First of all, big thanks to GlacierClipper for assembling original BFD callsign list in 2004. I couldn't have put this together without you.
Fire Frequencies: All of these frequencies are the result of repeaters that are connected by microwave link. (i believe)
Fire 1 (154.4300) - All dispatch for all of Whatcom County happens on this channel and is only used by dispatch.
Fire 2 (154.2200) - All districts east of the Guide Meridian use this frequency for general communications.
Fire 3 (154.3250) - General communications channel for the Bellingham Fire Department
Fire 5 (153.6050) - General communications for all fire districts west of the Guide Meridian.
I'm not really sure if there is a Fire 4, there may be, but i've never heard it used.
So, if you hear a call come over Fire 1, the dispatcher will say "Aid 81 and Medic 4, standby for tones." You will then hear a series of tones that activate the pagers of those units being dispatched. Then the dispatcher will continue with something like this. "Aid 81 and Medic 4, an aid call at (such and such an adress) for (such and such a health problem)" They will then repeat the address and say "map page (letter+number) which indicates a page in the totem maps book. They will then say "respond on fire (2, 3 or 4)" That is important, because it effectively transfers all communications about that call to whatever Fire frequency was named. The only people you will ever hear on Fire 1 are dispatchers. If you want to continue to listen to communications about a specific call, you'll have to retune your scanner to the Fire frequency named in the original dispatch.
And now you know how the fire department knows to come to you when you're having problems.
Onward!
We'll start with Bellingham Fire and continue onto other unit callsigns from there.
Prospect: Fire and Medical Dispatch for all of Whatcom County. Located inside of BFD Station 1. It's named Prospect because it used to be located on Prospect St in downtown Bellingham. The name stuck. Police dispatch is totally separate and happens in a way that I do not understand at the moment.
Chief 1 - Bellingham Fire Chief. (I heard him on the radio for the first time the other day, going to a regular call. Must have gotten bored)
Battalion 1 - On duty operations Battalion Chief
Engines 1-6 - Front line engine companies
Ladder 3 - Front line ladder truck
Ladder 42 - Reserve ladder truck
Rescue 3 - Specialized rescue vehicle assigned with Ladder 3
Haz Mat 99 - A large semi tractor/trailer combination unit that carries specialized hazardous materials mitigation equipment for the Whatcom County Specialized Emergency Response Team.
Haz Mat 98 - A smaller version of the unit above. A F450 chassis with a custom box on the back housed at Station 6.
Aid 1-6: Aid ambulances cross manned with their respective engine numbers. Exception is Medic 502, which functions as a front line aid unit and reserve medic unit at the same time.
Medic 1-2 - Medic units stationed at Bellingham Station One.
Medic 3 - Medic unit stationed north of Ferndale at Grandview Rd
Medic 4 - Medic unit stationed on E. Smith Rd.
Medic 502 - Medic Unit staffed by Engine 5 crew on Northwest Rd in Bellingham. When this unit is dispatched, all other Medic Units and EMS 6 are away on other calls
EMS 6 (red pickup truck) - On duty shift Medic Captain. Responds to major calls in the city of bellingham as well as in whatcom county. (i.e. CPR in progress, Major car accidents, etc).
EMS 102 - Medic 1 Division Chief
EMS 103 - Medic 1 Training Captain (I've also heard him called Training 103)
EMS 109 - Medical Program Director (If he gets paged to a call, the world is ending somewhere in the county)
Med 6: St. Joes Hospital
And now moving to what unit numbers I know in the county. If anybody else can fill in the gaps, that would be awesome. All units in the county have double digit numbers like Aid 71 and Engine 81. All unit numbers typically have an engine and aid unit assigned to them. For example, there is an Engine 81 and an Aid 81, both respond from the same station. In the outlying districts that are far away from water, there are units called Tenders. They are essentially water transport There are a few places, like District 1 and 2 that have boats, referred to as marine units, that will be launched in the event of a water rescue.
10's - District 4. Includes the areas of the Britain Rd, and a portion of the Mt. Baker Highway. Directly adjacent to the east of Bellingham city limits
20's - District 2, south lake whatcom (Uses Fire 5 for general communications)
30's belong to District 8, which operates just outside of Bellingham City limits near BTC.
