The Official FDNY Lingo Thread

[x635 4,066]

Many people who live outside the NYC Metro area aren't familiar with some of the unique terminolgy used by the FDNY. Although I reconize that MANY diehard "fans" know it, I thought this would be a useful thread for members to add FDNY lingo, the meaning of the term, and possibly the history behind it.

So, post away!

It will be pinned to the top for reference.

[IzzyEng4 427]

"Hitting the plug"

A common term used not only by FDNY guys but also all New England Jakes. In the days of old wooden water mains, firemen would drill into the water main and insert a "plug" so that a hose line could be attached to it. And when they were done with it, used an "block plug" to close it up. Eventually with the invention of the hydrant, it adopted the nickname of a "plug" since it was connected to the water main.

[IzzyEng4 427]

The infamous "K"

Does anyone know the true background of saying "K" after a transmission in FDNY?

Well K is a Morse code signal used to tell the receiver that the transmitter's message has ended. It's kinda like typing "GA" over a TDD machine when communication over the phone to someone who is deaf or has impaired hearing. The letter K was signaled over the telegraph alarm system (the days before two-way radios) when messages were sent to the box from fire alarm or vice-versa.

As for FDNY I am not sure if this was a hold over from the old telegraph days or if it was short for Okay. Our friendly neighborhood FDNY dispatchers should tell us the true story.

[jack10562 414]

Multi Versal?

[Guest NoFearFD]

BOX ANNOUNCEMENTS

Approximately 60 seconds after a box is transmitted the radio dispatcher announces the box. A typical transmission is formatted thus: borough, source of the alarm, box number, address, what the caller is reporting. The different types of sources are: telephone (Via 911, direct dial, operator assist, TDD, etc.), ERS (street box that allows voice contact), pullbox (mechanical street box sometimes simply called "box"), DR (discretionary response) box (Mechanical street box with a high false alarm rate. The battalion chief may respond at his discretion.), verbal (reported to us by a member of the department), class-3 (alarms from central station monitoring companies), and EMS or EMS-PD (CFR runs that are received by direct computer link).

Addresses in the borough of Queens are mostly numeric and the untrained ear may not be able to decipher the announcement. For example, the address 158-24 81 Street between 158 & 159 Avenues when spoken quickly may sound like just a string of numbers.

WHO IS THIS PERSON "ANNIE ALLEY"?

Since the inception of E911 some years ago this phrase has been sneaking into our lexicon. At first we were saying, "As per the E911 Computer the caller is at..." But that phrase has been shortened to, "The Annie Alley location is..." Annie Alley of course being the phonetic pronunciation of ANI-ALI.

SIGNALS

Some of the old telegraph bell signals are still used on the radio. The most common are, 5-7 (1 engine, 1 ladder response), 65-2 (department message), and 5-5-5-5 (line of duty death).

WHAT'S A 10-14 ENGINE?

Staffing levels on our engines are either 5 FF's and an officer, or 4 FF's and an officer depending on the company. If an engine designated as a 5 FF company responds with only 4 FF's to a reported structural fire, that company is said to be responding 10-14. When a company responds as such we assign an "additional 10-14 engine" to augment them. (The term "additional 10-14 engine" is a misnomer. It apparently refers to the staffing of the additional unit when in fact it refers to the reason they were assigned.) Only 1 additional 10-14 engine is added per initial alarm.

WHAT DOES THE LETTER K MEAN? K

The use of the letter K is a holdover from the days of telegraph. It was sent at the end of a transmission to indicate that I am finished sending and I await your reply. It is similar to the military use of the word over.

A.F.I.D. ROLLCALL & B.I.

AFID stands for Apparatus Field Inspection Duty and is also called Building Inspection (B.I.)

TAXPAYERS

There is no legal description of the term taxpayer as used in this department. It's meaning is derived from the practice of real estate investors who, while holding parcels of land for speculation, constructed cheap buildings that could house multiple tenants. The rent collected would be used to pay the taxes on the land. This type of building commonly houses multiple commercial tenants. Outside of New York City the closest comparison I've seen are buildings called strip malls.

Modern taxpayers are not constructed so cheaply but they do contain some of the inherent dangers of their older counterparts. For example: little or no fire stopping between subdivisions over the ceiling, common cellars or cocklofts that run the length of the building, etc.

BUILDING TYPES

Some building types you may hear are class 1 or class A meaning fireproof, class 3 meaning non-fireproof (NFP), OLT meaning Old Law Tenement (apartment houses built prior to April 1, 1901), and NLT meaning New Law Tenement (apartment houses built between 1901 and 1929). The term tenement is not used to describe buildings built after 1929.

