More Thoughts About Radios

July 2012

Alternate Fire Radio Ops Plan - Boston Mass area

Just thinking out loud

In eastern Massachusetts, 95% of the fire departments have their own

UHF repeater system that gives good radio coverage in their town or

city. In addition, each Fire Mutual Aid District has 2 to 6 UHF fire

mutual aid channels - either simplex or repeater. Coverage is not

quite as good on many of these channels. (All FDs have their own local

dispatcher - plus there is 1 countywide dispatcher who handles mutual

aid requests).

In Norfolk County the procedure is - units at the incident use County

FG channels. The local dispatcher also uses this channel. Coverage

units use the local fire channel. Dispatcher to Dispatcher traffic is

on the County 1 channel. (Sometimes, everything except the "dispatcher

to dispatcher" traffic is done on the local FD channel.) (Sometimes

the local dispatcher might be required to listen to 3 different

channels at once).

In the MetroFire District, there are a bunch of different procedures.

"Dispatcher to Dispatcher" traffic is done on 483.2875R. Fireground

traffic is sometimes on a simplex regional channel; sometimes on a

local fireground channel; sometimes on the local main channel; and

sometimes on the regional fireground channel (483.3125R); sometimes on

a hometown fireground channel (BFD does this on their Ch3 still);

sometimes on a specialty repeater (in tunnels etc). There might be sub

regional fireground channels also (Metro North Repeater + Metro

Central Repeater + Metro South Repeater). Covering units might stay on

their local channel, or go to the main channel of the FD they are

covering. Apparently there is a prescribed comm plan for each

community but it might be very primitive with no backup options. Local

dispatchers might be required to monitor 1 to 4 or 5 channels.

In Essex County, Northern Middlesex County, and Southern Middlesex

County, the number of mutual aid channels is more limited. Possibly

Essex County just has 1 UHF repeater for "dispatcher to dispatcher"

comms, plus 1 simplex UHF channel for fireground comms. Middlesex

County units have 1 dispatcher channel each, plus maybe 1 FG channel

each. Dispatchers might be required to monitor anywhere from 1 to 3

channels.

Therefore, be it proposed, herewith, untofor (?), forthwith, not

withstanding - that -

For Norfolk County and MetroFire - get a paging system for 483.2875R

and 482.275R. Put all the "dispatcher to dispatcher" traffic on these

channels - and the covering units. You could put the incident

commander on this channel also. Units at the scene could use some

firescene channel. In this scenario, the local dispatcher would just

need to monitor 1 or 2 channels - the dispatcher channel and the

fireground channel. (Much of the "dispatcher to dispatcher" traffic

can be moved to telephones or computers).

Lets give an example. Avon FD strikes a second alarm. Norfolk County

Control sends out a pager signal on 482.275R and announces the 2nd

alarm. Dispatchers in adjacent communities send their units to the

fire or to cover empty fire stations. The adjacent community

dispatchers can call Norfolk County Control via telephone to

acknowledge the 2nd alarm. Units going to the fire can use the Avon FD

local channel. Units providing coverage can use 482.275R. The IC can

talk to the Avon Dispatcher or the Countywide Dispatcher via a

multitude of channels - Avon FD local channel or a County fire channel

or a cellphone or whatever. The Avon FD dispatcher can focus on

answering 911 calls and/or listen for MAYDAYs.

Come to think of it - this might be a good example of putting a

bandaid on a shotgun wound. Any major incident can prompt a flood of

911 calls. Maybe the only smart solution is to have a countywide 911

Center with a core of specialized calltakers supplemented by groups of

police dispatchers, fire dispatchers, and ambulance dispatchers. Maybe

there is some way to use local radio dispatchers and countywide

calltakers. (Los Angeles County Sheriff uses an opposite system -

local calltakers plus countywide dispatchers).

Bottom line - I am going to have to mull this over for a while. There

must be some optimum combination of radio repeaters, calltakers, CAD

systems, and radio dispatchers. I know what the simplest system is -

countywide calltakers plus 1 countywide dispatcher (who uses MDTs and

pagers to dispatcher calls at the speed of light).

Note - equipment costs are probably quite low in comparison to

personnel costs. Dispatchers in the Boston area probably cost approx

$80,000 per year when fringe benefits are included. Maybe $100,000. If

you have a small one person dispatch center - you are looking at

$400,000 to $500,000 in payroll costs every year.