Interesting. I was under the impression that stations routinely monitored the dispatch channel via a station house radio - is this not the case in AACo? Back in the day when I was a live-in volunteer in Montgomery County, the radio played in every room in the station.
Changes coming to AA Fire
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Interesting. I was under the impression that stations routinely monitored the dispatch channel via a station house radio - is this not the case in AACo? Back in the day when I was a live-in volunteer in Montgomery County, the radio played in every room in the station.
Anne Arundel County Launches $2.2 Million
9-1-1 System Upgrade
Annapolis, MD (February 9, 2018)- Anne Arundel County today announced it recently launched an upgraded 9-1-1 Dispatch system that will help first responders more efficiently and effectively respond to calls for service around the jurisdiction.
“We need to ensure our first responders have the best equipment available as they work to protect every citizen of Anne Arundel County,” said County Executive Steve Schuh. “The system upgrade is another step in our efforts to ensure we have the best public safety infrastructure in the State of Maryland.”
On Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 3:00 a.m., the Anne Arundel County Police and Fire Departments successfully transitioned to a new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system at the County’s 9-1-1 Call Center. Until recently, the Police and Fire Department had been operating on a dispatch system that was installed in the early 1990’s. The new CAD system provides increased capacity with access to over 16 million historical records ensures reliability and accessibility for both departments and uses a graphic user interface which enables our users to more efficiently enter and retrieve information. The geo-centric nature of the CAD system incorporates location verification as well as geo-location for emergency service vehicles.
The outdated system was severely limited in its capabilities. The CAD transition team, comprised of members of the Office of Information Technology, Police and Fire Departments, has been working over the past two years with a vendor, Infor, to replace the existing CAD system. Members from both the Fire Department and Police Department Communications sections have been involved in the development, testing and training throughout the entire process and were well prepared to move forward with the cutover.
“The efficiencies and effectiveness gained by the upgrade to the 911 Call center technology is the first of many we hope to accomplish as part of the County Executives system modernization programs,” said OIT Director Rick Napolitano. “The team did a superb job and we hope all future cut overs go this smoothly.”
"The Automatic Vehicle Location component of the new system will increase efficiency and reduce response times by recognizing and recommending in real time the closest fire and EMS units dispatch to an emergency,” said Chief Allan Graves. “The system will also allow enhancements to public safety with its ability to integrate other current technology like PulsePoint, a smartphone application that notifies citizens of a patient needing CPR near their location."
“I am truly grateful for the hard work put in by the CAD transition team whose efforts will not only boost our dispatching efficiency and patrol response, but improve dramatically the efficiency of information retrieval for our commanders and analysts who need accurate, real-time information,” said Chief Timothy Altomare.
The $2.2 million capital project was made possible through the JumpStart Anne Arundel capital project financing program. Enacted in 2015, the capital plan embraces a 30-year bond financing option. This reform has allowed Anne Arundel County to expand its capital funding program and make critical public safety, school, road, and quality of life infrastructure improvements from Brooklyn Park to Pasadena to Annapolis to Odenton.
9-1-1 System Upgrade
Annapolis, MD (February 9, 2018)- Anne Arundel County today announced it recently launched an upgraded 9-1-1 Dispatch system that will help first responders more efficiently and effectively respond to calls for service around the jurisdiction.
“We need to ensure our first responders have the best equipment available as they work to protect every citizen of Anne Arundel County,” said County Executive Steve Schuh. “The system upgrade is another step in our efforts to ensure we have the best public safety infrastructure in the State of Maryland.”
On Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 3:00 a.m., the Anne Arundel County Police and Fire Departments successfully transitioned to a new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system at the County’s 9-1-1 Call Center. Until recently, the Police and Fire Department had been operating on a dispatch system that was installed in the early 1990’s. The new CAD system provides increased capacity with access to over 16 million historical records ensures reliability and accessibility for both departments and uses a graphic user interface which enables our users to more efficiently enter and retrieve information. The geo-centric nature of the CAD system incorporates location verification as well as geo-location for emergency service vehicles.
The outdated system was severely limited in its capabilities. The CAD transition team, comprised of members of the Office of Information Technology, Police and Fire Departments, has been working over the past two years with a vendor, Infor, to replace the existing CAD system. Members from both the Fire Department and Police Department Communications sections have been involved in the development, testing and training throughout the entire process and were well prepared to move forward with the cutover.
“The efficiencies and effectiveness gained by the upgrade to the 911 Call center technology is the first of many we hope to accomplish as part of the County Executives system modernization programs,” said OIT Director Rick Napolitano. “The team did a superb job and we hope all future cut overs go this smoothly.”
"The Automatic Vehicle Location component of the new system will increase efficiency and reduce response times by recognizing and recommending in real time the closest fire and EMS units dispatch to an emergency,” said Chief Allan Graves. “The system will also allow enhancements to public safety with its ability to integrate other current technology like PulsePoint, a smartphone application that notifies citizens of a patient needing CPR near their location."
