fire com for north merrick?

[truckie4life]

was i hearing wrong or was fire com dispatching for north merrick? did they leave north bellmore or was north bellmore having problems?

[tl254truckie]

I heard the same thing and was wondering the same?

[ONTHEAIR4X]

Firecom is now dispatching calls that they receive for North Merrick (except for automatic alarms). It is basically the same system that is in place for Hicksville, Bethpage, East Meadow, Levittown and Oceanside. Firecom will tone the call out once and then pass the info on to that departments dispatcher where he or she will take over the call.........

[nmfdt1]

it gets the members notified of an emergency much quicker.

[liteurfire994]

yea... but why not AA's also?

[ESU2422]

I've heard it for AA's as well, I can't say specifically for N Merrick but definitely for Levittown, Especailly at night when it's a WLVAC response as well, you'll hear WLVAC alerted by Firecom and LFD as well.

[emfd1844]

When they bang out WLVAC and Levittown for a mva they say sig 91. From what i am told what that means to Levittown fd is WLVAC is responding to the mva as well. As far as truckie4life well i guess he is not the buff i thought he was lol. Well at least he is not like that guy Syosset #24. Now there's a guy thats a buff......

[retread]

FireCom will dispatch all 911 calls except for automatic alarms once, then turn it over to 650. All over calls (direct to 650) will be dispatch as usual. North Merrick is doing a 3 month study on the impact (if any) FireCom has on dispatching 911 calls VS them just notifying 650.
North Merrick has NO plans on leaving 650. Like what many other departments are doing, they are just looking to decrease times between "FD being notified" and the dispatching of the alarm.

[ladder47]

This seems like the new trend...someone has said that you can gain a point on your ISO ratings by doing this type of situation......I can tell you that in most cases the dispatch time will be cut down, in the time that firecom picks up a phone, calls the local diapatcher, tells them the address and cross streets ect......now that dispatcher (unless he is typing as firecom is on the phone) has to enter into his system and then dispatch the call. By the time that plays out firecom will have the first set of tones out, makes sense.. Especially in North Merricks case....1 tone for all calls....type and location.......very simple and fast. And it is even faster for dispatchers who are housemen who may be on the other side of the firehouse doing maintenance work.....they have to get to the booth to put the call out. FACT...Levittown FD credits this system with a save that a Comm. and ambulance driver made at a working house fire a few years back...the Comm. lived around the block and the 14a (a Bethpage Ex. Chief I think) was in the area and they were on scene and making entry before 620 had tones out......they brought her back on the front lawn......now if that does not show how 30 seconds here or there can save a life I don't know what can. If it's free and can get people in motion faster then why would you not do it??? The only problem will be the silly stuff of firecom vs. North Bellmore stuff that goes on, which is absolutley stupid. And when that happens it's not even the dispatchers who start it up it's the firemen who really have no idea of what goes on. So my guess is the IMPACT will be enough to keep this system going.

[cowboys2005]

It sounds like north merrick is doing what most dept's in Suffolk are doing going to Firecom for activations , In Suffolk they have the CAD system that pages the chiefs before the depts get the calls. Is 650 slow in geting the call out is that why just curious ,don't know anything about nassau Firecom or 650 just reading whats on here. I'm sure Nassau Firecom is better than Suffolk out here they can't even get simple calls right and mess up all the time what A JOKE and when you call to complain the old saying "we'll look into it "".

[LIFA Rob]

North Merrick is saving 5 to 7 minutes on calls by activating through firecom now..... It's not that 650 is slow, it's just the way certain 911 calls get routed. .... I can't say much more about it because I am eating........

