Jersey city Fireground

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FDNY216

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I know primary Disp is P-25 trucked

Now for Fireground
On every call does the firefighters have to switch there portable radio from main to FG 2 and switch back on every call. This would be nuts going switching channels on portables all day/Night

Last if 2 fire runs are out at the same time do they make the other job FG 3 etc

Thanks
 

FDNY216

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I know primary Disp is P-25 trunked

Now for Fireground
On every call does the firefighters have to switch there portable radio from main to FG 2 and switch back on every call. This would be nuts switching channels on portables all day/Night

Last if 2 fire runs are out at the same time do they make the other job FG 3 etc

Thanks[
 

nperuta96

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Yes they Do. Dispatch will say Switch your Radios to FG 2. They probably leave one Radio on the Firegrouds at all times.
 

RadioChief55

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The radios stay on dispatch 1, when there's a call dispatch will assign a channel depending on the nature of the call and the number of dispatchers working.

Any full box goes to a F/G channel ie 2 or 3. Stills, first responders, car fires or any 1 & 1 or single company assignment either stays on dispatch 1 or if enough dispatchers are on duty, they will switch them to dispatch 6.

Many FD's do it, major city's to small volly FD's.
 

ansky

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The 2 fireground frequencies (460.60 and 460.55) used to be the primary dispatch and channel 2 frequencies prior to 2010 when Jersey City switched to their current digital trunked system. Those 2 frequencies remained analog while the old PD frequencies (and a few new ones) switched to digital and became part of the trunked system.
 

ten13

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There is another run "criteria" in which they use "FG 6" (digital) and, on rare occasions (depending on what kind of run it is, and how busy they are) "FG 7" (digital). In theory (and in practice) you could have five different types of runs (building fire, gas leak, car fire, EMS run, automatic alarm, etc) and have companies operation on five different frequencies, a SERIOUS and DANGEROUS practice.

They also have used "FG 12" for drills.

One night, after a day-time drill, they had a fire, and one fireman was giving a report on "deteriorating conditions" inside the firebuilding...on "FG 12." Of course, no one at the scene heard him and, at some point, the dispatcher acknowledged him, but just told him to switch to another channel, and did not immediately relay his message to the IC (I would hope the dispatchers do better when the next message off-channel is a Mayday).

The other problem is: do they have the Dispatch manpower to cover all those channels at the same time?

For some reason, people fail to remember that, during the rip-roaring 1970s, departments like JC, as well as the FDNY, operated on ONE borough frequency for each borough regardless of how many fires were going on at the same time. On top of that, there was only ONE fireground (handie-talkie) frequency citywide (153.83).

Remarkably, all the fires were put out.
 

RadioChief55

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JC doesn't have enough dispatchers for all 12 channels, they don't even have that many radio consoles in the FD section of the radio room

Back in the late 90's JC had a multiple alarm fire where a FF was lost in the building and no one heard him. A very alert Gong Club member heard his calls and called Central (as it was called back then) and the lost firefighter was found in good condition.

Back in the rip roaring 70's however, most departments weren't on repeaters stepping on each other. If JC and Bayonne were still on 166.250 on their own repeaters they'd be stepping all over each other. Kind of like 154.160 in Bergen county is now.
 

ResQguy

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For some reason, people fail to remember that, during the rip-roaring 1970s, departments like JC, as well as the FDNY, operated on ONE borough frequency for each borough regardless of how many fires were going on at the same time. On top of that, there was only ONE fireground (handie-talkie) frequency citywide (153.83).

In the rip-roaring 2019s, the FDNY still uses one frequency for multiple simultaneous fires. HT1 (486.1125).
 

Danny37

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Which works well plus they have multiple other simplex channels to move to if they need to. Usually you'll get a 5 block radius on the low powered simplex channels. Obviously depends on conditions, I was able to hear FDNY about 2 miles away in Brooklyn on my rooftop when they were fighting a high rise fire by the east river in Manhattan. I was only able to hear the units high up in building but wasn't able to hear the ground units. It was line-of-sight on my rooftop and I could see the smoke.
 

ansky

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FDNY also uses the DOITT trunked system for fireground operations.
 

cackis

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FDNY also uses the DOITT trunked system for fireground operations.
FDNY does NOT use the DOITT trunked system for fireground. We use one of the conventional tac channels, normally HT-1. Divison vehicles have the ability to retransmit fireground traffic over the DOITT system.

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BoxAlarm187

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On every call does the firefighters have to switch there portable radio from main to FG 2 and switch back on every call. This would be nuts going switching channels on portables all day/Night

FD’s large and small across the entire nation do this every day. Mine included. Switching channels isn’t that big of a deal.



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ten13

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In the rip-roaring 2019s, the FDNY still uses one frequency for multiple simultaneous fires. HT1 (486.1125).

But today they have access to, and often use, OTHER HT frequencies, if the circumstances warrant, including a separate "command" channel, as well as a seldom used or talked about encrypted HT channel.

And the amount of fire activity is certainly not as critical as 'way-back when...."
 

ff026

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FD’s large and small across the entire nation do this every day. Mine included. Switching channels isn’t that big of a deal.



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Actually wearing gloves and SCBA with the radio under the coat, while performing interior fire operations ....it is kind of a big deal.

In Rockland the 6 tactical fireground channels are broken up so Dept’s don’t interfere with each other. This is done so interior FF’s don’t have to switch channels during a fire.
 

BoxAlarm187

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Actually wearing gloves and SCBA with the radio under the coat, while performing interior fire operations ....it is kind of a big deal.

I dunno. I’ve been doing it for a couple of decades in some firehouses running over 7000 calls a year. Perhaps what works for one agency doesn’t work for another.




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ten13

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I get a kick out of guys who say, regardless of the issue, "I could do it..." or, "That never happened to me....," so, therefore, EVERYONE should have to do it, or be able to do it.

It all comes down to luck, and some people are just not as lucky as you are, as I say above about the guy in the fire building on the wrong channel.

And because these guys avoid a problem, doesn't mean that the system should be made more complicated than it has to. The fact that JC has all these frequencies, SPECIFICALLY designated based on the TYPE of run a company is on (and not on immediate tactical needs), and having four firemen changing radio frequencies on each run, is really ludicrous....not to mention dangerous....especially when it's totally unnecessary.
 
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