Firefighter - 2020 - 15

2020 FLORIDA FIREFIGHTER

Special thanks to Judi Davison at the Tallahassee Fire Department for this article suggestion.

EXPOSURE

Does every firefighter understand
the difficult work of a dispatcher?
A firefighter may not often be exposed
to the organized chaos of a 911
emergency communications center.
Many firefighters go through an entire
career without any opportunity to visit
their fire department's communications
center or meet the "voices" behind
the radio − their fire dispatchers.
Dispatchers truly are the "first" first
responders to every 911 emergency.
A Typical Day at the Fire Rescue
Communications Center
It is 0756 hours on a Monday. Chris,
who began his shift at 0700, had just
hung up the phone with a hysterical
father who found his 2-year-old child

unresponsive and not breathing in her
bed. Chris instructed the caller through
child CPR procedures until Fire Rescue
personnel arrived on scene. Before he
could sign-off of his Computer-AidedDispatch system (CAD) to take a break,
another 911 call rang in his headset and
he was compelled to answer the call.
"Fire Rescue, what is the location of your
emergency?" asked Chris.
The frantic caller screamed the address
and advised, "My house is on fire!"
Within seconds, a structure fire event
was processed and valuable information
was collected. Through the screams of
the caller, Chris managed to instruct a
family to safety and obtain answers to
questions such as, "are there flames and

smoke? What type of building is this?
Is anyone trapped inside the building?
Are there any exposures? Are there any
chemicals in the building? Does anyone
have any injuries?"
Simultaneously, the structure fire event
was dispatched and assigned to Fire
Dispatcher, Jen. As the appropriate units
were paged, Jen evaluated the property
reported on fire to determine if additional
resources were needed. In addition, she
researched the proximity of first due
and responding units, hydrant locations,
routing issues such as dirt roads or
remote access, satellite images, surveys,
CAD notes, and any other information
available on the property. The assigned
fire units began their response and Jen
relayed all pertinent information.

Firefighter - 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Firefighter - 2020