Pre-alarm announcments

[explr985]

We ride in three counties.

Guilford County:

Station 29, Squire Davis Rd, Structure Fire.

(TONES)

" Forsyth Engine 29, Engine 26, Engine 5, and Squad 50, 2606 Squire Davis Rd, 2-6-0-6 Squire Davis Rd, Cross streets of Sandy Ridge Rd and Twelve Oaks Drive, Structure Fire, a 69-Echo-2, taking several calls reporting smoke from the structure and subjects trapped inside, utilize ES Tac 10, Communications clear."

Forsyth County

(TONES)

Attn. Station 29 respond in Guilford County to a House fire, 2606 Squire Davis Rd. between Sandy Ridge Rd and Twelve Oaks Dr. Guilford is advising multiple calls for smoke from the dwelling, use Guilford Tac 10. 1907hrs.


Davidson County

(TONES)

C-Com to Medic 20, Station 29 respond refrence Cardiac, 9-Echo-1, 1141 Horneytown Rd. between Westover Dr. and Panther Ridge Rd. 1130hrs.

[the1141man]

At OOOdark thirty I am lucky to get my eyes open and my hands are still pretty shakey due to that great natural drug called adrenalin!!

This brought to mind a quote that I read recently...whether it was here or something off of Fire Engineering, I don't specifically recall. Either way, the message is the same...so here's the quote:

A garbageman doesn't go out on his rounds and is excited to find garbage--he expects it, for he is, after all, a garbageman. Why then should a fireman get a call and be excited to find fire?

I used to get the "BIG RUSH" on calls for about the first couple months I was in the FD, and about 9 months in when I first solo-responded an apparatus (just a Patrol--don't get your panties in a bunch about responding Engines "driver-only", though we do that all the time around here ...but the call was a reported Code Blue infant drowning).

Nowadays it doesn't matter...I've found that adrenaline hurts more than helps. While it gives you a little more "oomph" physically, it also leaves you severely physically and mentally drained when that few minutes of "high" wears off... not only that, but in the "excitement" and "rush", you may just forget something important in the tunnel-visioned quest to "get into action".

Some of the best firefighters and company officers I've had the privilege of working with (and learning from) don't get all fired-up and adrenaline-rushed going out the door to a reported working structure... and I've seen the adrenaline-junkie guys go rushing in and forget something (like soft-charging a hoseline and forgetting to run up the throttle for proper discharge pressure ).

Anyhow, off my soapbox, but just some words to think about, especially next time your pager alerts for the "big one".

[Stewart46]

I appreciate the ideas and lessons learned. The hard part is getting back to sleep once you get home!

[doughesson]

Negative on the prealert here. Just the good ol' tones. Once they drop, the dispatcher tells us where to go.

Same here.There's different tones for each of McCracken County Ky's volunteer departments and one common tone to let people know somethings coming.My old department's tones were rapid beeps.
The dispatcher calls out the department,the address of the call,and the nature of the call.As soon as three people answer up,they start a time sheet for us and away we go.
As to who can answer up,it's best to let the officers talk on the radio.Us junior folk need to just hotfoot it safely to the station,gear up and pile onto the rig before it rolls.

[Stewart46]

We do call enroute so we know who is headed in. If nobody calls in they repage.

[Engine76KS]

From a dispatch standpoint, pre-alerts are useful because they make me think about what I'm going to say during the actual page. Wording is very important.

As for my neck of the woods, we go something like this:

"Walton Fire, structure fire, 527 N. Woodlawn."

[Tones]

"Walton Fire, have report of a structure fire, 527 N. Woodlawn. Walton Fire, have structure fire, 527 N. Woodlawn. Timeout 1116."

[HM604OH]

Here's one example of a "pre-dispatch."

I was visiting a friend in another fire department when the speaker opened and the dispatcher said "Engine 7 respond to a fire in XXX dorm on South Campus, all other stations standby." I asked the captain what that was about and he said that it meant that they must have a confirmed fire and by notifying all stations prior to dispatch, it enabled assigned 1st alarm companies to start moving to the rigs prior to dispatch. This station happended to be assigned on the second alarm so we went to the watch room just in time to hear the "official" first alarm dispatch. That was immediately followed the radio traffic of units going on the air as they pulled out of their stations. The "pre-dispatch" was a time saver in this case, but it is a rarely used practice for this department.

[tbonetrexler]

A garbageman doesn't go out on his rounds and is excited to find garbage--he expects it, for he is, after all, a garbageman. Why then should a fireman get a call and be excited to find fire?

I don't agree with this quote. By definition our job, whether paid or volunteer is exciting.

We are out there risking our lives, and, sadly, losing them in some cases, to save other's lives and property. How can you compare this to a Garbage man? what dangers do they face, other than insane drivers? Are they saving lives or property? No. Not to put down garbage men, they provide an essential service. But, by nature it is not an exciting job.

One of the Chiefs at my department put it best, IMO. IF you dont feel anything when that pager goes off, not even the smallest jump in your pulse, i dont want you on my crew. I want someone who is excited to be out there doing this job, helping people, and maybe saving lives.