OPERATION FIRESTOP

In early April, 1999, the department began a campaign designed to educate the general public in fire safety. All units are handing out flyers with information on how to avoid being a fire casualty. They go door-to-door, hand out these flyers, and talk to the citizens in their response area. This campaign is called "Operation Firestop".

WHO IS THIS PERSON SID AND FROM WHERE DOES HE GET ALL HIS INFORMATION?

"Attention units responding to box 1234, Sids information available upon request." We're not talking about a person called Sid. The Critical Information Dispatch System (CIDS) was invented to provide fire fighters with information that might be helpful while operating at a fire scene. While companies are out on building inspection they make note of special conditions that can affect their operation. Typical entries contain the height, dimensions, occupancy, and construction of the building; the location of standpipes; the location of hazardous materials stored within; or any other critical information.

MIXER OFF

Our radio system (for now) is a 2 channel simplex voting receiver type. We transmit on one frequency and receive on another. This gives us in the Central Office the ability to transmit and receive at the same time. The frequency you listen to is the output of the Central Office. In order for you to hear what we hear, we have to turn on the "mixer".This device injects our receive audio into the transmitter. When a unit wants to give us sensitive information they ask us to turn it off, thus preventing anyone listening from hearing the transmission. It's not fool-proof though. Anyone within range of the low power transceiver of the unit can monitor the output frequency of the mobile and hear the message.

OTHER TERMS

ADV - abandoned derelict vehicle fire (10-23)

MUNGO - a fire in a 55-gallon drum used by vagrants to melt insulation from copper wire.

REAR TENEMENT - a building situated behind another that doesn't front on a street. The only means of egress is through the building in front.

FAST UNIT - a company assigned to an incident that stands by in case a Mayday is transmitted. This policy is the city's equivalent of the OSHA 2in-2out rule. Usually it is a ladder company, but it can be an engine company if the Supervising Dispatcher feels truck availability will suffer.

FALLBACK - During times of heavy activity we implement Fallback to reduce the amount of apparatus assigned to an incident. This preserves unit availability. There are 3 steps:

Step 1 = No contact - no response to ERS boxes. This is in effect every day from 0800 to 2300 hours.

Step 2 = Step 1 and 1 engine response to mechanical boxes.

Step 3 = Step 2 and 1 engine, 1 ladder and a BC to all structural alarms.

DOUBTFUL? There are 4 terms we use to indicate the control of a fire:

Doubtful will hold - The chief is doubful the fire can be controlled with units already assigned -- more may be needed.

Probably will hold - The chief probably can control the fire with units assigned.

Will hold - Self explanatory but rarely if ever used.

Under control - Self explanatory.

www.fdnewyork.com

Edited March 20, 2008 by NoFearFD

[JBE 328]

Looks like someone beat me to it. Side note, I worked with Frank when I was a probie, and again after he got promoted to Supervisor.

I'll throw in a few.

Collyers Mansion. Named after the Collyer Brothers of Harlem. Rich and notorious pack rats. Stacked their home to the ceilings with various knick knacks over the years, including booby traps. One brother was disabled and confined to a wheelchair. The other was killed by a booby trap, the other died of starvation. It took them weeks to empty out the apartment building.

The rest fast: Holding all units not operating at the ready.

Multiversal is another word for monitor. You may hear Stang as well, that's usually the deck gun on an engine.

Taking a blow: Back in the days of leather lunging it. This is how you cleared out your nasal passages. It now means to take a break.

Snotty: A hot and smoky fire, where those who leather lunged it were treated to lots of dark colored mucous.

Take up: To take up your hoses and leave the scene.

Hairbag, (Slang term for oral treats), and Skell: A person of questionable personality, and/or morality. Skell is actually derived from either a Danish or European word for scoundrel. Used more for some of the less fortunate folk, and was coined more by NYPD, but used commonly by all the NYC Emergency type folk. Most of these words are modifed with the F word. Such as, "That Guy?? He's a F'ing (Slang term for oral treats)!!!!"

R and R the Box. This is a request by the dispatcher for the first arriving unit to Reset and Rewind a mechanical box. Most boxes come in four to eight rounds after being pulled. Sometimes they continue until they wind down and the circuit is left open. Open circuit=no other boxes coming in.

Class 3: Our term for any Private Fire Alarm, montiored by a central station.

Verbal: Any time an alarm is received from a unit in the field. Some places call it still alarms, EMS and PD I believe call it, "Getting Flagged".

