Falck Ambulance

Has anyone begun tracking or scouting out Falck's Internal communications?

I assume they're going to take over the prior Rural Metro talkgroups on the Aurora system. I'd expect they'll have their own communications system.

The contract requires the 911 Comm Center in Aurora to call Falck via landline anytime they need a 911 ambulance. This is a common tactic to SAVE money on part of the private contractor. Don't expect to hear them on any CO talkgroups anytime soon.

Looking for LOCAL input

ERICEMT said:

The contract requires the 911 Comm Center in Aurora to call Falck via landline anytime they need a 911 ambulance. This is a common tactic to SAVE money on part of the private contractor. Don't expect to hear them on any CO talkgroups anytime soon.

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So how do you explain Rural Metro Talkgroups 625 (04-141) EMS Dispatch and 626 (04-142) EMS Channel 2 ?

Thanks for lurking from Florida with your input

The contract requires....
The contract requires.....
The contract requires......
Just in case you missed it the first time. Source? I work for the largest EMS provider in the nation, and... look at my signature. You asked a question, I answered. Sorry it wasn't the sugarcoated one you wanted. It should also be noted that Falck got the 911 contract. Rural Metro will still be doing IFT and therefore will still maintain their talkgroups.

Thread moved since this is not a Breaking Incident or News.

Thanks for moving this thread

ERICEMT said:

The contract requires....
The contract requires.....
The contract requires......
Just in case you missed it the first time. Source? I work for the largest EMS provider in the nation, and... look at my signature. You asked a question, I answered. Sorry it wasn't the sugarcoated one you wanted. It should also be noted that Falck got the 911 contract. Rural Metro will still be doing IFT and therefore will still maintain their talkgroups.

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You're pretty impressed with yourself aren't you? In fact I did look at your signature. So you sit in a dark room in Florida, I was asking people in Colorado that would be monitoring the system.

I'm going to guess that the City of Aurora isn't going to let Rural Metro (now part of AMR) use their system to run for profit IFT's. And since RM and Pridemark have a robust communication center (something your impressive signature line should mean you're familiar with) they'll just keep their own business on their other talkgroups on their own system and VHF channels Pridemark still has licensed.

Back to my original post, before you came zooming in from Florida, I wanted to know if Falck was building something equally impressive and technologically advanced. I know you think they're only allowed to have a landline. (required by the contract, required by the contract, required by the contract) I was also curious if the talkgroups you said don't exist, will just be accessible by Falck on the switch-over date.

ERICEMT said:

The contract requires....
The contract requires.....
The contract requires......
Just in case you missed it the first time. Source? I work for the largest EMS provider in the nation, and... look at my signature. You asked a question, I answered. Sorry it wasn't the sugarcoated one you wanted. It should also be noted that Falck got the 911 contract. Rural Metro will still be doing IFT and therefore will still maintain their talkgroups.

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So in Florida I guess they use phones for everything. EMS crew calls their dispatch, dispatch calls fire dispatch, fire dispatch calls the firefighters. There is no reason for an EMS crew to talk to a fire crew via radio and interoperability is just a fad.

The talkgroups mentioned belong to the City of Aurora and their 800 MHz system. They will more than likely stay as EMS channels for whomever the EMS provider is in Aurora. As Moose said, Aurora will not let Rural Metro stay on those talkgroups.

Of course Aurora Dispatch will call Falck Dispatch via landline, pretty much a common thing just about everywhere private EMS is used (or where EMS and Fire are not in the same dispatch center). But after that pretty sure radios will take over for communications, I am sure you understand this . . . . . ya know . . . because of your signature.

What is the largest EMS provider in the country? I guess I never really gave a _____ to care.

Unless Falck is only doing 911 coverage for Aurora they should have an independent system for transfers and such. I guess they could join CCNC and use DTRS and save a little bit on infrastructure. But otherwise I have no idea.

Moosemedic said:

You're pretty impressed with yourself aren't you? In fact I did look at your signature. So you sit in a dark room in Florida, I was asking people in Colorado that would be monitoring the system.

I'm going to guess that the City of Aurora isn't going to let Rural Metro (now part of AMR) use their system to run for profit IFT's. And since RM and Pridemark have a robust communication center (something your impressive signature line should mean you're familiar with) they'll just keep their own business on their other talkgroups on their own system and VHF channels Pridemark still has licensed.

Back to my original post, before you came zooming in from Florida, I wanted to know if Falck was building something equally impressive and technologically advanced. I know you think they're only allowed to have a landline. (required by the contract, required by the contract, required by the contract) I was also curious if the talkgroups you said don't exist, will just be accessible by Falck on the switch-over date.