[ladder47]

I don't think its that much time...but between 1-3 minutes is a good figure.....when you dial 911 and say you need to report a fire, the 911 opperator (pd civillian employee) should put you through to firecom...this takes 1 sec. the firecom opp. asks the questions while the 911 opp. listens and takes the info that they need from the call.....delays will happen when the 911 opp. will ask questions before they switch the call to firecom.....then firecom gets the call and asks the same questions......if you need the fd and call 911, tell them right away put me through to firecom.....if they start asking questions stop them and tell them to put you through to the FD......getting back to the call, when it works right the pd will listen and hang up at the same time firecom does, then the pd will send the call to the proper pct. dispatch console.....depending on how busy the pd dispatcher is you will hear the pd putting the call out....before or at the same time firecom should be putting tones out because at the end of the conversation the call on firecoms end will be ready to be toned out. The old way you would be hearing the pd putting the call out and no fd tones, why? The old 911 delay people would say, but thats not really it....the reason is at the time the tones should be going out, firecom is on the phone with the local dispatcher giving him the info...and as stated before then he/she has to process and get tones out. In fact the delay is not on the 911 side its in the phone call, this is where the time is lost.....now that step is eliminated and the phone call is made after the tones are out on the air. This is where the time is saved. In North Merricks case they are primary ambulance in there district so every 911 call for ambulance should be switched into firecom the same way, as all calls for fire. The 911 opp. shows on the enhanced 911 screen that FD is primary and switches the call into firecom. The call taking should go as explained above. There is alot to the process and many factors effect how fast tones are out, how busy the radio is at the time, you have to wait for air time, how serious the call is, and this is for PD dispatch as well as FD. You want to get the cardiac out before the auto alarm and the robbery in progress before the 14 to assist the fd in traffic. There is alot to this folks.......

[ESU2422]

A functional CAD system would work here. One person taking the call entering the information into the system and with a touch of the keyboard the call is routed to the proper displays. Of course this would require terminals in all those FD's that are self dispatched, putting them in at Firecom should be easy, after all they are in the same bunker as 911. But it'll probably never happen, the system we have now still isn't utilized to its full potential and was never really designed for the county anyway.

[ggfgg]

Hello All,

The real way it should work is that each and every full time dispatch center should be a PSAP (public safety answering point) and when the call comes into 911 they would see who the primary FD is or who is ems primary and that is where the call should be transfered to (the way it works in most parts of the country). You would have than removed firecom and the delay and would also allow the local dispatcher to ask the questions that made better sense to get the call out properly. But that will never happen because than firecom could not say that they handled umteen thousand call in a year.

[emfd1844]

I think Firecom and North Bellmore are the best despite what anyone says............ ;D

[LIFA Rob]

Nassau County = the real Firecom doesnt need a CAD system... Have you heard all the confusing at FRES? Too much technology

[volffemt]

Nass Firecom is def more on the ball than FRES.

They're getting too stupid with this plain langauge thing. Ex: "A small outside fire" Whats small to a caller, might be big to a firefighter, and vice-versa. Why can't they just say, brush or rubbish fire, etc...

The text pages are even worse, an EMS call for my dept comes over as an assist/service call. Wires down comes over as an electrical hazzard. I can't get pertinant info on the text page, but I can get longitude & lat coordinates for water rescues! Great for the fax, but keep it off the text page.

Why doesn't 650 just add another dispatcher and become a E911 PSAP for the towns they serve? When a call comes into NCPD 911, if it's a town 650 dispatches for, the call would be transfered right to them, cutting out the "middle man" aka Firecom... A lot of places already do this in Suffolk, like Babylon Central Fire Alarm, Smithtown FD etc.

[retread]

Why doesn't 650 just add another dispatcher and become a E911 PSAP for the towns they serve? When a call comes into NCPD 911, if it's a town 650 dispatches for, the call would be transfered right to them, cutting out the "middle man" aka Firecom... A lot of places already do this in Suffolk, like Babylon Central Fire Alarm, Smithtown FD etc.

I believe Suffolk County has allowed FD's and other dispatch agencies to have that technology. But in Nassau, i believe (may be wrong), the County Executive will not allow any other agency to become a PSAP. North Bellmore (650) has tried unsuccessfully to get the calls direct from E911.

[LIFA Rob]

volffemt said:

They're getting too stupid with this plain langauge thing. Ex: "A small outside fire" Whats small to a caller, might be big to a firefighter, and vice-versa. Why can't they just say, brush or rubbish fire, etc...

