Too many people on the air for one incident

[hudson144 150]

did you hear all of the non essential people on the radio? prime example of too many chiefs and no indians on the fire frequency,who needs to hear that 3 chiefs 3 deputy chiefs are responding when the 2 departments can't talk to each other to communicate important info on if the vehicle has sunk or afloat. the boat was in tow by another vessel and the knuckle heads are talking like they are rte 84 east bound on a cb radio! keep off the air unless it is important

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Hudson....you win my vote for the common sense award!

This is an every incident event for us. No mind that the equipment is responding, or you may have a pertinent piece of information to pass along, like the fact you have a working fire or something. Instead your cut off by a deputy chief(s), one whom insists on being acknowledged by 60 even when 3 chiefs are responding.

[hudson144 150]

some depts respond with 3 chiefs,3 line officers,4 deputy chiefs,6 rigs and whoever else has a radio and wants to join in on the fun,thats 16 different units tying up the air.its time for all depts to start making policy on when or when not to key the microphone. if a dept has a chief or 2 signing on and they are acknowledged by their dispatch then others should remain silent unless they are the first to get on location and then give a report. too many times the radio is taken over by multiple units responding in on some bs call.yesterday was a prime example.a boat was in distress and once the depts are dispatched everyone and their mother signs on,whatever happened to a chief officer signing on and others staying off the air. everyone likes to hear themselves i guess. non essential people should stay off the air,let the incident commanders do their jobs,speaking of incident commanders,its not important that you thank 60 control for dispatching the dept to a call. again,the radio is tied up. send them a thank you note ! guess i had to vent a little tonight,lol be safe!

[CFD320 35]

Seems like everyone is in love with the sound of their own voice....I know my department in general is awful on the radio. We even had a guy give himself a identity # that didn't exist when he used his personal portable (diddn't last long).

I am starting to see more and more people who have added portables to their bat belts. Un-needed radio traffic is an epidemic.....

[WAS967 97]

In a world where dispatch actually keeps track of responding units, I would say each unit responding SHOULD call 10-17 so that they can be tracked. If someone doesn't show up where/when they were supposed to, then someone might want to check to see if they are okay.

I like the system we're working on where I work. Most signals are given by a data terminal in the trucks, vehicles are tracked at all times, and speeds and status (lights/siren status) are all tracked for approprate use. All this is done on a dedicated radio on a seperate frequency. Heck, even call info is sent to the data terminal so it's not given out over the air (a potential HIPPA violation). When the system is fully online, you'll rarely hear the units talking on the voice channel as everything vital will be done by data terminal.

[1075thebox 1]

The incident in question was one involving my Dept.

Our Chief and our Marine unit signed on, that's it.

The rest was the "other guys."

We couldn't even report we were responding becuase their was too much traffice.

Now, from a technical stand-point...the Hudson River Water Rescue Assosciation supposedly made a policy that all River operations are to be on 46.14. How come it isn't enforced? I heard M4 & M5 on 46.26 the other day going on a call too. Are we all too dumb to switch channels. I was on our Marine unit when we went out, and I made the suggestion to change, but since the incident was not "ours" the choice was in the hands of "their command."

Also - I don't disagree with hudson's point about too many chiefs and no indians. But in most people's defense - sometimes one doesn't hear the other. That's why dispatchers, both 60 control and others, should repeat transmissions - IE "E123 is 10-17." and 60 control should repeat it "10-4 E123, 10-17 @1448.

Just some thoughts...

[Guest CFDFASTleader]

Did Verplank respond to that call?

[scod601 0]

CFDFASTleader no verplanck did not respond marine 1 is out of service

[Guest CFDFASTleader]

That's the joke! =D> =D>

[Guest WCDES636]

I think you mean SubMarine 1

[Guest irishfire]

LOL SUBMARINE 1 IS FOR UNDER WATER RESCUE

[BFD1054 1,552]

I definately agree with what everyone is saying...there is absolutely way too much useless radio traffic! It seems that every Tom, Dick & Harry has a radio & an ID #, its just ridiculous! Theres departments out there that make up thier own ID's, mine included, and 60 Control doesn't aknowledge them & i don't blame them one bit! There enough nonsense that they have to deal with, now some joe shmoe is gonna sign on car 1234B or some crap, give me a break!