Tap Out: To call in sick, or go sick. Not one you hear too often on the radio.

Tap In, or Tap yourself in: Telling a unit to put themselves back in service on the Firehouse Teleprinter upon completion of their duties. Only heard rarely oin the radio.

Loops and Circuits: Both are pretty much the same, however Loops correspond to ERS boxes, and Circuits are for Pull Boxes.

Mills and Volts: readings of electricity on the aforementioned Loops and Circuits.

Battery: Placement of a ground on a specific side of the loop or circuit. The type of ground is opposite of the battery. Example: Negative Battery=Ground on the Positive Side of the Circuit.

And my personal favorite....

'F'shop: Not a good place to work, for whatever reasons.

PS Speaking of CIDS, and FAST Units, we are now required to notify the FAST Unit of the particulars of an incident they are responding to, and the CIDS information, if any.

I don't know why, I will eventually find out, but I already don't like it. Perfect example. 10-75 gets transmitted. The dispatcher makes the announcement, gives the IC his rundown. Reads out the CIDS. Gets the FAST Truck on the air advises them what the situation is and then gives them the CIDS. UNNECESSARY!!!!

All this guy had to do was, "Queens announcing CIDS Information for Box 5133..ETC," Queens to Ladder 155, K.

155, K

Ladder 155, you are the FAST Truck, Fire is on the top floor of a 3 Frame Private Dwelling, did you get the CIDS, K???

Ladder 155, 10-4.

Done...

Edited March 20, 2008 by JBE

[AFS1970 504]

Although this is dangerously off topic from FDNY, thinking of K being an alod telegraph made me think of the Q codes that are still in use in the Ham Radio field. These also translated into verbal radio codes, and I know that Miami PD still uses them.

[x129K 1,393]

Take a mark?

[grumpyff 1,159]

I have also heard the term 'johnny pump' refering to hydrants.

[firemoose827 324]

Here is a link directly to the page of terminology for fdnewyork.com.

Sorry, its the only thing I can ADD to this!!!

FDNY Terminology

[JBE 328]

Take a mark?

Take a Mark means taking credit for the run, if you've been returned to service, and recording it in the housewatch journal.

It also means making any entry in the journal, or recording of information on various types of paperwork.

[x129K 1,393]

Thnax!

[M' Ave 1,466]

"Hitting the plug"

A common term used not only by FDNY guys but also all New England Jakes. In the days of old wooden water mains, firemen would drill into the water main and insert a "plug" so that a hose line could be attached to it. And when they were done with it, used an "block plug" to close it up. Eventually with the invention of the hydrant, it adopted the nickname of a "plug" since it was connected to the water main.

I've heard of this being used in New England and down south, but not really in FDNY. You'll hear take a hydrant or hit a hydrant, but you won't hear "plug".

There is on longer AFID, it morphed into BI and now, BISP (building inspection safety program). You might hear any one of them on the radio, but the dispatcher will use BISP when announcing the A.M. or P.M. roll call.

I've got that right JBE, no?

Edited March 20, 2008 by M' Ave

[Guest fdonthejob]

Hitting the plug is never used. Johnny pump is what hyrdants were called in the past, some people may still refer to them as that, but NOT Fireman.

To FDNY its called a hydrant...plain and simple.

[CPAGE 2]

Don't forget M.U.D. Multi Unit Drill

From the House Watchmen "Everybody Goes" Engine / Truck / Chief

[JRS2817 1]

a common one "the bus"

[IzzyEng4 427]

Hitting the plug is never used. Johnny pump is what hyrdants were called in the past, some people may still refer to them as that, but NOT Fireman.

To FDNY its called a hydrant...plain and simple.

I might be mixing up my Boston terms with FDNY.

[biglew 3]

a "bus" refers to an ambulance.

"in the process" means units are in the process of taking up from a job, and hence will be available shortly.

"forward the particulars" means that the battalion chief will not continue into the box after hearing the initial report of the alarm. So he is asking the reporting engine or truck on the scene to forward the particulars to his office after returning from the incident.

'5 by 5 " Ok 99.9 percent of the readers here will know this already, but for that one... it means your radio transmission is received loud and clear .

[Guest 67-13]

I know this is an FDNY lingo thread but i was listening to DCFD (district of Columbia fire department), and i realized they were dispatching ems calls as alpha, delta, and Charlie for priorities. Can someone tell me which one means which.

[CAM502 6]

a "bus" refers to an ambulance.

Now I know most EMS guys hate this term, but it is very common in urban areas. An ambulance is called "the bus" because a great many of EMS calls will be someone with a VERY minor medical problem, who is broke and just wants a ride to the hospital. Or they don't want to wait to be seen so they try to beat the system.