Thank you.. I have been saying this all along but have yet to see many seeing the light... There is absolutely no need for all this plain language to have gotten so far carried away. Even the most "red neck, Upstate, Mid west" fire dispatch agency doesn't sound as rediculous as SCFRES does now.. It's like an epidemic with all the departments in the 5th division brain washed now by county.. stupid...

[volffemt]

my thing is this...

if a dept is operating an alarm in their dist, like an A/A or a car fire, use signals.

When there is an incident with mutual aided agencies, use plain language.

DONE!

"we can't say signal 13, but we can say 29-delta-2-F !!!"

[ESU2422]

Why doesn't 650 just add another dispatcher and become a E911 PSAP for the towns they serve? When a call comes into NCPD 911

Because it would make sense, and this is Nassau County.
Why not do it for every self dispatched agency in the county? Then once the call is entered into the system it's routed where it's supposed to go.

[volffemt]

esu2422 said:

Why doesn't 650 just add another dispatcher and become a E911 PSAP for the towns they serve? When a call comes into NCPD 911

Because it would make sense, and this is Nassau County.
Why not do it for every self dispatched agency in the county? Then once the call is entered into the system it's routed where it's supposed to go.

I think you need atleast 2 dispatchers 24/7 to have E911 brought in, and it wouldn't be worth it for a dept say, Locust Valley, but for 650 and prob 830 it might be.

[ladder47]

ggfgg said:

Hello All,

The real way it should work is that each and every full time dispatch center should be a PSAP (public safety answering point) and when the call comes into 911 they would see who the primary FD is or who is ems primary and that is where the call should be transfered to (the way it works in most parts of the country). You would have than removed firecom and the delay and would also allow the local dispatcher to ask the questions that made better sense to get the call out properly. But that will never happen because than firecom could not say that they handled umteen thousand call in a year.

Westchester county has about 60 PSAP's....talk to them or go on their message baord... www.emtbravo.com and they think there should be 1 psap....to many points adds up to more problems and things to go wrong.......also can 1 dispatcher answer 4 phone lines at once and get tones out when something happens? Now a days you get 15 phone calls for a burning wire call thanks to cell phones....without a doubt North Bellmore would have to have a second dispatcher on 24/7......also how does the local dispatcher ask questions that make better sense to get the call out? Please tell us the magic questions we need to ask...no really this may help us all, why should the local dispatcher have this secret stuff. Also when does firecom ever brag about umteen thousand calls? And for your infomation most of the country does not have 50 psap's in one county....1 police and 1 fire center is the best way to go.

[ggfgg]

Hello,

When it comes to the police side most of the village/city police departments in Nassau are PSAP points, so there are at least 8-10 in Nassau for them. I never said there should be 50. And as far as the magic questions here's just one example.....

In Oceanside there is Lincoln Avenue and Lower Lincoln Avenue both of witch cross Long Beach Road. Now the problem is most people call them both Lincoln Avenue. An Oceanside dispatcher would know to ask for a landmark and/or more info that would pinpoint the incident. A operator from firecom who may be someone from the north shore and not familiar with the area would type in the info as give and would come back with a valid location and dispatch it as such. And then when the first unit arrived on scene you get the usual nothing here let's go check the other location. Sounds like a delay in alarm to me.

Oh and bay the way this happens several times a year.

And as far as firecom saying they handled umpteen thousand of call a year they do it every year when there asking for more money.

Also there are no rules that say you have to have more than one dispatcher to be a PSAP, There are nfpa guidelines and the fire underwriters will have guidelines. but there are no laws that pertain to this.

Now like every thing there are two sides and pros and cons to both ways, but I stand by my original statement, I believe the system would be better served by having the call for that town transfered to there dispatcher.

[Thunderfoot]

ggfgg said:

Hello,



In Oceanside there is Lincoln Avenue and Lower Lincoln Avenue both of witch cross Long Beach Road. Now the problem is most people call them both Lincoln Avenue. An Oceanside dispatcher would know to ask for a landmark and/or more info that would pinpoint the incident. A operator from firecom who may be someone from the north shore and not familiar with the area would type in the info as give and would come back with a valid location and dispatch it as such.