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You 2 seem to be very ignorant. I've seen your other posts MooseMedic, and your attitude is the same in all of them. You are a troll, and you get upset when you don't get your sugarcoated answer. Rural Metro PAID (keyword, and continues to pay for) for their talkgroup on the Aurora system. Therefore, common sense would dictate that Rural Metro would continue to use their LEASED talkgroups for their operations, or Mutual Aid scenarios (Look at the Aurora Shooting..). Learn to pick and choose your battles and stop throwing a hissy fit when people don't post the exact answer you want. As for landline of other agencies, that DOES NOT happen in Central Florida. Rural Metro is dispatched directly by the local FD, and print outs are sent to the station fax machine. In Sumter County, Rural Metro took over all 911 Comms, and owns and operates the Fire/EMS Center in Sumter. Obviously, you have never been involved with an RFP for EMS Services. Dispatch/Communications is a section that is graded/scored. You have a few options. 1) Have the FD call you for calls, units go responding on their own TG and the contractor dispatcher updates the crew and FD (cheapest), 2) Same as above but have units on FD TG 3) Assign a dispatcher to FD Comm Center and units dispatched on FD TG with seamless coordination from contractor. Falck went with the cheapest option (landline) which is why the scored lower on that section. If I were you, and merely a suggestion, do an FCC License search. That should answer all your questions.

It appears that Falck is not very big on licensing frequencies for use. Looks like they may rely on OTHER methods for communications. In the ENTIRE Nation, they are only licensed for 155.3400 for Hospital Comms.

ULS License - Public Safety Pool, Conventional License - WQQR385 - FALCK NORTHWEST CORPORATION

This has been confirmed in other states that Falck operates in... No traffic has been heard by them on any TG or frequencies since taking over certain operations......

I don't want to involved in an argument here, but the question asked was about internal communications. Falck could very well be using alternative means of internal communications that is not reliant on a public safety radio system. Aurora FD will call Falck for a response and Falck will do whatever they have decided on to notify their crews of the call.

Now heading towards the response side of things, the RFP that Aurora put out for all providers specifically said that responding on Aurora FD talkgroups was a requirement. Once Falck has notified their crews via whatever mysterious means, they will be required to report their response to Aurora FD. Oddly enough, the RFP and addendum by Aurora specifically noted that "bidders should expect to purchase and utilize only the Motorola Phase II P25 Digital 800 MHz System." I would guess that this is no longer the case as that system is not yet online.

All that noted, another third party RR user has reported hearing Falck conducting radio tests on RMA 2 (04-142). Take that what you will as to what will happen with communications for either Falck or RMA.

Now if anyone has specific documentation such as the specific contract between Falck and Aurora, then by all means share it. Otherwise, it's pretty much an unknown until someone discovers what is happening.

While the contractor may be required to respond on Aurora TG, this does not mean they would have their own TG. Only time will tell, of course, but as of now, there are -0- FCC assignments for Falck outside of Washington State. The truth is in the pudding. In Orlando, the EMS contractor was required to respond and utilize the OFD TRS. How was this accomplished? The Comm Center had a TRS radio and would update Orlando, and then in turn would relay to the crews via internal means. This seems to have been (and has been) the norm for years. As for hearing radio checks, RMA contract is not over until September 1st, so it would be interesting that they are doing radio checks before they are even "legally"allowed in the City. The OP wanted specific answers that NO ONE could provide. When presented with alternatives or suggestions, a hissy fit was thrown. I rest my case in this thread.

Rural Metro's comcenter has a terminal on the Aurora CAD, and gets the same information on a call as the fire dispatchers, at the same time. This is obviously more efficient than a phone call, and I would expect Falck to have the same arrangement.

For non-911 calls, R/M uses a communications system similar to Nextel, which is separate from the Aurora trunk. Perhaps Falck will do the same. I wouldn't be surprised if the two companies' counterparts are coordinating the changeover.

RM also uses the old "Pridemark" VHF channels and uses RMA 1 and 2 in Aurora (911 only). Interestingly, after over a year of working there, I never could get either RMA 1 or 2 to work in my scanner. Never could figure out why.

The "Boulder" vhf channel which, last I heard, was actually down in Littleton and completely out of service. The "Denver" vhf Channel is what they use internally for their 911 responses in Wheatridge/Fairmont. They also hop on MARC (IIRC) for those. The "Admin" vhf channel is used for their IFT's. They have cell phones they use as well, used primarily for alerting aurora crews at night when they have a call, and day to day admin stuff.

My guess, and it's only a slightly educated one, is that Falck will be given access to RMA 1 and 2 (And probably rename them) as well as the Aurora FD channels. I can't see Aurora allowing RM to continue to access their system for any reason.