40's belong to District 7, which covers the ferndale area.
50's - District 5, Pt. Roberts.
60's - North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and District 7
70's - North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and Lynden Fire Department. Aid, Engine, and Rescue 75 are part of city of Lynden Fire. Lynden Fire Department will often be referred to as 'liberty' over the air. Rescue 75 is an ambulance with a firetruck chassis and an ambulance box. Used to be A75
80's - District 1 - Everson, Nooksack, Nugents Corner. (A81, E81, A82, E82) I believe that 84, 85 and 86 are used by the Fire District that covers wickersham and acme. District 19?
90's - District 14 - Sumas, Kendal, Mt. Baker Ski Area (and the area in between)
(Excludes Hazmat 98 and 99, which are operated by the city of Bellingham)
Now some special use units that are one of a kind:
Air 43 - Essentially a giant air compressor on the back of a truck designed to refill air bottles at the scene of a fire. (Used to be Air 1)
Rehab 43 - I heard this unit's callsign today for the first time. I believe this a bus converted into a supply unit. It's sorta the water cooler for during and after a fire.
Reposted from Glacier Clipper's Original Post:
In Route / Responding - Beginning to drive to incident location.
See also: Response modes: Code Green, Yellow, Red
On Scene - Announcing arrival at incident scene.
In Quarters - Announcing arrival to regular station.
Second Call - Unit is available but busy with training or other task that may delay response. Request for the next closest unit to be dispatched if an incident occurs.
First Call - Unit is available again for normal response.
Out of Service - Not available for reponse. Do not dspatch unit.
Special Request - Request dispatch of a specific unit to respond to the incident.
Add - Request dispatch of a specific type of unit to respond to the incident. Exact unit determined by CAD to be the next closest available unit of requested type.
Balance of Alarm for... - Request dispatch to upgrade the call type and add appropriate units to bring total resources up to the level for the new call type.
Second Alarm - Request dispatch to upgrade the call severity and add a pre determined number of unlike units to the incident. (about twice as many units as the initial alarm.)
Well thats it for now, I"ll add more later as I think of it.
Thanks,
JER
Fire Frequencies: All of these frequencies are the result of repeaters that are connected by microwave link. (i believe)
Fire 1 (154.4300) - All dispatch for all of Whatcom County happens on this channel and is only used by dispatch.
Fire 2 (154.2200) - All districts east of the Guide Meridian use this frequency for general communications.
Fire 3 (154.3250) - General communications channel for the Bellingham Fire Department
Fire 5 (153.6050) - General communications for all fire districts west of the Guide Meridian.
I'm not really sure if there is a Fire 4, there may be, but i've never heard it used.
So, if you hear a call come over Fire 1, the dispatcher will say "Aid 81 and Medic 4, standby for tones." You will then hear a series of tones that activate the pagers of those units being dispatched. Then the dispatcher will continue with something like this. "Aid 81 and Medic 4, an aid call at (such and such an adress) for (such and such a health problem)" They will then repeat the address and say "map page (letter+number) which indicates a page in the totem maps book. They will then say "respond on fire (2, 3 or 4)" That is important, because it effectively transfers all communications about that call to whatever Fire frequency was named. The only people you will ever hear on Fire 1 are dispatchers. If you want to continue to listen to communications about a specific call, you'll have to retune your scanner to the Fire frequency named in the original dispatch.
And now you know how the fire department knows to come to you when you're having problems.
Onward!
We'll start with Bellingham Fire and continue onto other unit callsigns from there.
Prospect: Fire and Medical Dispatch for all of Whatcom County. Located inside of BFD Station 1. It's named Prospect because it used to be located on Prospect St in downtown Bellingham. The name stuck. Police dispatch is totally separate and happens in a way that I do not understand at the moment.
Chief 1 - Bellingham Fire Chief. (I heard him on the radio for the first time the other day, going to a regular call. Must have gotten bored)
Battalion 1 - On duty operations Battalion Chief
Engines 1-6 - Front line engine companies
Ladder 3 - Front line ladder truck
Ladder 42 - Reserve ladder truck
Rescue 3 - Specialized rescue vehicle assigned with Ladder 3
Haz Mat 99 - A large semi tractor/trailer combination unit that carries specialized hazardous materials mitigation equipment for the Whatcom County Specialized Emergency Response Team.