“I am truly grateful for the hard work put in by the CAD transition team whose efforts will not only boost our dispatching efficiency and patrol response, but improve dramatically the efficiency of information retrieval for our commanders and analysts who need accurate, real-time information,” said Chief Timothy Altomare.
The $2.2 million capital project was made possible through the JumpStart Anne Arundel capital project financing program. Enacted in 2015, the capital plan embraces a 30-year bond financing option. This reform has allowed Anne Arundel County to expand its capital funding program and make critical public safety, school, road, and quality of life infrastructure improvements from Brooklyn Park to Pasadena to Annapolis to Odenton.
troymail
Silent Key
These days data devices (smart phones, etc.), station printers, and other things alert stations faster. Some folks will monitor a pager so when so big incident occurs that they are not on, they can turn a portable on to that talkgroup to monitor. Some places frowned on monitoring (hard to believe, right?).
However, I think fire has implemented a new policy just recently that requires someone from each station to monitor the radio 12-14 hours a day now - so the red/yellow "standard verbage" about monitoring a radio is obviously out of date since they are already monitoring (or supposed to be).
Where is the AVL data originating from? Is it from the mobile radios, or from another source, i.e. cellular data service. I'm curious how their iPads work, and how robust the system would be during a major event.
Yea, I find it strange that the dispatch channel is not played for general situation awareness. Back in the 80/90's, Montgomery County was using QCII tones sent out over VHF to alert volunteers, blow the siren, open doors, turn on lights, ring station bells, etc. Some of the in-station functions were transitioned to INTRAC when they started to automate dispatching using a DEC PDP-11 in the 80's. All these tones and squitters were heard over the air. It was a mess because the computer system introduced a lot of delays. Later, they started to install station terminals with line printers and CRT, but it was still very basic stuff. I left / got a real job just prior to the transition to the 800 Mhz system and MOSCAD, but AFAIK, they still use QCII to alert volunteers as do many jurisdictions. Not sure if they still play dispatch audio in the station houses, but they do have large monitors displaying CAD info.
boatbod
Member
Despite the low tech nature of tones, they remain a very reliable way of alerting personnel not physically present in a station. As an active volunteer on the shore, I'd be lost without my pager because the various data-based systems just aren't as reliable. Station sirens fail, emails/text messages/Active911 alerts get delayed (or simply never arrive), but analog VHF paging keeps on trucking,
Mr_Boh
Member
Dispatch is still played in the station but it’s done via SIP (VoIP) as part of the Purvis system (which powers all the station alerting over IP).
Since the CAD switch, the tones are just sent over the air when there’s dead space. Stations alert whenever the call is processed so for both QCII tones and station alerting you may get an alert way before the vocal announcement. It’s not like where it used to be when dispatcher would send the QCII tones on VHF then dispatch the call on both the trunked system and VHF.
Pagers are still fairly common. Would say more career than volunteer personnel if anything other than older volunteers that just like listening.
I’ll be curious to see how long simulcasts stick around as everyone moves to P25 and Unication G4/5s gain popularity.
OK, that makes sense why they have to go find a portable to listen to dispatch under Condition (Red/Yellow/Orange? - which one is it, IDK) If Purvis / station alerting is offline, then the stations won't hear dispatch audio. If Infor / CAD is offline, do you still grab a portable?
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Mr_Boh
Member
Maybe I confused you. Was talking about MoCo. Not sure what system AA went with but that could be the same reason.
With CAD systems very few installs have the same company for station alerting and the actual CAD system and there’s an interface between the two.
The link between the two is never using a standard interface or protocols like you would for say checking email (IMAP / POP) rather they are a combination of links and various software tools to translate CAD output to input for the station alerting.
So if they are using some new station alerting as part of the package it’s very likely they are noticing problems like addresses displayed wrong or not at all or worse, stations being alerted wrong or not at all. To address the problems it results in outages of either the CAD or the interface.
It’s totally not surprising that on a new CAD they are having to go down (condition color) regularly to address the problems.
Sorry, I was thinking AACo, but I guess the same principles apply to either county. It would be interesting to know what AACo does as far as station alerting goes, and how it integrates with their new CAD system, and if their station dispatch audio is radio based, VoIP, or a direct telephone circuit. Back in the day, Montgomery would dispatch EMS calls by first ringing the station bells for the crew to pick up their direct line, thus starting the response before announcing it over the radio. Not sure if they perform a similar procedure today; at the time the station where I was based did not have rescue tones - the tone pair was only for the engine company.
I have also noticed some "Pre-Alerts" for Cardiac Arrests & Box Alarms. Basically they say the Box Area, Address, and Call Type. And some time later they then do the normal dispatch.
Annapolis, MD. (April 24, 2018) – Keeping with a commitment to public safety, Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh today announced a pilot program for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) substations on the Mayo Peninsula and in the Heritage Harbour community.
