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- Nov 6, 2009
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LACOFD dispatch tones
- Thread starter mercurygrandmarquis1
- Start date
If you can figure out how to save them to your computer, you can have a lot of fun with these. I'm a big LA County/Emergency! Buff. Been to where they filmed it a few times, including Station 8(10 in the pilot episode), met Randy (John Gage) Mantooth about 8 years ago. So I knew where a lot of those stations were. What I did was put together tones from stations that would run in with "51's" in the general Carson area, like 36, 127(where it was filmed) 45, 116, 105, and 10. Yes, I know, I need to get a life. PS there is a clip on lacountyfire of a simulated brushfire dispatch up in the north county. It's done by Kerry Crabtree, a Supervising Fire Dispatcher up there, and a friend of mine. If you look further, you will hear the voice of an FDNY Dispatcher on Blue 8. That's their main dispatch frequency. They announce all alarms on Blue 8, and that's all they do. That goes county wide, and like here, they have certain areas and battalions on a specific frequency. All Blue frequencies, as they are called.
When it comes to dispatching fire trucks, they definitely have an advantage over FDNY in the sense that the computers are more modern, and can assign units from outside the county, such as Ventura, Long Beach, or Burbank for example. The one buff "disadvantage" if you listen to them regularly, is they don't have any personality. They all speak in a monotone voice, they don't use ten codes, it's all plain speak, or Clear Text, as it's called.
I visit there frequently, and the last time I was there, I was giving them an example of a typical fire in an OMD, and how the IC gives the report.
Battalion 27 to the Bronx, K.
Box 3542, We're gonna use all hands. We got a fire on the second floor of a six brick H-Type OMD 100 by 50. Exposure 1 is a street, 2 is a yard, 3 is a yard, 4 is a similar attached. We got 2 lines stretched, one in operation, trucks are opening up. Gimme an additional Engine and Truck, this fire is doubtful, K.
They looked at me like I was from another planet.
One of the other drawbacks that they have is that they can't "load up" boxes like we can. If we start getting quality calls, we'll add a fourth engine, Rescue, Squad, etc. They can't. We decide when relocations get made. Out there, the IC says, "Start Moveups". We have a pretty vast array of resources when we make our moves. They don't. They have specific units that are used specifically for relocations. They don't really have too big of a problem moving Engines, but the Trucks and Squads get a little hairy. It's not uncommon to see a Truck(Quint) do a 25-45 minute run just on a move up. Like I said in another thread, West Hollywood is covered by 2 Squads, 7 and 8. West Hollywood has to have one squad in service at all times, so 7 usually gets moved, and I have seen them get moved from West Hollywood to Lancaster, that's like going from Midtown Manhattan to just south of Poughkeepsie. There's also a lot of departments that the county surrounds, so it's not uncommon to see a Truck Company from LA County driving through Downey, and LA City to get to a small area called Marina Del Rey, in between Venice Beach and LAX(Both covered by LA CITY).
Automatic aid is commonly used as well. I'll use Marina Del Rey as an example. Box goes out in MDR, you got Engine and Truck 110(County) Engine 58??(County) Engine and Truck 170(County) Engine 62(CITY), Engine 63, 263, Truck 63(CITY) Squad 58(County), Engine 95(CITY), Rescue Ambulance 63(CITY), a Battalion from the CITY, and Battalion 1 from County. That rundown is off the top of my head, so it may not be completely correct, but it's pretty close. I think you get the point.
MGM, thanks for putting this up.
When it comes to dispatching fire trucks, they definitely have an advantage over FDNY in the sense that the computers are more modern, and can assign units from outside the county, such as Ventura, Long Beach, or Burbank for example. The one buff "disadvantage" if you listen to them regularly, is they don't have any personality. They all speak in a monotone voice, they don't use ten codes, it's all plain speak, or Clear Text, as it's called.
I visit there frequently, and the last time I was there, I was giving them an example of a typical fire in an OMD, and how the IC gives the report.
Battalion 27 to the Bronx, K.
Box 3542, We're gonna use all hands. We got a fire on the second floor of a six brick H-Type OMD 100 by 50. Exposure 1 is a street, 2 is a yard, 3 is a yard, 4 is a similar attached. We got 2 lines stretched, one in operation, trucks are opening up. Gimme an additional Engine and Truck, this fire is doubtful, K.
They looked at me like I was from another planet.
One of the other drawbacks that they have is that they can't "load up" boxes like we can. If we start getting quality calls, we'll add a fourth engine, Rescue, Squad, etc. They can't. We decide when relocations get made. Out there, the IC says, "Start Moveups". We have a pretty vast array of resources when we make our moves. They don't. They have specific units that are used specifically for relocations. They don't really have too big of a problem moving Engines, but the Trucks and Squads get a little hairy. It's not uncommon to see a Truck(Quint) do a 25-45 minute run just on a move up. Like I said in another thread, West Hollywood is covered by 2 Squads, 7 and 8. West Hollywood has to have one squad in service at all times, so 7 usually gets moved, and I have seen them get moved from West Hollywood to Lancaster, that's like going from Midtown Manhattan to just south of Poughkeepsie. There's also a lot of departments that the county surrounds, so it's not uncommon to see a Truck Company from LA County driving through Downey, and LA City to get to a small area called Marina Del Rey, in between Venice Beach and LAX(Both covered by LA CITY).
Automatic aid is commonly used as well. I'll use Marina Del Rey as an example. Box goes out in MDR, you got Engine and Truck 110(County) Engine 58??(County) Engine and Truck 170(County) Engine 62(CITY), Engine 63, 263, Truck 63(CITY) Squad 58(County), Engine 95(CITY), Rescue Ambulance 63(CITY), a Battalion from the CITY, and Battalion 1 from County. That rundown is off the top of my head, so it may not be completely correct, but it's pretty close. I think you get the point.
MGM, thanks for putting this up.
"FDNY150", I was out there myself way back in 1984. Me and the Mrs did a trip for two weeks. I spent three days in LA City and Three days doing LA County F.D. My wife went to Venice Beach to check out the Muscle bound Calif guys, while I checked out the rigs and firehouses. I'm sure since then a lot has changed for the LAFD and LA Co FD.
No offense to our California Brothers, but when it comes to the Fire Dept, I just gotta stick with the FDNY. And that goes for pretty much everything across the board. From Dispatch to Tactics.
No offense to our California Brothers, but when it comes to the Fire Dept, I just gotta stick with the FDNY. And that goes for pretty much everything across the board. From Dispatch to Tactics.
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"FDNY150" thanks for the interesting info on LA dispatching.
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I have 2 interesting Annual Reports (THE SIZE-UP) from the LAFD, 1 is from 1955-56 the other from 1956-57.
20 years ago I worked for a private ambulance company that contracted with LACoFD to provide transport for their patients. The fire department had stopped using the tones 1-2 years prior. Some of the guys I partnered with had been around a while and could tell which station(s) was being toned out. No klaxons going off in the stations as in the show, at least not when I was able to do a ride along with 8's in West L.A. Just as well, seems it could give a guy a heart attack if it caught you totally off guard!