AMR, if they're smart, will probably move all the RM rigs to their 900mhz trunked system. I don;t think any of the RM radios were capable of 900, so it'd be pricey to do, but worth consolidating the unnecessary amount of channels they are accumulating.

You couldn't get RMA 1 or 2 on your scanner because they are ProVoice. When the system was built, everything was ProVoice, but the vendor's engineers couldn't get it to work 100% reliably in that mode, and they ended up moving 99% of the TG's to analog. However, a few stayed PV, including R/M, a few PD tactical TG's, University Hospital PD, and, for some reason, mobiles/portables on AFD Dispatch. That's why you only hear dispatch on AFD Dispatch.

I would guess that AFD might allow R/M to keep access to the Aurora trunk for times when Falck has to turf a call to them. Once in a while the contract ambulance company just runs out of cars. But then again, I might be wrong.

N0GTG said:

You couldn't get RMA 1 or 2 on your scanner because they are ProVoice. When the system was built, everything was ProVoice, but the vendor's engineers couldn't get it to work 100% reliably in that mode, and they ended up moving 99% of the TG's to analog. However, a few stayed PV, including R/M, a few PD tactical TG's, University Hospital PD, and, for some reason, mobiles/portables on AFD Dispatch. That's why you only hear dispatch on AFD Dispatch.

I would guess that AFD might allow R/M to keep access to the Aurora trunk for times when Falck has to turf a call to them. Once in a while the contract ambulance company just runs out of cars. But then again, I might be wrong.

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I don't know anything about ProVoice, but if what I heard from RM dispatch is any indication, I don't like it. They always sounded like they were being horribly patched via an internet connection set up by a two year old.

Aurora really doesn't like RM. They got along with the crews just fine (mostly), but they hated the admin. Even worse, they couldn't stand AMR either, so that just compounds it. In a perfect world, it would make sense to keep RM on the system, but we don't live in a perfect world. DH responds to Aurora calls all the time, but they never respond on AFD channels. It'll be interesting to see what all happens with this.

Denver Health responds to Aurora calls all the time? How do you define that once a day, once a week, once a month?

Denver Health Paramedic Division responds into Aurora very rarely for 911 calls and when they do it's normally on Green TG.

Or maybe your referring to transports of Denver calls to Aurora hospitals? (South, Univ and Children's) which does occur often.

Jim<

I won't get into the arguments with people who don't even live in Colorado and don't monitor for themselves but instead make assumptions...

But I heard Falck ambulances 101 thru 109 doing radio checks on RMA ch2 in ProVoice yesterday and continuing today.

What was curious to me since I don't normally listen to RMA-1 since the ambulances usually switch over to AFD tac-2 (or wherever they are told) after their initial dispatch on RMA-1, I did hear some other Falck unit call signs that I am not familiar with that we're also doing radio checks. Those were 4301 thru 4311. Is anyone familiar with those callsigns or what they might be?

I am sure we will begin hearing them on the (soon to be previous) RMA-1 talk group on September 1st. No reason to do radio checks on a channel or radio system they are not going to use.

By the way, if you want to hear ProVoice then you have a few options including DSD like programs. But like I said, they do switch over from RMA-1 ProVoice to AFD non-ProVoice after initial dispatch, so it may not be worth the effort for most.

jimmnn said:

Denver Health responds to Aurora calls all the time? How do you define that once a day, once a week, once a month?

Denver Health Paramedic Division responds into Aurora very rarely for 911 calls and when they do it's normally on Green TG.

Or maybe your referring to transports of Denver calls to Aurora hospitals? (South, Univ and Children's) which does occur often.

Jim<

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I've never heard them on green, but that's not a channel I spend too much time on. I carried my scanner so I could listen to the whole area, and keep the ambulance radio on the channels we needed. On average DH was on about 1-2 calls in Aurora a shift when I was on. They were all on the border between the cities usually, and I only heard them come a signifigant way into the city once.

You'd think somone whould have gotten rid of ProVoice by now to make things more simple. I'll start listening more to see what all I can find out. I'm curious about the extra numbers they are using. ICF transport cars? Or maybe chase cars/captains?

You'd think somone whould have gotten rid of ProVoice by now to make things more simple. I'll start listening more to see what all I can find out. I'm curious about the extra numbers they are using. ICF transport cars? Or maybe chase cars/captains?[/QUOTE]

Extra number's who is using?

Jim<

jimmnn said:

Extra number's who is using?

Jim<

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I think he was talking about Falck and the 4301 - 4311 units that Dan heard when they were testing.