Boston Fire auto dispatcher curiosity questions

[r7]

After listening to Boston Fire daily for a couple of years, I'm still scratching my head about the following things heard on the auto dispatch channel (channel 7, formerly channel 5), and I'm hoping perhaps those more knowledgeable than me may be able to feed my curiosity:

1. Sometimes a dispatch will include a series of numbers and letters (some of which I believe to consistently be "BSTN") after the address, and the last few characters are repeated twice. (Example: Engine 1, a central station alarm, 123 Main Street JTBSTN, 201, 201). What do these codes represent?

2. Sometimes a dispatch will be preceded by a series of beeping tones and will read as an "Emergency Response" to a fire unit and "FAO dispatch", followed by the address. (Example: "Emergency response: Engine 1, FAO dispatch, 123 Main Street.") What does this type of dispatch represent, vs. a standard call type? (And why does it always involve FAO dispatch?)

3. This is my OCD/perfectionism showing, but there are several abbreviations that are always spelled out by the auto dispatcher, presumably based on how they were initially inputted into the system (e.g., "N R" instead of "near", "W B" instead of "westbound", and even saying the word "comma" during street box activation dispatches). I heard the same thing when I spent several months in San Diego a few years ago. Does BFD have any type of contract with the software company to periodically improve the AI of the auto dispatcher? Or do the fire companies just get used to hearing and deciphering these on the fly?

 

[garys]

As I understand it the allocution system is actually a text to speech system not native to the computerized dispatch. The system is designed around computer dispatch to the stations, not over the air dispatch.

Stations and apparatus have computer terminals which is how they get the information. I might be wrong, but I don't think that they actually get the Channel 7 audio in the stations or on the apparatus. Fire Alarm still "taps out" boxes on Channel 1 and the the Operators use live audio on that channel as well as the others.

The original plan was to stop dispatching on Channel 7 but a previous fire commissioner overruled that decision and this system was implemented.

FAO stands for "Fire Alarm Office" which is where dispatch is located.

Member "Boston S-5" is the definitive authority on how the Fire Alarm Office and may pop in with more detail and corrections to anything I got wrong.

 

[fwfdengine2]

The stations get the audio over the internet with the Purvis fire station alerting system. Not sure if it plays through the house or just in the watch room.

 

[Citywide173]

What you hear as "JPBSTN" or "HPBSTN" are literal text to speech from the Hexagon CAD system. It is the section of the city-JamaicaPlain, Hyde Park, etc. Some entries have the entire section spelled out and others do not-it's all dependent on how it was entered in Hexagon, not any AI on the voice allocution side.

FAO Dispatches are most commonly incidents that the company on-sited, or of a nature that didn't come through the 9-1-1 system such as company training.

As far as your 3rd point, see my first paragraph.

 

[BFD-S5]

After listening to Boston Fire daily for a couple of years, I'm still scratching my head about the following things heard on the auto dispatch channel (channel 7, formerly channel 5), and I'm hoping perhaps those more knowledgeable than me may be able to feed my curiosity:

1. Sometimes a dispatch will include a series of numbers and letters (some of which I believe to consistently be "BSTN") after the address, and the last few characters are repeated twice. (Example: Engine 1, a central station alarm, 123 Main Street JTBSTN, 201, 201). What do these codes represent?

2. Sometimes a dispatch will be preceded by a series of beeping tones and will read as an "Emergency Response" to a fire unit and "FAO dispatch", followed by the address. (Example: "Emergency response: Engine 1, FAO dispatch, 123 Main Street.") What does this type of dispatch represent, vs. a standard call type? (And why does it always involve FAO dispatch?)

3. This is my OCD/perfectionism showing, but there are several abbreviations that are always spelled out by the auto dispatcher, presumably based on how they were initially inputted into the system (e.g., "N R" instead of "near", "W B" instead of "westbound", and even saying the word "comma" during street box activation dispatches). I heard the same thing when I spent several months in San Diego a few years ago. Does BFD have any type of contract with the software company to periodically improve the AI of the auto dispatcher? Or do the fire companies just get used to hearing and deciphering these on the fly?

1. Some dispatchers like to include an apartment number on the address line. This confuses Purvis.

2. FAO dispatch is an incident that that just doesnt fit into a particular type code. Sometimes used to service calls or training

3. Freeform data on the address line will confuse the text to speech editor. We can edit this inhouse but there are too many variables

Joe

 

[BFD-S5]

As I understand it the allocution system is actually a text to speech system not native to the computerized dispatch. The system is designed around computer dispatch to the stations, not over the air dispatch.

Stations and apparatus have computer terminals which is how they get the information. I might be wrong, but I don't think that they actually get the Channel 7 audio in the stations or on the apparatus. Fire Alarm still "taps out" boxes on Channel 1 and the the Operators use live audio on that channel as well as the others.

The original plan was to stop dispatching on Channel 7 but a previous fire commissioner overruled that decision and this system was implemented.

FAO stands for "Fire Alarm Office" which is where dispatch is located.

Member "Boston S-5" is the definitive authority on how the Fire Alarm Office and may pop in with more detail and corrections to anything I got wrong.

The audio heard in stations is the same as transmitted on the Alert talkgroups. Purvis combines the invidual dispatch messages for an incident into a single messages that is the transmitted on Channel 7

There was no plan to stop dispatches on channel 7 but there was one to stop striking boxes on channel 1

Joe

 

[BFD-S5]

The stations get the audio over the internet with the Purvis fire station alerting system. Not sure if it plays through the house or just in the watch room.

Channel 7 plays throughout the house

 

[garys]

Ahhh, that was the source of my confusion. Should have checked with you first!

Where I'm living now all of the fire systems use allocation. There seem to be a couple of different vendors used as there are different female voices. None of them are particularly human like.

The audio heard in stations is the same as transmitted on the Alert talkgroups. Purvis combines the invidual dispatch messages for an incident into a single messages that is the transmitted on Channel 7

There was no plan to stop dispatches on channel 7 but there was one to stop striking boxes on channel 1

Joe

 

[r7]

1. Some dispatchers like to include an apartment number on the address line. This confuses Purvis.

2. FAO dispatch is an incident that that just doesnt fit into a particular type code. Sometimes used to service calls or training

3. Freeform data on the address line will confuse the text to speech editor. We can edit this inhouse but there are too many variables

Joe

Right on, thanks Joe

 

[r7]

What you hear as "JPBSTN" or "HPBSTN" are literal text to speech from the Hexagon CAD system. It is the section of the city-JamaicaPlain, Hyde Park, etc. Some entries have the entire section spelled out and others do not-it's all dependent on how it was entered in Hexagon, not any AI on the voice allocution side.

FAO Dispatches are most commonly incidents that the company on-sited, or of a nature that didn't come through the 9-1-1 system such as company training.

As far as your 3rd point, see my first paragraph.

Ah that makes total sense, thanks for the insight!