How are you toned out?

[DCurtis 1]

I recently caught wind that my vol. dept. is probably switching to a format where they tone the companies out individually instead of toning out the entire dept. on all calls. First question, I was wondering how many vol depts do this? And second, taking into consideration peoples vast range in training that some people have and lack of man power during the days, do you think this a good idea?

[Remember585 815]

What Department?

[DCurtis 1]

pleasantville

[x242Steve 1]

Rye sends 2 Engines and the Truck (The 3 career-staffed rigs) to all reported structure fires as well as activated fire alarms... but the assignments for CO Alarms w/o Symptoms, Car fires, Brush fires, MVA's, Lock-Outs, etc. are varied.

...as far as cross-company responses go, different departments handle that differently.

Just because my shield says Hook and Ladder on it doesn't mean that I haven't hit the hydrant, had the knob on car fires, and re-packed the entire 5" hosebed on E191... Not to mention driving U39... However the same is probably not true for many of my associates over at Harry Howard H&L in Port Chester.

At the same time, I think PCFD is a shining example of where companies being assigned differently on each call seems to work very well... Considering that they have 5 Volunteer Engine Companies and 2 Career-Staffed Engines, it would be a bit of a cluster if they all went to every call.

[DOC22 1]

In Croton Falls, we have two alert tones a Chief's tone and general alert tone Chief tone is used for calls for certain investigations such as some water conditions where it's better for a chief to check first. But for ANY fire, automatic alarm, or EMS assist, the main dispatch (general alert tone) is used.

[Guest DFFD227]

In Dobbs Ferry we have 5 tones.

1. Chief Tone

2. Engine 47 (Ogden Engine Company)

3. Engine 48 (Livingston Hose Company)

4. Tower Ladder 23 (Resolute Hook and Ladder Company)

5. General Alarm

As for our dispatching protocols...

-Car fires, Brush fires, Wash downs, CO Alarms (no symptoms) and rubbish fires are all engine company call outs.

-All residential lockouts, stuck occupied elevators, and other service calls are ladder company callouts.

- Chiefs tones is so the chief knows if there's a call (obviously), but the tones HAVE to be activated along with all company calls...hence two separate tones.

-All general alarms are: Structure fires, Car fire against structure, Brush fire against structure, CO Alarm with symptoms, inside/outside smoke/gas investigations....Pretty much just like everyones procedures.

Now here is my opinion. I do not think all these tones are completely necessary. I think there should be one tone (general alarm tone) so all members can here what's going on, especially if its 12:30PM in the middle of the afternoon, on a Monday, when not a lot of people are around. At least if you put over a company call over the general tone, your chances are you will get people from other company's that are around, and can help in the day...Oh, and nothings worse then waking up one morning finding out that both of your rigs were out of town at a major multi alarm fire...So my answer to this question is, probably no, it's better to have everyone know what's going on, especially if you need MANPOWER. But this is just my opinion, but protocols are protocols...

[grumpyff 1,159]

Are you sure it was by company, or by apparatus? For example, right now if Pleasantville gets a car fire it is dispatched as "E91, E260, R47 respond on a car fire at .." Maybe the plan is to now dispatch as "R47 respond to a car fire at.." Cuts out a lot of radio traffic, reduces the number of apparatus responding thru town Also reduces the confusion as to which apparatus is first due. I know Pleasantville has a SOG as to which apparatus responds to which type of call since I was there as a LT there in 2001. It used to be you only responded on your company's apparatus, but that was change as manpower became harder to come by. It also had some resistance by older members who would state "I belong to ABC company, not XYZ company so I'm not riding on their truck" Maybe changing the dispatch would eliminate any confusion by having a set dispatch with 60 Control similar to what exists already. R47 for anything involving an car/truck (car fire,fluid spill, extrication). E91,E260 dispatched for anything in a structure such as a CO call(with no symptoms), and finally TL5 for all alarms in a structure other than CO calls, in addition to the engines.

I do not think that enough members would respond , especially during the daytime, to effectively man the apparatus if dispatching by company. That plan would also lessen the hard work Pleasantville has put into cross training all of its members

[DCurtis 1]

Well, thats pretty much the way it already, and we have an sop as to who goes out on what alarms and who is first due. There has also been a more recent movent back towards the whole man your own rig policy even though manpower especially during the day, is harder and harder to come by. I completely agree, its not a good move

[IzzyEng4 427]

My department gets toned out with a single straight tone with a high/ low alert warble. All five companies are alerted but dispatch usually announces where the call location is prior to the tones to give us a jump. After the tones area dropped, dispatch calls out the location, apparatus assignment to the alarm and box number.

[res6cue 67]

In Rockland, the entire dept gets toned out regardless of how many companies might comprise the dept. It's up to the individual dept to decide how they respond to certain types of calls, but as far as 44-Control is concerned, it's one dispatch.

Quick example: If you call for mutual aid from a multi-company dept, 44-Control will tone out the whole dept. There's a good chance that the companies rotate mutual aid duties on a monthly basis for requests they're capable of filling, so you'll get whichever company's turn it is based on their own protocols. Neither we nor 44-Control really cares who though, as long as they get the truck on the road.

[CPAGE 2]

In Fort Lee Nj the companies are tone out by company and a full first alarm you have four tones that go out ie, co 1 , 2 , 3 and the chiefs tone ona genral all 4 tones for the companies and the chiefs tone for a toal of 5 tones.

Chris

[sr71 1]

in darien each of the three depts has there own alert tone. the first part of the tone is the same but the second part varries in pitch, theree are 3 diffrent pitches one for each dept. the departments get dispatched at once. and depending on the nature of the call the sops tell them to roll the engine, rescue, or truck.

for example during the daytime during the work week all depts respond to every structure call. and each dept rolls the following.

Darien E42

Noroton E32

Noroton Heights T20

plus the chiefs which go.

so you have 2 engines and a quint responding at once.

and post 53 (the vac) has there own tones that are totally diffrent from the fd's in sound and in pulse.

and the town of darien is dispatched by the town police department dispatcher.

[vodoly 535]

Englewood Cliffs has Fire dept General Alarm for all calls They sometimes (Rarely )do a Chief's tone Ambulance has Duty crew tone and General Alarm tone

[BedfordFire 7]

Our department is just dispatched as "Bedford" with a tone for the Fire Department and a tone for EMS. On the other hand,departments like Bedford Hills send out individual truck assignments, as does Mt. Kisco. (which usually sends out one truck from each company on an automatic alarm).

I was wondering if some one could help me out here...Isint there a single tone set up for a "tri-town response" or something along those lines? Something like Verplanck, Buchanan and Montrose?

Edited November 27, 2006 by BedfordFire