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Post by Gargamel37 on Aug 18, 2008 8:45:59 GMT -5
Which type of dispatch would you prefer for your agency?
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Post by scannerman5555 on Aug 18, 2008 9:38:35 GMT -5
I think county dispatching with all tones low;hi & uhf paging all dept's in the county ; disp fire / ems dept's by towns at county 1 disp per town will work better !
also they need to get uhf radio's at Suffolk Fire Comm with uhf semi trunking system too. patch though to Nassau new 500 trunking system with a patch to N.Y.City fire / ems trunking system too !
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Post by cowboys2005 on Aug 18, 2008 15:58:17 GMT -5
i knew you would ask a question like that rich? i'll go with township hhmm . Brookhaven is to big to have there own,some there are consolidating ie: Holtsville and Hagerman going with North Patchogue and Eifd with Wifd . Most Depts don't want to give up their kingdoms , it works in Babylon & Smithtown Towns for them .Some small depts in Islip and Huntington can consolidate and that can work also as it has done so far for the other depts mentioned here. your thoughts Rich
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Post by bloomtruck42 on Aug 18, 2008 16:33:02 GMT -5
couple reasons why self dispatching is winning by such a large margin:
1) alot of the people on here work either part time or full time as dispatchers, therefore that would mean their jobs on the line 2) not much is better than a person dedicated to you and your department. They aren't busy toning out other departments or you dont have to worry about multiple departments stepping on eachother. 3) people know the system isn't likely to change any time soon
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Post by cowboys2005 on Aug 18, 2008 16:42:36 GMT -5
good points bloomtruck
i work in both settings. self dispatch is good if you activate your own calls and not have firecom do it then whats the point, its easier doing just 1 dept. you won't be out of a job because most depts that leave to go somewhere else don't have there own dispatchers anyway . brentwood does ebfd and that works fine,it would cost ebfd more to hire there own and with the call volumethey have its not worth it, they can go to firecom but who would take over after "the old first man in the radio room trick its been done and has failed especially with manpower the way it is during the day. just my thoughts
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Post by bfd732 on Aug 19, 2008 7:35:33 GMT -5
I think a modified "Bat Signal" would work fine, maybe a large maltese cross in the sky........
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Post by warthog on Sept 8, 2008 19:29:16 GMT -5
Some of you know where I work, so I'll start by saying the system in place now sucks. There's no light at the end of the tunnel in fixing the problems that happen day in and day out. There are some good ideas here and I don't have the answers myself and I work in the system.
I would like to see whoever takes the call for the emergency activate the proper agency. Whether it's county or the local agency who took the call direct. That's the fastest way to get calls out and get the manpower moving. Not county emding the call then having to call another agency with an alarm and give them the info, then they type it into their computer and finally put the call out on the air. Some Dept's are great at reading the fax or print outs and getting the calls out pronto, but some agencies not to be named here sit on calls for minutes on end. My 2 cents that's a waste of time.
And life is easier for everyone if manpower just shows up. One day some politician is going to figure out whats going on (not showing up or caring, oops did I really type that) luckily it's only a few of the agencies.
I think central works great for them, 4-2-0 works good for them, Southold and Southampton township dispatch works fine for them and then there's where I work. County is still working like it's the mid eighties even if we have a 3.2 million dollar computer system. I could write a book about what I've seen.
Bloomtruck is correct on the voting results, I voted for me. I don't want to lose my job. I wish more people would come in and watch and learn what really happens in the county radio rooms especially newly elected chiefs. It seems every time a group comes in for a tour nothing ever happens.
That's what I think...
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Post by bloomtruck42 on Sept 9, 2008 9:40:49 GMT -5
not for nothing but where i work theres hardly ever a difference between the fax and the hotline.. usually the hotline rings i pick up and the fax fires up, granted i dont work as much as i used to prior to the new cad system but if that represents where the delay would occur on countys end i haven't really had a bad expierence of the fax coming in and waiting for the call.
agencies waiting forever to bang out a call could just be on the dispatchers end... not familiar with the computer system.... looking up hydrants before activation (pet peeve of mine that i hate)... looking up the departments activation protocalls etc.
me personally i'm on the mapping system in the computer while on the phone with county.. i plug it in to the map to make sure its ours and the cross streets are right, and by the time i hang up the tones are going out... then while tones are dropping and right after i'm putting it into our cad -- works good enough for me
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Post by suddenlyseemore on Sept 9, 2008 12:31:23 GMT -5
A central call taking facility for the whole county
Each township with its own dispatch center (similar to 1-0-0 and 4-2-0)
Everything computerized. Call taker takes information, sends it directly to town dispatch center where it pops up on the console.
Call taker can continuously update information via the CAD to the township dispatchers.
If a Huntington Town dept needs to mutual aid a Smithtown Town dept, the dispatcher can electronically send the call to the neighboring dispatch center.
Also the dispatch centers can be redundant to each other. If Babylon floods, Smithtown can dispatch their calls.
A CAD in every unit with call information (location, hydrants, pre-plan info) and GPS. Ability to give signals via the CAD to reduce radio transmissions (Imagine overall how much less radio traffic there would be if you cut out 2/21/18/21/28 from EMS calls). Chiefs can also see units on the run, their status and perhaps use the GPS to see their approximate location on the fireground.
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Post by ESU2422 on Sept 9, 2008 12:43:17 GMT -5
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Post by scannerman5555 on Sept 9, 2008 14:32:59 GMT -5
I think the Suffolk County should go to UHF Freq's in the county will be a lot better.
a simi trunking system will work
most fire / ems dept already have uhf radio freq's now so patch them though to the county on uhf to dispatch them if all
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Post by Luke on Sept 10, 2008 18:26:10 GMT -5
Some interesting suggestions and wishes here. Nassau Firecom has a pre-plan with some departments for 911 calls. If a 911 call is received, Firecom tones out the respective agency, saving time of giving it over to them. The respective fd then re-sounds and takes over the job and communications. Seems to work out pretty well. Does FRES have the capabilities to tone out for every department in Suffolk?
Currently, I cannot see any reason for anyone on Long Island to have a MDT on the trucks. Nobody is on the road enough that information needs to be passed via a computer. There are a few exceptions (Hazmat units, Command Posts, Coordinators, etc.) to the rule but you can get hydrant locations on the printout in the firehouse.
GPS for directions could always be helpful. Member tracking at a scene is something I would love to see more of out here. I think thats what suddenly is recommending.
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Post by warthog on Sept 10, 2008 23:01:11 GMT -5
Any FD who solely activates on high band, fres can't activate. We only activate tones on f-2 unless by accident and they go out on another channel.
In the past we have activated signal 19's on low band for Dept's who activate only on high band and they went to no pagers.
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Post by Gargamel37 on Sept 10, 2008 23:17:51 GMT -5
Any FD who solely activates on high band, fres can't activate. We only activate tones on f-2 unless by accident and they go out on another channel. In the past we have activated signal 19's on low band for Dept's who activate only on high band and they went to no pagers. sort of true. FRES can send out dtmf sequence to open a depts cross patch to a UHF or paging freq (like holtsville, who just went uhf paging a few months back and port jeff fd) FRES used to do it for hauppauge back a few years ago. i dont know why more depts who page on uhf dont set up this system with fres (like melville, setauket, north patch) is beyond me. its so easy to do. i know stony brook patches FRES activations, but i dont think theyre 100% uhf paging yet - prob in the future.
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Post by Luke on Sept 11, 2008 14:21:44 GMT -5
Thanks for the quick responses. I didn't know FRES had that capability some dept's.
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