[mustang22_2002 21]

How bout " 6 Bells " Chows On !!

[ny10570 745]

FAT Engine

[JBE 328]

Up until a few months ago, BI and AFID, or AFRD were pretty much interchangeable. Building Inspection, Apparatus Field Inspection/Re-Inspection Duty morphed into the Building Inspection Safety Program. They also added an additional day of BI to the unit schedule. Instead of 2 days of BI per week, they are now doing 3.

FAT Engine, wow. That disappeared before I got on the job. That goes back to the late 80's I think. That was the pre-cursor to the FAST Truck. The one major change that I did see in my career with that was the FAST Truck being sent on the 10-75, as opposed to sending it on the All Hands. I remember a number of my friends on the other side of the radio clamoring for that one.

That's another one I think is FDNY Specific. All Hands Operating, or All Hands going to work. This is when you have 3 Engines, 2 Ladders operating at an incident. Or, 2 Engines, 2 Ladders and a Squad(Operating as an Engine).

Bell signals are still used on the teleprinter tickets,and manual dispatch forms, such as Signal 4(Battalion) 5(Engine) 6(Marine Company) 7(Ladder) 9(Special Unit, not Rescue,or Squad). 7-5(All Hands).

If I remember right from dealings with some of my cohorts out in Long Beach California, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie Responses coincide with the severity of the incident. FDNY*EMS has what are called segments, which I think are approximately the same thing. It's prioritizing of incidents.

Edited March 21, 2008 by JBE

[Guest CRASH]

I know this is an FDNY lingo thread but i was listening to DCFD (district of Columbia fire department), and i realized they were dispatching ems calls as alpha, delta, and Charlie for priorities. Can someone tell me which one means which.

.

.

severity of the call mostly figured by a set off guidlines

.

.

A ALPHA ( BS CALL NON EMERGENCY ) DRIVING BALLS TO THE WALL IS UNCALLED FOR

B. BRAVO ( MORE SERIOUS )

C. CHARLIE ( REQUIRES A MEDICS RESPONSE IF AVAILABLE )

D. DELTA ( BALLS TO THE WALL BUT ALWAYS REMEMBER PUBLIC SAFETY IS # 1 )

E. ECHO................USUALLY A NON RESPONSIVE ...CPR...CPR INSTRUCTIONS BEING GIVEN....OR JUST PLAIN OLE, THEIR SCREWED.....

.

.

.

...............................................................MY 2 CENTS.........................................

.

[Goose 188]

Some people may not know what an MDT or Mobile Data Terminal is.

[M' Ave 1,466]

Up until a few months ago, BI and AFID, or AFRD were pretty much interchangeable. Building Inspection, Apparatus Field Inspection/Re-Inspection Duty morphed into the Building Inspection Safety Program. They also added an additional day of BI to the unit schedule. Instead of 2 days of BI per week, they are now doing 3.

A third day along with a great deal of time spent on BI at The Rock during the academy.

As for EMS hating the term "bus", someone from EMS will have to answer, but I hear them refer to, "our bus" almost every time.

[gpdexplorer 46]

Can any of you FDNY guys tell me if you say "taking in the box, k" when on scene.

[CPAGE 2]

Ah the FAT engine the first F.A.S.T. team in the FDNY yes it was an Engine. But for a short time before it was the FAT enegine it was called the F.A.R.T. Engine Firefighter Assist Rescue Team. Then after one of the big bosses heard this on the radio they changed it again.

The good ole days

[Guest EFFP411]

Now I know most EMS guys hate this term, but it is very common in urban areas. An ambulance is called "the bus" because a great many of EMS calls will be someone with a VERY minor medical problem, who is broke and just wants a ride to the hospital. Or they don't want to wait to be seen so they try to beat the system.

I have threatened to put Big red vinyl letters on my AMBULANCE, "NOT A TAXI"..... but then i got yelled at, lol

[Goose 188]

Now I know most EMS guys hate this term, but it is very common in urban areas. An ambulance is called "the bus" because a great many of EMS calls will be someone with a VERY minor medical problem, who is broke and just wants a ride to the hospital. Or they don't want to wait to be seen so they try to beat the system.

Actually, I've heard two different stories:

The first is that when EMS first got up and running things were so busy that units were picking up additional patients on the way to the hospital. So, in essence, they were very much like a bus service.

The other story I've heard is that some of the first contracts to build ambulances went to Grumman. Apparently at one point Grumman built the NYC transit buses...hence the term.