjm on that subject. EMD can be more trouble than it's worth. If anyone's looking for a discussion on this, we can start another thread on the pros and cons of EMD. Let me know if you're interested. :wink:

Speaking as a county fire-ems dispatcher on Long Island, my answer is that we have a responsibility to immediately dispatch the right level of response, based on the info we are given, unless the police unit is going to be there within a minute or so. Any report of a rollover with injuries should usually trigger a fire dept/heavy rescue response with EMS. Remember our job is to act on the information we are given, not second guess the situation. Yes, many times the call will turn out to be minor, or even unfounded, or not where the caller said it was, and it can be annoying to those responders who get sent out for nothing. But that's not the dispatcher's problem. By dispatching immediately based on the caller info you protect the victims and yourself. We took care of business, and did our job, and fulfilled our responsibility to the public. :wink:

Like my friend Ladder47, I'm also from Nassau County. Our County dispatch center, Firecom has taken over at least 3 large multiple station depts. in recent years. Some of the issues on this board also came up in our county. We've found that the key to a smooth transition is good attitudes and good planning, combined with a well set up CAD system. If the leaders of the local FD and the county center work together, and have complete street index data and company assignments, usually the changeover can be made with relatively few problems. Of course there are always a few glitches in any big change or new system. But again, these can usually be worked out, if all sides have a positive approach and if the dispatch procedures are kept logical, and not excessively complicated. As far as mistakes being made, that can happen no matter what agency does the dispatching. Does anyone remember the "Swiss Nanny Case" in Thornwood (Mt. Pleasant Township) back in 1991? Two good books were written about it, which told of a dispatching delay by the local police dept. Thornwood and several other fire companies were dispatched by the Mt. Pleasant PD which used a card type street index that was not kept up-to-date. According to the transcript of the tape, the caller gave the correct address and cross street, but the card had incomplete house numbers for that street. And several minutes were lost while the local police dispatcher tried to decide the correct location and company assignment. So, the point is, no matter who is doing the dispatching, the keys to success are having a good quality system in place, and having smart dispatchers, whether on the county or local level. :wink: