Tools of the trade

[JBE 328]

I was reading on another board about necesaary tools to keep on your person. This doesn't necessarily apply as much to my line of work other than maybe a spanner wrench or Halligan for instant attitude adjustment.(Anybody from LCFD who knew me back then knows I preached that a lot with the explorers)

Anyhoo, in the same vein as my making life easier threads, I recommend the following tools for people in the dispatch community.

Map Book-Hagstrom makes one of the best, after that Rand Mc Nally. The ones with the laminated pages are probably the better way to go. And you'll see why in a second.

Circular, colored stickers. And/Or Magic Markers. You can do this one of two ways. Write firehouse names/numbers on the stickers and affix them to the map pages. Or, just use the markers and write on the pages.

If you're an EMT/Medic and you work for one of the regional care providers, you can also mark off the hospitals, maybe use different colored ink/stickers for the capacity levels of each hospital. Blue for a trauma center, red for a burn unit, green for one that has a neo natal ICU, etc.

For us dispatchers, red for firehouses, blue for hospitals, green for VAC's, yellow for the Police stations. Or just mark the pages as necessary. Another one I missed, and I mentioned in my earlier threads, LANDMARKS!!!!!!

I would also recommend the map book for any piece of apparatus. If it's not already in use. Stick it behind the officers seat or in the glove box. Might come in handy when you're heading on a long Mutual Aid run, or going somewhere unfamiliar and your department hasn't been up to date on the route cards.

Back to the dispatchers, a three ring binder. I'm not talking one of those Eric Cartman sized Dawsons' Creek style Trapper Keepers with the built in pencil sharpener and calculator. Simple three ring binder with a few of those dividers with tabs.

One section you keep your apparatus line ups. Who has what and where. You can optionally add direct numbers to each firehouse, if need be. For some of you who may be novices and didn't grow up around the Fire or EMS services, see if you can get some pictures of local apparatus. So when you hear 12-6-1 sign on, you can look and see what a heavy rescue looks like. Get that idea in your head and it'll click from there. These can either go up front in this section, or in the back in the last section.

Another section you keep a list of handy phone numbers that you commonly use for notifications. Things like Stat Flight, NYSP, County Police or Sheriff. Other Dispatchers offices in the event you're requested to go out of county for Mutual Aid, County Coordinators/Battalion Chiefs, and of course, Hospital ER phone numbers. There were quite a few times when 40 Control had to Landline PHC and give them info if we were coming in with a CPR case, or they couldn't answer us on high band.

The next section can be used for miscellaneous things like detailed maps of certain areas, such as large parks. Quick references for who to turn out if an alarm comes in on a highway. What departments cover which exits, or mile markers. This comes in very handy when working with a CAD crash. Or if you're not quite sure who responds to a certain landmark and the computer doesn't necessarily give you the right info.

The other tool, is a scanner. Once again, you don't need one of those super pimped out, trunked everything, digital whatchahoosits that can allow you to hear a pilot breaking wind at 35,000 feet. Just one that you can easily program and listen to.

I learned more about properly talking on FDNY radio from about two or three years straight of just listening, than I did in 6 weeks of class. Not to toot my own horn, but when I was in probie school I carried on a radio conversation in class with one of my instructors(A legend of FDNY Communications), and he really swelled my ego when we finished by telling me, "Sounded like you had 15 years on the job, kid."

Try some of these inexpensive(except the scanner for the most part), very basic implements. With a little bit of practice and a lot of patience, or vice versa, you can become an asset to whomever you're serving. If anyone else would like to add to this, please do. I'm always looking for new ideas that I can use to improve my performance and the performance of those who work with and for me.