Unified Call Taker and Changes for FDNY Dispatching

[Guest Loud412]

Do they still foward the ambulance calls to the ems ARD's or is pd comming up with the ems call types on their own. I've been noticing an even greater abundance of bs unconcious calls, and calls that should be going in as Cardiac Arrests that are comming over as the Sick.

[grumpyff 1,159]

Somethings got to change. On the PD side we have begun to notice longer response times for EMS. Not to say they aren't busy but, for example today I arrived on my post(west 50th and broadway) at 1400. The sector car was there from 1340 hrs with a woman 24, 4 months pregnant who slipped and fell complaining of pain to her lower back, wrist and elbow.The sector had to go back in service, and I made requests for EMS at 1406, 1428, and again at 1445 when she began to experience abdominal cramping and pain. The last request I put out as a priorty. for the cramping /pain in the abdomin. The ambulance finally got there at 1505 hrs. He fiance came from Long Island City, and got there the same time as the bus. EMS got the job as person fell at location, not mention of the update in condition.

Recently we also waited and hour and fourty minutes for a man who fell into the subway tracks suffered a large laceration on his head, and the climbed back up to the subway platform . We also hear these nonsense jobs over our radios, such as a building collapse into the subway ( small piece of concrete fell from a subway ceiling) with no disruption of subway service being reported. Things worked fine before, not sure why they had to change it, might be the 9/11 Commission nonsense that said NYC needed to have a radio system that we all could talk on together at one time.

Edited May 15, 2009 by grumpyff

[M' Ave 1,466]

We are getting more and more tickets that say nothing more than an address and an intersection....no description of the incident. Not good. Do I need my gear on or do I not? Do I need my ems gloves or is it fire. Is it a car accident? What's the deal!?!?!?!?!

The other day we went 3 + 2 for a structural collapse......it was a large tree branch and it wasn't on a house or car. This is a waste of time, resources and a bit safety risk.

JBE, I hope you guys get the calls back!

[JBE 328]

OK, so I've been working with this new system for the past week, and I have seen a ton of errors. Be it wrong incident codes, wrong responses, misspelled words. Like I said the other day the BS filter has been removed. I must have sent Haz Mat 1 and a Squad out at least 5 times last night alone for unknown Haz Mat conditions. The only good thing to come out of this is that runs will be up for units, and productivity on the Fire Alarm Dispatchers side is going to go up.

[16fire5 693]

Major Flood =Water Leak

Major Fire = 10-22

The brothers never appreciated the job the boro offices did decoding the BS until now. The concept of the boro offices where you still have professionals that care about the job they do and have a connection to the guys in the field will be lost if all this goes through. The UCT is someone who looked for any civil service job and is there for a paycheck and nothing more. Even when someone like this got hired as a FAD the culture of our offices and the fact we still have FSDs and SFADs that care about the job resulted in a standard or greater expectations than you seem to get from the other entities. If you don't believe me listen to the PD radio for 5 minutes.

We need a little cheat sheet on the stuff you get on the ticket. Even the "Initial Entry" thing stills screws the guys up because they think they are going to force entry for EMS not this was the dispatchers initial entry.

JBE great point about PD and the marks they take. They sit and watch us take people out of elevators as of late, I wonder what mark they are taking for that. I will pass the 10-80 on to the chiefs I work with, really no extra trouble for anyone involved. I always make it a point to take the Haz-Mat mark on the NYFIRS if applicable.

[IzzyEng4 427]

It is amazing that the K-I-S-S meathod gets thrown out all the time for something more complex.

If they were smart, the would look at what LA does with thier call taking center or better yet leave it the way it was. JBE good luck brother!

[Guest]

If you get in an accident responding to any one of these tickets it is on you. I could care less about response times, do not get in to an accident on a nonsense run and expect to be protected cause it came over as major fire.

[ryang 166]

If you get in an accident responding to any one of these tickets it is on you. I could care less about response times, do not get in to an accident on a nonsense run and expect to be protected cause it came over as major fire.

Logic dictates that more companies being sent out on rubbish cars = more apparatus on the road = greater chance of an MVA involving a department vehicle. It's not even a matter of the run coming in under the wrong name, it's a matter of gas leaks getting full HazMat responses and Collapse assignments being sent out for a tree down. That's a difference between having 1 company on a box and 9. By UCT misrepresenting an incident you're putting 8 additional companies at risk by putting them on the road when they don't need to be.

Also don't forget what New York drivers are like. I wouldn't be so quick to blame an accident on the operator and completely let UCT off the hook.

[Guest]

Adding rigs does not really increase the probability of an accident much in NYC, we have so many cars you would have to put a 100 rigs on the road for it to make an increase. Bottom line is drive slowly, the City could care less about you or your family.

[INIT915 1,119]

Unfortunately, that's what it's going to take to get this madness stopped. You're flying blind to a box and it turns out to be something relatively minor, and God forbid your company wraps up and takes out a church van from the local storefront house of worship.

Solution: Don't "fly" to anything recklessly! Respond with due regard to each and every alarm.

[ny10570 745]

Its a shame, there were some real flaws in the old system that definitely needed to be addressed. They went and "fixed" everything that was working and left all the old flaws in place.

[chovesh 1]

Scary Stuff: http://wcbstv.com/local/fdny.dispatch.system.2.1013579.html

[JBE 328]

Yeah according to some faceless dope at the Mayors office, my people are "unnecessary middlemen". Never mind the fact we have had to call PD HUNDREDS of times over the past 2 and a half weeks to get WTF's or corrected information out of them. I had one of these undertrained folks tell one of my guys last night, "Why you going, Y'all don't go to stuck elevators???" Our union president showed up on TV Last night. Too little Too late..

[JBE 328]

Got one this morning. First came over as a building fire, turned out to be a burglary in progress.

[M' Ave 1,466]

This past week, two alarms with a 2 and 1 response in the same vicinity. One was a cross street and ave and the other was the address on the ave. One was a job, one was nothing.

This is needless confusion. I hope they see the light and can be convinced to return to the old and reliable system.

[JBE 328]

Nope, not gonna happen, this is Mayor Mikes baby..Not gonna change until someone dies.

[JBE 328]

Foul odor coming from a dumpster on an 85 degree day. Gee, maybe it's garbage?? This is an incredibly dumb system. I sat down with one of my chief dispatchers last week, and looked at the stack of paperwork filed by either the units, or by my people to show how many mistakes have been made. Had one last week, run comes over for a water leak. Truck gets in there, and asks for an Engine and EMS for a lady whose water broke and was in labor. Thanks again, Mayor Mike and Commissioner Kelly. Thank you to my management for totally destroying my job, as well.

[dadbo46 50]

Had one last week, run comes over for a water leak. Truck gets in there, and asks for an Engine and EMS for a lady whose water broke and was in labor.

You've got to be kidding !

[JBE 328]

I kid thee not. Yet another you can't make this stuff up example.

[ny10570 745]

We're right there with you JBE. As an added bonus, any EMS dispatcher or CRO that down grades the initial UCT assessment gets punished if the call is later found to be serious. So UCT makes it an unconscious for the woman who is dizzy having a migraine, no dispatcher is going to change the call type for fear of punishment. Instead of a low priority sick. Its a high priority ALS job with an Engine and if the medics are extended, a BLS joins the party too. All diabetics are AMS and anyone with a cardiac history is cardiac call, even a broken hand.

[helicopper 1,050]

Got one this morning. First came over as a building fire, turned out to be a burglary in progress.

Did you catch the guy and wrap him up in hose till the cops got there?