So you are assuming the firecom op stops at that if he gets a valid location? (And by this I guess you mean he gets a direct hit on an address a caller gives as a location?) If you are refering to an intersection call, as on any intersection call, I'm pretty sure the firecom ops are instructed to (and do) ask for landmarks and a numerical address if at all possible. Otherwise the same mistake could easily be made on both ends. A lot of times it comes down to you can only get so much from a caller, and we all know how accurate the old passing motorist on a cell phone is.



And as far as firecom saying they handled umpteen thousand of call a year they do it every year when there asking for more money.

So you are saying they are making the numbers up? If they are pointing out actual numbers, where's the problem? The fact that they need to point that out to get more money budgeted to them, now there's yet another problem. This is where instead of nitpicking, you should be going to your battallion delegates and try to find out why firecom is working under the conditions they are working under, and what can be done to help get the most up to date technology.



[/quote]

[ExChief19]

ESU hit the nail on the head!
If Nassau County did some grant work they could build this model:

Establish 1 single 911 center for all Fire, EMS, and Police incidents to be reported

Use a CAD System for Call Routing (i.e: Fire goes to Firecom, Police got to PD, etc) for when a tele-communicator takes the call

For all self dispatched departments the call would be routed straight to them otherwise it goes to Firecom for their dispatching

All departments could piggy-back the CAD system to receive their calls via alpha-pagers (Save money being spent on outside companies for those who can afford it)

Upkeep of system can be done by placing a $.35 cent surcharge on ALL phones withing Nassau County per month

This would help alleviate the biggest problem that Nassau County has in duplication of services, and it would help reign in departments that are jumping other calls!

[ggfgg]

Hello again,

All I'm Saying is that the calls that come from 911 thru firecom seem to have more of an error rate that those handled in house. I understand no one is perfect and even our own dispatcher’s make mistakes. But you have to admit someone who handles a single department rather than 71 will have more of an insight into there area and would be able to pinpoint something better. Even if in the case of a cell phone caller (I know there are street names in multiple towns that are the same, I once tried to call in thru 911 an accident on the garden city/Hempstead border and got flashed back and forth 3 times between the two local police dispatchers saying it wasn't there’s. The county 911 dispatcher finally stepped in and got one to send a car.) There may be something temporary happening at a particular intersection or location that would stand out to the local dispatcher rather than to the person in the hole in Mineola.

I'm not bashing the firecom operators they do a great job and more power to there bosses if they can get another dime out of the county government. And yes I understand the numbers they use are actual numbers. Again all I'm saying is when the 911 operator gets a call instead of flashing it over to the firecom operator send it to the local dispatcher weather it be 650,230 or 900. They are in a better position to handle the info for the area they dispatch.

Like I said earlier there are two sides to this and we can beat it to death and it won't matter because the system is not going to change, again this is just my opinion.

[bearcat210]

There is another reason the Nassau County PD should only have to deal with ONE Fire PSAP. How would they know which FD PSAP to transfer a caller to on cell phone calls where they get no caller location on the screen? For instance the caller might say they are in Levittown, and would be transferred to Levittown FD dispatcher. But the location turns out to be in a part of Levittown that's in the Wantagh or East Meadow Fire District. Now time has been lost because the wrong dispatcher got notified. And trust me on this, the Nassau County PD in many cases doesn't really understand how the call can be in a certain town, but in a different fire district like with Levittown. And there are places like this all over the county. Like being in East Meadow, but in the North Bellmore District. Or in Jericho, but in Syosset District. Or in Seaford, but in Bethpage District. And it goes on and on, so you see the problem. It makes sense for the Police to route all fire calls to one fire dispatch center that will route the call correctly. ;D

[volffemt]

bearcat,

I don't know if you know how the E911 system works. When you dial 911, the screen already tells what fire, primary & secondary ems and PD dist you are in. The calls don't get transfered based on what town the caller says their in.

[ESU2422]

The only time that doesn't work is on a cell call. currently the Nassau E911 system shows the address for the cell site. Perhaps when true E911 is upgraded in Nassau it will pinpoint the cell callers location.