ejs1810
Probationary Member
Posts: 0
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Post by ejs1810 on Apr 29, 2006 10:41:46 GMT -5
Lately I have been listening to a Nassau County feed on the internet and I keep hearing departments being dispatched for "An Automatic Alarm for a House Fire". Why is this type of terminology used?
Up here in Putnam County we just say an Automatic (or Activated) Fire Alarm. I realize that the activation of a fire alarm is supposed to mean there is a fire, however we all know that 95% of all automatic alarms are either malfunctions or accidential.
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Post by Thunderfoot on Apr 29, 2006 12:34:21 GMT -5
Lately I have been listening to a Nassau County feed on the internet and I keep hearing departments being dispatched for "An Automatic Alarm for a House Fire". Why is this type of terminology used? It's up to each individual department as to how they want things termed. The majority just go with automatic alarm, but there are some who want house or building added to it. Some places will sign on with a "structure fire", for automatic alarms, and will give the type for actual verbal calls for a house or building fire. Some others just go out with a "general alarm" for everything with no type added. Yes there's no standardization whatsoever, but thats what happens when there's no one person who calls the shots. |
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Post by jrsl2362 on Apr 30, 2006 16:49:22 GMT -5
some departments sign on the air with a house fire for all types of alarms in a p/d whether its an automatic alarm that comes in 5 days a week or if its multiple calls for fire and its out the windows on arrival. i dont know about anyone else but i would find that very annoying.
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Post by LIFA Rob on May 4, 2006 21:07:08 GMT -5
I like the way Riverhead FD handles all automatic alarms which are 98% bogus, they activate Chiefs only on them... 89 % of the time when Riverhead bangs out with a sig 12, 13 or 14 it's usually a job...
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Post by wqce207a on May 4, 2006 22:02:00 GMT -5
That dispatching procedure is wonderful until you get caught with your pants down. The taxpayers arent paying for chiefs to be dispatched to alarms. They are paying for a truck with 6 fireman on it ready to rock and roll. Every other part of the country runs engines to AA's and they will tell you it pays off for that 2% of calls that are real. If you can't run duty crews and get an engine on the road you need to hire some people. Do ambulance companies send just the Chiefs to all those BS difficulty breathing calls at Johnny's Nursing home?
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Post by grumpydispatcher on May 5, 2006 9:39:41 GMT -5
Sending chiefs only to an alarm is just a law suit ready to happen. I know we've had at least 3 fires in the last few years that were buildings with chronic automatic alarms.
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Post by wqce207a on May 5, 2006 9:45:15 GMT -5
Grumpy, if the public only had a clue...
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Post by LIFA Rob on May 5, 2006 18:26:41 GMT -5
I don't know Grump.. usually I am the first to complain about everything these days with the way FD's do things but I have to say I support Riverhead's procedure on activating a 23 Chiefs for Automatic Alarms... At least during the day time hours... Riverhead is a huge district and they get at least 3 AA's a day, especially up at Tanger Mall and John Wesley village ( retirement homes) ... now, with that, if it was a real fire multiple calls would come in on it from people as there are so many around these locations..... As with most fire's they are called in by actual people and not an automatic alarm.. But to be more precise on the topic..I see no need to roll engines and trucks 3 times a day because someone was smoking a cig in an office or took a shower with extra hot water and steamed the alarm sensors and triggered an AA...lol Just my opinion.... Don't read to much into it guys.........
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Post by grumpydispatcher on May 5, 2006 18:54:56 GMT -5
Some of the biggest fires that I have dispatched have only come in from one phone call or one automatic alarm. The multiple calls angle just doesn't fly.
What happens when that chiefs investigation is toned out and they all happen to be out of the district for one reason or another, or they don't hear their pagers, or whatever? What happens then if it is an actual fire?
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Post by LIFA Rob on May 5, 2006 19:38:26 GMT -5
Yea I guess you're right but officers are notified of the AA's too.. Maybe it's dispatchers discretion.. If it's a AA at 3am in a place where no one should be at that hour then yea , tone out a general but at 12 noon at the mall it's obvious it's a false alarm if no one is actually calling up with a report of a fire.... Why have many guys rolling in from all points in town and rolling apparatus risking an accident all for a 99.9 % false alarm. ? I guess it all depends on the department ... It seems to work well for RFD..
However how about this topic... Rolling apparatus for a helicopter landing? This one I never understood because I never saw it done in Nassau County..Just out in Suffolk it seems to be a common thing.... I can only guess that not too often do helicopters land in Nassau for a transport since hospitals are relatively close in every direction... ?
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Post by wqce207a on May 5, 2006 19:47:39 GMT -5
So Rob how many ambulance companies just send their chiefs to those BS "abdominal pain" calls that turn out to be RMA? Obviously something was burning that set off the alarm. I have personally seen departments caught with their pants down and they just don't learn. It happens 3-4 times a year to the same departments! God forbid if the homeowner found out the dispatch procedure and their house might have been saved. We have one particular crack house that we get a ton of AA's out of. We treat it as a regular structure fire b/c eventually it will go up and we pre-planned the heck out of it. If you can't get an engine on the road you need to hire some people.
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Post by ESU2422 on May 5, 2006 20:09:03 GMT -5
However how about this topic... Rolling apparatus for a helicopter landing? This one I never understood because I never saw it done in Nassau County..Just out in Suffolk it seems to be a common thing.... I can only guess that not too often do helicopters land in Nassau for a transport since hospitals are relatively close in every direction... ? I wondered the same thing. The helicopters here in Nassau take off and land several times a day from the old Grumman and without FD being there. Cablevision also brings a helicopter in and out a few times a day as well. I guess it's nice to have but like I said, they do this all day during normal procedure without it. |
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Post by LIFA Rob on May 5, 2006 20:15:28 GMT -5
WQCE207a I can't answer your first question/statement unfortunetely... I don't do EMS or rescue calls... I am 100% fire only. Yea I see your point on residental alarms but for commercial AA's its a 23 Chiefs....
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