Haz Mat 98 - A smaller version of the unit above. A F450 chassis with a custom box on the back housed at Station 6.
Aid 1-6: Aid ambulances cross manned with their respective engine numbers. Exception is Medic 502, which functions as a front line aid unit and reserve medic unit at the same time.
Medic 1-2 - Medic units stationed at Bellingham Station One.
Medic 3 - Medic unit stationed north of Ferndale at Grandview Rd
Medic 4 - Medic unit stationed on E. Smith Rd.
Medic 502 - Medic Unit staffed by Engine 5 crew on Northwest Rd in Bellingham. When this unit is dispatched, all other Medic Units and EMS 6 are away on other calls
EMS 6 (red pickup truck) - On duty shift Medic Captain. Responds to major calls in the city of bellingham as well as in whatcom county. (i.e. CPR in progress, Major car accidents, etc).
EMS 102 - Medic 1 Division Chief
EMS 103 - Medic 1 Training Captain (I've also heard him called Training 103)
EMS 109 - Medical Program Director (If he gets paged to a call, the world is ending somewhere in the county)
Med 6: St. Joes Hospital
And now moving to what unit numbers I know in the county. If anybody else can fill in the gaps, that would be awesome. All units in the county have double digit numbers like Aid 71 and Engine 81. All unit numbers typically have an engine and aid unit assigned to them. For example, there is an Engine 81 and an Aid 81, both respond from the same station. In the outlying districts that are far away from water, there are units called Tenders. They are essentially water transport There are a few places, like District 1 and 2 that have boats, referred to as marine units, that will be launched in the event of a water rescue.
10's - District 4. Includes the areas of the Britain Rd, and a portion of the Mt. Baker Highway. Directly adjacent to the east of Bellingham city limits
20's - District 2, south lake whatcom (Uses Fire 5 for general communications)
30's belong to District 8, which operates just outside of Bellingham City limits near BTC.
40's belong to District 7, which covers the ferndale area.
50's - District 5, Pt. Roberts.
60's - North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and District 7
70's - North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and Lynden Fire Department. Aid, Engine, and Rescue 75 are part of city of Lynden Fire. Lynden Fire Department will often be referred to as 'liberty' over the air. Rescue 75 is an ambulance with a firetruck chassis and an ambulance box. Used to be A75
80's - District 1 - Everson, Nooksack, Nugents Corner. (A81, E81, A82, E82) I believe that 84, 85 and 86 are used by the Fire District that covers wickersham and acme. District 19?
90's - District 14 - Sumas, Kendal, Mt. Baker Ski Area (and the area in between)
(Excludes Hazmat 98 and 99, which are operated by the city of Bellingham)
Now some special use units that are one of a kind:
Air 43 - Essentially a giant air compressor on the back of a truck designed to refill air bottles at the scene of a fire. (Used to be Air 1)
Rehab 43 - I heard this unit's callsign today for the first time. I believe this a bus converted into a supply unit. It's sorta the water cooler for during and after a fire.
Reposted from Glacier Clipper's Original Post:
In Route / Responding - Beginning to drive to incident location.
See also: Response modes: Code Green, Yellow, Red
On Scene - Announcing arrival at incident scene.
In Quarters - Announcing arrival to regular station.
Second Call - Unit is available but busy with training or other task that may delay response. Request for the next closest unit to be dispatched if an incident occurs.
First Call - Unit is available again for normal response.
Out of Service - Not available for reponse. Do not dspatch unit.
Special Request - Request dispatch of a specific unit to respond to the incident.
Add - Request dispatch of a specific type of unit to respond to the incident. Exact unit determined by CAD to be the next closest available unit of requested type.
Balance of Alarm for... - Request dispatch to upgrade the call type and add appropriate units to bring total resources up to the level for the new call type.
Second Alarm - Request dispatch to upgrade the call severity and add a pre determined number of unlike units to the incident. (about twice as many units as the initial alarm.)
Well thats it for now, I"ll add more later as I think of it.
Thanks,
JER
