Dispatch Questions for Fire situations

[1024]

My department does not have an official EFD program. Because we don't have the budget to purchase a program, we are currently looking to implement something internally that will ensure a certain level of consistency. Does anybody have a standard list of questions they use for fire calls, odor investigations, gas leaks, rescues, CO alarms, explosions, fluid leaks,smoke investigations, or other non medical calls. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Cal911]

It sounds like you or your dept needs to put a committee together with supervisors and FD Administration to come up with dispatch protocals for your dept.

But let me offer some help here pertaining to your questions.

#1 Odor investigation outside, 1 engine, inside will depend type of odor, gas order, 1 engine, if you have patients overcome, then send engine and paramedics and ambulance.

#2, Gas leaks inside, maybe 1st alrm response, 2 engines, 1 truck, Batt Chief (With CO meter)
#3, gas leaks outside, single engine response
#4 rescues, closes engine or truck company along with paramedic unit and ambulance
#5 CO Alrms, refer to leaks, inside with either single engine or 2 engine and paramedic unit and Chief with CO meter
#6, Explosions, a full 1st alrm response, maybe 2 engines, truck company, Batt Chief, depends how large your dept is for equiment, you can never overkill a response, but you can always cancel a unit.
#7, fluid leaks, single engine company, gas tankers, full hazmat response with 2 or 3 engines, paramedic and Batt Chief, Hazmat unit, Foam unit, again depends on equipment availabilitiy, you can always go with mutual aid requests.
#8, smoke investigations, 2 types, inside, full first structure response, outside single engine.
#9, non medical response, routine type calls, single engine or truck company, depends on needs, but remember this, TRUCKS usually don't have a water tank, Quint type truck do have water tank, Never under estimate on sending an engine company, they have WATER :)

I hope this helps, If I can be of any other service feel free to contact me directly

Pete92808@sbcglobal.net

28 yrs experience in FD Work

[Cal911]

As for questions for type of calls, you might contact the closest large metro Fire Dept and check with them on their procedures.
What city do you work for?

I might suggest a company to contact to help you with your Emergency type dispatching so please feel free to contact me.

As for the questions to ask for each type of call, that could be several pages here on this site, contact me and I'll offer any help here for your dept.


Pete92808@sbcglobal.net

[MrJim911]

I personally do not like EFD or EPD protocols. The programs are too rigid and do not allow the flexiblity to stray from what they think are the questions you should be asking. Police calls, specifically, vary so much from one to the next it is impossible to require a call-taker to ask the exact same questions for every robbery, as an example, as the variables for a robbery call are endless. I need to be able to think of questions based on the info being provided to me by the caller, not stick to a script that has me asking questions I don't need the answers to or do not apply to this call.

If you are going to make a script of basic questions in-house that's fine, but allow your telecommunicators the ability to think on their own and use discretion. A well trained telecommunicator that can anticipate and adapt to evolvng calls is better then trained monkeys asking the same questions over and over.

[Dave]

I agree with Mr. Jim wholeheartedly. I've taken a course by a national company whos motto is "dispatchers save seconds, seconds save lives" and they have a flip guide with questions to ask. Ya know ... if my house is burning down and Im watching all my possessions go up in smoke, I certainly dont want anyone asking me "What color is the smoke?" I might just turn into one of those citizens that cusses out the dispatcher if they did that.
Common sense MUST take over and guestion guides should be just that, GUIDES, not policies. Who, What When Where Why and How are the only real guides you need.

[911disp 726]

We have GOG (General Operations Guidlines) built into our CAD. It gives you a few genreal questions for each nature (it populates after you enter a nature) it even gives you reminders like transfer the call to state patrol.