METRO NYC AREA FIRE COMM

[ldrco195 17]

I have a few questions to all of you from the METRO NYC Area (except NYC Proper)

1. Is there centralized 911 and dispatch communications in westchester / orange / LI area etc or does each agency self dispatch after call transfer?

In the various counties i see on radio reference that each fire co / fire dist / towns / ems agencies have their own radio freq. And the county has its own freq's

2. Westchester has county 800 system.. do all of the companies operate on this or their own respective freq. How many towns / fd's / ems agencies are operating on different radio bandwidths. I have read a very few posts on the trunk thread that the system is taxed with users and not enough channels.

3. What occurs in these areas if you call 911?

Please shed some light... then i will share my area's issues / dilema..

Thanks..

[ny10570 745]

For Westchester there is a central dispacth (60 Control). But some fire depts, EMS agencies and I think all police agencies are self dispatched. The majority of 911 calls go to the local PD from land lines and to the state police from cell phones.

If you call 911 if you're in the wrong place you're screwed. Recently I got a call back from the State Police after calling 911 to report an MVA in Chappaqua. State Police were calling to see if I was in New Castle as there was not a a matching address for Chappaqua, only New Castle. Chappaqua is a Hamlet of New Castle and while Chappaqua is good enough for a mailing address and post office, apparently it doesn't work for 911. I have also been bounced back and forth between police departments each one saying its not in their district. At this point I just call county directly.