Fire Ground Communications

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim Mason on February 2, 2009 at 3:03pm

I think that there should be a FF that goes to the rear in most cases. Here's why. Lots of times there is more to do than just size up in the rear. Windows need to vented and sometimes civilains need to be pulled out of upper floor windows. If an officer, that must be at the front of the building to lead the the FF's inside, is in the back he either can;t do these thngs because he needs to get to the front or is delayed to the front because he is perfroming these duties. If there are enough companies to send a an entire crew to the rear to look that is better than all of the above.

Permalink Reply by Eric Michael Ziegelhofer on April 5, 2014 at 6:05pm

Great discussions by all, I agree with majority of everyone's responses.  In my department, we have attempted to at least show personnel how to use the radio, what to say, etc., however, there are plenty of personnel who either do not say enough or say entirely too much.  As far as the community, our commanding officer, a chief in charge of four stations, will NOT switch to a fireground channel, which a lot of us have argued multiple times that we should place a lot of the communications on the tactical channels, simply to relocate a lot of the chatter which ties up the main frequency we often use.  The chief who refuses to use a secondary frequency states due to our communications center not recording said channels, in the event of a mayday or other life threatening situation, he is afraid no one will hear said frequency.  Of course, I agree on the simple fact of the potential of missing a mayday or other life threatening situation, however, there could be a way to monitor both frequencies, as many municipalities around our first due use secondary channels.  This same chief, has been known even when the communications are on a single frequency to not answer his radio.  On one incident, I was a back up member on the initial hand line, and attempted to call out to command multiple times to advise the bulk of the fire was knocked, we were checking for extension, and asking for the sprinkler system to be shut down, after multiple call outs prior to giving said report, I was approached by another chief who simply asked what I had and relayed the message directly to the communications center and asked the dispatcher to place the information on the notes portion of our printout.  Upon completion of additional assignments, at the request of the chief who relayed my messages, I then exited the building to go through the rehabilitation process and was approached by the highest chief who rather than begin to ask appropriate questions, he decided to scream at me as if I burned the structure down and lost lives, of course, I never backed down, and simply asked without raising my voice, where he was when I called out to him five times, he stated "Oh I turned my radio off and walked around the building."  I then stated a 360 was already performed, and while I can appreciate his wishing to gain a view of his own, he needed to keep his radio on and retain communications upon assuming command from the chief he assumed command from.  The initial chief who had command stated all information was conveyed to the communications center and such, rather than taking command from the initial chief as soon as he did, the higher chief should have potentially completed all his assessments prior to assuming command.  This is still an argument with said chief who was hired by a council under the mayor and they would rather politics play a role rather than hearing multiple letters from personnel and companies stating there is a lack of leadership or a lack of faith in his operations so to speak.  As far as most communications, all members are requested to provide information to their immediate supervisors rather than tying up the radio in order to basically have their voice heard on the radio.  If there is some type of life threatening emergency, that member with a portable is able to get that message out without transferring the information to a supervisor. 

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