As 1075 stated, sometimes certain units can't hear one another. In my case, i only have a portable, not a mobile, so i never hear anything & 60 rarely hears me. Even when we play back our recorder to get times, it usually doesn't pick me up. Therefore, i won't bother signing on sometimes, unless i am the first to sign on. Like yesterday, with all that bad weather, we did like 6 calls within a few hours. I never bothered signing on because there was already a Chief, an Engine, a Rescue & other officers responding and/or on location. The only time i "keyed up" was to assertain where my Chief needed me, and then we switched channels anyway. It makes me think of the saying my mom would use when i was younger...."if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it at all." Well....if you don't have anything usefull to say on the radio, stay the hell off of it! Theres nothing worse than being on a scene of a big job, like a working fire, and hearing the most useless info being put over the air. Its scary to think that you may have to transmit a mayday, but your cry for help goes unheard because some idiot feels the need to let everyone know where the refreshments are located, or some other useless info. I had said it in another post, but a good example was the apartment building fire we (Buchanan) had back in January. At the height of the fire i was trying to request another handline because conditions were deteriorating and we needed another line to try and get a handle on it. But of course, there was too much nonsense radio traffic and my calls went unheard. It came down to another Lieutenant going to the #1(A) side if the structure, where the command post was, and yelling down to them to get us another line, which actually worked! But if you're trapped somewhere, you're not going to have that luxery to just yell out a window.

Hudson made some great points in his posts, especially by saying departments need to start making policies on when and when not to key up the radios! This is something that the Chiefs, although they are somtimes the worst, need to get a handle on and really enforce it! People also need to learn whats important/essential to transmit over the air, another thing that needs to be enforced! People may say "oh, well it only took 5 seconds for me to say blah, blah, blah over the radio, so its no big deal." Well, yeah it could be a big deal. In that 5 seconds, you could have cut-off a guy trying to transmit a mayday.

Cutting down on radio traffic has to be a joint effort that includes all ranks of the FD's and of course, 60-Control! Guys also need to be taught how to talk on the radio and Chiefs need to enforce radio useage! It sounds silly, but many guys really don't know how to talk properly on the radio and they make themselves and their dept. sound bad!

Lets all start trying to cut down on the radio and try and teach others to do the same and maybe we can slowly get somewhere lol!

Stay safe everyone!

[roeems87 0]

I think is all boils down to the same thing about being a power-trip. This happens in places where large incidents don't happen all that often and people get a hard-on when they do. Notice these things don't happen in places like Yonkers or White Plains or New Rochelle, they are happening in the little towns and FDs that don't get all that much action. The town I work in is just about mid-way as far as call volume and responses and stuff, but I have to say I notice some of the same stuff. There are some things that are necessary if you ask me. Sign on's that you are responding are essential--I think. They are an indicator to 60-Control (or whoever is the controler) that you are going and it keeps track of who is enroute, on scene, and available for other things. I haven't noticed this all that much where I am from, but once you are on scene, everything should be 10-10 and only emergency or essential radio traffic should be going across the air. Not for anything, but unless you are in a building or on the other side of the scene, if you are running a scene with multiple commanders, then verbal (as in, IN PERSON) communication is not a bad thing either. Keep the radio traffic to what people need to know.

[Firefighter57 0]

also at alot of big house fires.....people are in a short walking or at the fathest screaming distance from the other person and using the handie talkies........if you can get up or even scream to the person......why not do it....also, it dont help much when people are talking "fireground" on the same frequency that 10-13 is being paged out on.....fireground talk is for the fireground frequencies.....unless maybe im missing somthing here.....

...one more thing.....the dudes that are traying to talk like nyc....but they just arnt good at it....that clogs up the airwaves also

[Remember585 815]

Fireground channels solve a lot of this stuff.

Too many people think 46.26 is the "Public Access Channel."

Hats off to those Departments that switch to an alternate channel as soon as they begin an operation!

[Mini-Attack9 39]

FIREFIGHTER57 I BELIEVE YOU ARE REFERING TO A 10-10 NOT A 10-13

[Firefighter57 0]

naaaaaaaa nix.......10-13 is mutual aid........10-13 is what i ment.....there "fire ground" talking on the same frequency that 60 is pageing out for 10-13.

[Mini-Attack9 39]

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME HONESTLY YOU HEARD SOMEONE SAY 10-13 IN THE FEILD

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Last time I said it: late summer 97'. Different state, different radio, different job. lol

Last time I heard it: Last week, same city, different radio by a guy doing a different job.

Last time in the fire service......I'm with you MA-9 never.

[Firefighter57 0]

i said 10-13 cuz i didnt feel lik spelling it out