Mutual aid

[Bnechis 3,961]

Yesterday I heard 60 tone out a department: "X" with the following message: "ladder company to stand-by inquarters for dept. A".

Can some one please explain why do some departments do this?

If dept X's ladder is in-service then when the tones go off it should be responding (regardless to which community - X or A). If dept X's ladder is not in-service then is not available.

Does this stand-by improve response times to dept A and if it does why not do it all the time, so response times are improved in Dist. X?

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Putnam Lake used to call New Fairfield to standby in their station, which is probably about a mile down the road into NY state. Now we USUALLY standby in our own quarters to cover calls when Putnam Lake is stripped of resources because they are operating in Brewster or Patterson or wherever. It seemed sort of odd for us to go down to someone else's station when the time difference isn't really that big of a deal.

It cuts the turnout time from when you're dispatched to get to the firehouse, which I think is sort of important when you are going to a town you might not be 100% familiar with. Particularly when PC911 requests us to the scene where PLFD is operating. (Note: I only use PLFD because that's the department we usually standby for, Sherman we go direct to the scene for fires and Danbury rarely, if ever, calls NF for mutual aid)

I get what you're saying though, you should be able to get out the door in the same amount of time. But if a nearby department asks you to standby, what reason do you have not to? I guess what I'm trying to say is that its being a good neighbor. Cutting a few minutes of time between dispatch and response when you know there's a decent chance you're going to the scene just makes sense to me.

[bmfd231 3]

An operating department will ask a neighboring department to standby in quarters instead of coming to their community to provide coverage. The neighboring department will then respond to calls to the operating departments community but will also be available to respond in their own community as well. More importantly, if the neighboring department is needed to the scene of the operating department, the response is immediate, thus the reason for the standby.

Hope that answers your question

[wraftery 1,275]

In Westchester, because of the myriad of radio frequencies, the dept next door could have a good job going on and I would not know it.

What would think if 60 Control made a simulcast announcement over all freqs for all working fires and multiple alarms with a few quick details??

As a shift commander, if I knew I was "next up" I could do some prep work such as:

Get an address

Move some manpower around to fill the aid Company

MPOs cuold pull out the correct thread adapters, magnetic hydrant wrench etc

Take hard suction out of the cellar

There are plenty of things a company can do before the calls come in.

Comments?