HELP FOR FIRE SCIENCE PROJECT--FIRE DISPATCH!

[erinmcnulty]

Hello everyone!!

My name is Erin and Iam a 911 Dispatcher for St Tammany Parish. I dispatch fire and medical for 10 different departments.

Im currently enrolled in Fire Science classes to obtain a degree in Fire Science.


Im working on a project and I need some help from you guys and gals!!

Do you think it would benefit 911 fire dispatchers to take Firefighter 1 classes and become certified as a firefighter? Do any of your agencies pay the dispatchers if they have firefighter 1 certification(pay increases)? Do you agencies pay for the dispatchers to get their firefighter 1 certification? Is it a job requiirement? If they allow dispatchers to get firefighter 1 certification-- do they go on the clock or their own time? Do they do firefighter 1 certification classes before getting hired or after?

Thanks for everyones help!!

[Frank Raffa]

I don't think one needs to have any kind of formal education for dispatching fire apparatus beyond the basics. For example, we're receiving calls for a fire on the 3rd floor of a building and someone calling for a smoke condition on the 4th floor. It's important for us to know that the first due truck searches the fire floor and the second due truck searches the floors above so we know to whom to give what information prior to the chief's arrival. Once the chief gets there he or she is the sole contact.

We, as dispatchers, do not need to know the science behind the fire or the dynamics of a fire scene. That's the chiefs job.

We do not hear what's going on at the fire scene. Maybe, for departments that use the dispatch frequency as the fireground frequency, this might be beneficial but I can't see how.

IMO.

[MrJim911]

I don't think any of that is necessary either. Sitting at my console I don't usually care how or why the fire started or the mechanics involved with it. I'm going to send the appropriate units to stop any further damage to property and threat to life. I'm also going to keep track of those units on my end and keep them safe as best I can from where I am at.