AA Fire on Condition Red

[n3bxv]

Anne Arundel Fire Alarm just announced "Condition Red". Lots of Calls this afternoon/evening.

Chuck

 

[Thunderbolt]

What is their meaning of "Condition Red?"

 

[n3bxv]

As I understand it -- Quoted from http://www.radioreference.com/modul...p;file=viewtopic&t=8111&highlight=red

Fire Alarm goes on condition yellow when there is a failure in the CAD system.

When F/A goe on yellow the following is supposed to happen.

All units that are on the air (status 6) are to return to quarters.

All status changes are to be given verbally.

All base sets are to be left open.

They do this be able to easily track all units if CAD goes down and there is no record of current unit status. All 4 shifts of Fire Alarm are drilled monthly on condition yellow for a period of time during one shift. So you at least here it 4 times a month. If it happens more than that they have had software problems.

They will also go on condtion red in extreme cases. If the call volumn is extremly heavy or CAD or radio failures, they will call units in out of the field to assist them in dispatch duties.

Mike

I would suspect it is due to heavy call volume today.

 

[ericcarlson]

It's probably similar to near-by Montgomery County, Maryland. In Mo. Co. it means the Emergency Communications Center is experiencing very high call volume and/or several working incidents on the fireground channels. More specifically, under "condition red" routine radio traffic is not permitted (e.g., notifying the local utility of wires down, etc.), including routine hospital notifications. In my experience, this has also meant that they were too busy to even pickup the direct line from the police dispatchers. "Condition red" is rare, but usually happens a few times a year during bad thunderstorms.

In Mo. Co. the police and fire/EMS dispatchers are separate but located in the same building. Police dispatchers generally answer 911 calls and transfer them if they're fire/EMS-related. If police dispatchers are busy, then the fire/EMS dispatchers will handle 911 overflow.

-Eric