Is it important to keep a cool head during a call, to remember you basic trainning? Yes, of course it is. But that dosent mean you cant enjoy the job and get excitied to be doing it.

[the1141man]

One of the Chiefs at my department put it best, IMO. IF you dont feel anything when that pager goes off, not even the smallest jump in your pulse, i dont want you on my crew. I want someone who is excited to be out there doing this job, helping people, and maybe saving lives.

OK, I was going to leave the single-post hijack as it was, just my 2¢, but since you want to debate...

The quote I posted was also courtesy of a Chief...I really wish I could remember where I found the quote, so I could cite exactly who it was. I want to say it's a Brunocini quote, but don't "quote" me on that.

Anyways, listen--what you're talking about (or more accurately--your Chief is talking about) and what I'm talking about are apples and oranges. You can enjoy the work, get a thrill from it...without getting all fired up, coming unglued, and spazzing out, like someone jokingly posted: "OMG!! FIRE!! OMG!!!!!"
Believe it or not, there are guys out there, both paid and unpaid, who when they see a decent header on the horizon get their hearts in their throats, their adrenaline through the roof (the roof, the roof, is on FIRE! Err, I mean we have a single-family wood-frame dwelling with heavy fire venting through the roof at the B-C corner...), and guess what? They stumble all over themselves trying to perform the most basic tasks (pull, charge, and advance a preconnect hoseline to the front door, for example), and lose sight of the "big picture".

That leads to careless mistakes, mistakes that get people hurt and killed.

Maybe your chief doesn't want guys like me on his crew... likewise I wouldn't want a guy who goes into VT every time the pager hits.
Different strokes for different folks.

If I ever end up moving to your neck of the woods, I'll be sure to remember I won't be welcome at your department.

[PFVFRWFD1]

Tones

Im a member of two vounteer departments but at one it goes like this.........
This department also only has one station......

This would be for a fire alarm activation.........

(Long solid tone)

Dispatch: " Fire alert, fire alarm activated, 205 N. Henry Street.... Holiday in Downtown.......

(Station tones...long and split)

Dispatch "Fire alert, fire alarm activated, 205 N. Henry Street.... Holiday in Downtown.... Alarm panel indication 3rd floor, west wing, room 202.....
Engine 10
Medic 10
Batallion 10 to respond 21:23"

Head quarters: "Head quarters copy"
Dispatch: "Headquarters copy 21:24"

[jrfirefighter06]

our pre alert goes off eample station 10 structure fire then the real tones drop example station 10 we have report of a structure fire at 300 fire st then we mark up and say quint 10 tanker 10 engine 10 and squad in route

[keysim331]

All of our stations use 1 dispatch radio channel. We have an all tone for multiple stations and a single tone for individual station runs. After 2200 till 0700 we either get a "All stations standy for tone" or "Station x standby for tone". Depending on which station you work this does help, it gives you a little wake up time before lights, buzzers, bells or whatever you have. Your stress level rises when an alarm comes in any way, so why not try to relieve as much stress as possible.
For the person who says that a pre-alert is like waking up before the alarm clock sounds get someone to check your blood pressure when you wake up before the buzzer, then have them check it when the buzzer wakes you up. See which is higher, I could tell you right now which one would be.

I believe that pre-alerts are a great idea, but that is my opinion.

[ncoliva1200]

Ours is like this:

Call for Station XXXX Fire:
(Tones drop)
LEOC to Station XXXX Fire (Call description)

[hwoods]

Huh??..........

What are tones? We're gone out the door before they're dropped...


OK, what we do is dispatch the call over the primary channel with just an alert tone preceding the vocal. The Pager tones go out on a channel (46.12 Mhz) reserved for that purpose. We have a Pre-Alert device in our station computer system that picks up the info going to the dispatch console at our County Communications Center and posts it on a message board in the station. We're out the door as the call is just being dispatched. Although we're Volunteers, if you want to go on the call, you gotta be in the station, coming from home isn't fast enough. We routinely get on the street in 15-20 SECONDS. We MUST respond in 1 minute, or the next due is alerted.

[CBS72989]

What are tones? We're gone out the door before they're dropped...


OK, what we do is dispatch the call over the primary channel with just an alert tone preceding the vocal. The Pager tones go out on a channel (46.12 Mhz) reserved for that purpose. We have a Pre-Alert device in our station computer system that picks up the info going to the dispatch console at our County Communications Center and posts it on a message board in the station. We're out the door as the call is just being dispatched. Although we're Volunteers, if you want to go on the call, you gotta be in the station, coming from home isn't fast enough. We routinely get on the street in 15-20 SECONDS. We MUST respond in 1 minute, or the next due is alerted.

Ah, good ole' Pee Gee County...kinda makes me miss it.

We dont get any pre-alert or CAD system at the stations here in Adams Co, PA, just hear the tones drop, dispatch, write down the address, and go...No printers, no CAD, nothing.