Local Terminology

[DAUPHINTRUCK88]

Using "Back in the barn" is common in southwest PA as well as refering to an ambulance as a "bus". 

[FAO25]

Does anyone remember the days of "Car" numbers? Remember when fire companies had radio callsigns starting with Car XX. Many places this was probably a holdover from the days when fire departments had to use police department radio systems. Lynn Massachusetts even used a car number for it's fire alarm. The FAO was Car 25, the Chief of Department was Car 26, Deputy Car 27 and the two on duty chiefs ( with the rank of District Chief which is equivalent to Battalion Chief) were Cars 28 & 29. The engines started with 3 and the ladders with 4. The Rescue Company for some reason was given an 8 prefix and other units such as the mechanic or electricians that maintained the fire alarm circuits had other numbers not in a series including any emergency units. There were basically three kinds of alarm, Box Alarm, Automatic Alarm and Telephone Alarm. They would also refer to "City Boxes" which were on the municipal telegraph system as opposed to the Private Central Station Boxes. Thus announcing an alarm went something like
"To All Cars from 25, Box Alarm, City Box 41..." or
"To All Cars from 25, Telephone Alarm..."
I have even heard "To All Cars from Fire Alarm, Box Alarm, for a Telephone Alarm, for an Automatic Alarm..." when a phone call was recieved for an alarm sounding.
This was also in the days of radio codes, referred to locally as siganls. Lynn used the "9" code system. These weren't incident codes but status codes or orders.
91 On Air
92 Off Air
93 Call by Phone
94 Send Police
95 All Out
96 not used
97 Return
98 Hire back a District Chief to Cover (used during multiple alarms)
99 Same as 10-4
While not a 9 Code there was also 88 which meant responding to a call (different from 91).
At one point Lynn shared radio freq's with a couple of NYC Boros which got to listen in when the weather got right. This resulted (reportedly) in an interesting interchange when a member of FDNY met up with a member of LFD. After exchanging greetings the FDNY member said "You guys are the Football Team." To which the LFD guy said "HUH?" "Yea," said the FDNY guy "you guys call out football signals when you go on a run."
I will try and explain, a dispatch might have gone something like this...
"To all cars from 25, Box Alarm, City Box 69, Forest St. corner of New Park St."
When the West Lynn District Chief got to the box and found a false alarm he reported.......
"25 from 29, 95, 97, 69"
To which fire alarm responded...
"99, 29, 95, 97, 69"
Try saying out loud to yourself and hear the aliteration.

[lieut1706]

Hillsboro Fire Dept. Will call in their B-shift when something major happens and their firehouse empties. Dispatch goes something like this: "Hillsboro Firefighters B shift Hillsboro Firefighters B Shift respond to the station all 3 squads out of the house" or "house empty" or one fire fighter in the house" it's kind of neat to hear "the House" on the radio. B shift are the guys who just went home. they get called back in and are paid overtime.

[START WATER]

IF  YOU GOTO EASTCOAST911.COM THERE IS A LIVE FEED FOR PHILA 

THE PFD ALWAYS HAS  USE  PLAIN TALK  AS  FAR BACK AS I CAN RECALL
THE PFD  DOES WORK ON THREE  CHANNELS FOR  DISPATCH AND EASTCOAT ONLY HAS  ONE  LIVE    ONE IS FOR NORTH BAND ,ONE IS FOR SOUTH BAND AND THE THIRD ONE  IS THE MEDIC BAND   .   WITH 55 ENGS  AND 25 LADERS  AND 50 MEDICS PLUS THE AIRPORT  AND NOTHER SPECIAL CALL UNITS IT VERY BUSY . 

WHEN THERE IS A  FULL BOX  WORKING ONE JOB  THEY WILL GIVE THEM A FIRE GROUND FREQ  TO WORK ON .     ALL  UNITS  SPEAK  PLAIN  TALK 

ON RADIO OFF RADIO  ONLY 1 1 1 VERIFY A ADDRESS ALL OTHERS JUST GO   ON THE BOX   UPON ARRIVAL THEY WILL SAY  ENG 73   DISP  WILL SAY PROCEED ENG 73  ON LOCATION   123454  MAIN ST ST , 2 STY ROW  BRICK15 X 35  OCCUOPIED  FIRE SHOWING SECOND FLOOR    2 AND 2 IN SERVICE  MEANING FIRST AND SECOND ENGINE   1 3/4  BOTH LADDERS   
WILL VES  FRONT AND BACK  ,      WE CAN HAVE 6 WORKING FIRES  AND NOT HEAR   EACH OTHER  AT ONE TIME  .   THERE ARE A FEW  VIDEOS  ON YOU TUBE  WHERE YOU CAN HEAR   JOBS .

WE   HAVE  LOCALS (ALARMS ,WIRES  AUTOS  ETC  ONE ENG) 
TAC BOX     2 ENG 2 LADDERS 1 CHIEF  ON A DWELLING 911 CALL)
BOX  IS 4 ENGS  2 LADDERS  2 CHIEFS  IF  WORKING  I MEDIC UNIT ONE SOG CO )RES  OR  SQUAD . ONE DC  AIR UNIT IF REQUESTED ,
EXTRA ALARMS    2ND ALARM GETS 5 ENGS , 2 LADDERS ONE BC FIELD COMM  FMO ETC
THIRD  AND ABOVE  IS 4 ENGS  I LADDER ONE CHIEF 
WE CAN GO TO AROUND  12  ALALRMS NOW  WITH THE CUT BACKS

THE PFD ALSO HAS  100 SERIES  APPARATUS  WHICH CAN GET MANNED 
THEY ARE FULLY EQUIPPED  AND THERE ARE 15 ENGINES  AND THREE  LADDERS .     THEY ARE USED FOR  SHORT OUT OF SERVICE REPAIRS  FLAT TIRE ETC ,    ANY OTHER QUESTIONS  I AM BATTLELAMP@AOL.COM

TRY  EASTCOAST 911.COM   FOR LIVE RADIO   , START WATER

 

[firemedicburr]

A little over a year ago our department got a new Chief. After his arrival we switched over to "Local" alarms for one or two company responses. We now have Medical Local, Fire Local , Rescue Local, and just introduced to us today HazMat Local. For any alarm we get a pre-alert announcement, "Rescue Engine-1 Medical Local." Then the Local tone (long single tone) which sounds identical for all four stations, but opens the responding station's radio with four beeps until keyed up. Finally the dispatch messege. "Rescue Engine-1 on chest pain..."  Medical is self explanitory, Fire will be fire alarms, car fire, outdoor fires, etc... Rescue is anything that may require heavy rescue equipment. HazMat Locals will now be CO alarms, spills on land, odor investigations...

Regular Alarms are structure fires. The first due company gets the pre-alert, "Regular Alarm for District One." Regular Alarm tone is a slow beeping. Dispatch messege, "Rescue Engine-1, Rescue Engine-3, Truck-4, Chief-3, regular alarm on a structure fire... If you were wondering, all three engines are identicle Rescue Engines. Initial assignment for a structure fire is two engines, the truck, and the Duty Chief. If it is a working fire, the third engine responds and mutual aid is called in to cover two of our stations.