“We are committed to ensuring effective emergency response times for every citizen of this County,” said Schuh. “The first, this new, innovative Mayo EMS substation will ensure our first responders can arrive on the scene within minutes of a call from any of the communities on the peninsula.”
The facility is located at 551 Pure Water Way in Mayo. The Mayo Peninsula was selected due to the challenges presented by responses to the numerous peninsulas in the county.
The project is being funded with current resources in the FY 2018 budget. The substation will operate out of an Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works building that has offices and a three-bay garage. The Fire Department will be converting the conference room to house the crew, and the ambulance will be in one of the garage bays. The local volunteer fire company will also have the ability to respond from the location.
The second test site involves an agreement between the Fire Department and the Heritage Harbour Community Association. It will position a basic life support ambulance in that community on weekdays. The Board of Directors has supported a proposal to place an ambulance at the Heritage Harbour Lodge beginning after May 1st. The crew will utilize available space on the lower level of the building Monday-Friday between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
“I thank the Heritage Harbour Board of Directors for allowing us to test this program in their community and sharing space in their facility,” said Fire Chief Allan Graves. “This is an important partnership in a program to test the viability of EMS substations in growing communities.”
The Heritage Harbour community was selected due to their volume of emergency medical calls. The goal of the program is a reduction in response times. It will utilize existing resources and and be evaluated six months after implementation. This is planned as a portion of a program to test the viability of EMS substations in growing communities.
Headlines - County Executive Steve Schuh Announces Mayo and Heritage Harbour Emergency Services Substation Pilot Program | Anne Arundel County, MD
“We are committed to ensuring effective emergency response times for every citizen of this County,” said Schuh. “The first, this new, innovative Mayo EMS substation will ensure our first responders can arrive on the scene within minutes of a call from any of the communities on the peninsula.”
The facility is located at 551 Pure Water Way in Mayo. The Mayo Peninsula was selected due to the challenges presented by responses to the numerous peninsulas in the county.
The project is being funded with current resources in the FY 2018 budget. The substation will operate out of an Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works building that has offices and a three-bay garage. The Fire Department will be converting the conference room to house the crew, and the ambulance will be in one of the garage bays. The local volunteer fire company will also have the ability to respond from the location.
The second test site involves an agreement between the Fire Department and the Heritage Harbour Community Association. It will position a basic life support ambulance in that community on weekdays. The Board of Directors has supported a proposal to place an ambulance at the Heritage Harbour Lodge beginning after May 1st. The crew will utilize available space on the lower level of the building Monday-Friday between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
“I thank the Heritage Harbour Board of Directors for allowing us to test this program in their community and sharing space in their facility,” said Fire Chief Allan Graves. “This is an important partnership in a program to test the viability of EMS substations in growing communities.”
The Heritage Harbour community was selected due to their volume of emergency medical calls. The goal of the program is a reduction in response times. It will utilize existing resources and and be evaluated six months after implementation. This is planned as a portion of a program to test the viability of EMS substations in growing communities.
Headlines - County Executive Steve Schuh Announces Mayo and Heritage Harbour Emergency Services Substation Pilot Program | Anne Arundel County, MD
Station 40 is perpetuslly responding to EMS calls in Heritage Harbor....
AACo has applied to become an interoperability user on MD FiRST, which is hardly a shocker. I'm curious though how / if they will integrate CMARC into their new system, and if RINS is still an active interoperable solution. Information / / best practices / theories / speculation welcome.
Mr_Boh
Member
RINS is still available but most departments in the area use it for talk around. NIFOG channels for interoperability, as the repeated channels are commonly used. On that topic they are already deploying DVRSs quickly and in high quantity.
I would probably guess no on CMARC for most users. Although there are sites in the area Harford is really the only agency using it as a primary system. Someone probably knows CMARC better than me, but most people who know enough about it paint the picture that it was supposed to be FiRST before FiRST and really it’s mostly Harford but they are happy to have people use the system.
Interoperability users on FiRST only gets use the TACs and Call talkgroups which are basically a nicer interoperability option within the state, especially as we inch closer to all counties and the state on P25 7/800MHz.
Of course this all depends on their comm / radio managers. You meet some who have agencies hundreds of miles away and some won’t give neighboring systems on subscribers unless there’s a high likelihood that the individual user could end up there.
CMARC isn't really to be integrated, its strength is as a standalone. Its most useful purpose for counties other than Harford is for backup use if their simulcast sites die - and has fulfilled that purpose quite well a few times.
County Executive Steve Schuh's FY19 budget released yesterday includes $15M for the radio system upgrade. The council has already approved $22M in prior budgets, and a $13M request is forecast for FY20. The real news is that the total cost of the new system has risen to $60.2M.
troymail
Silent Key
Now there's a shocker...
Heard "Shift Commander" dispatched on a commercial box alarm. I though they got rid of it a long time ago when they added the 4th Battalion, is this a new position?
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