Charlotte Fire questions

[phillydjdan]

Hey folks, planning a trip to Charlotte in the near future and need some help figuring out some things. First of all, can someone tell me which system fire actually uses? It looks like there is the Charlotte/Meck analog SmartZone system as well as the Charlotte USAI P25 system in use. Which is primary? Also, can someone explain to me how their fire communications work? What I mean is, once a call is dispatched, which channel(s) do they use for response/fireground operations? When programming a scanner (or Unication G5), which channels should I keep an ear on and which are largely unused? Thanks in advance for the insight!

 

[trumpetman]

All communications are on the 2D0 P25 system. Dispatches are done by a computerized voice on the "Alarm" channel unless it's manual Monday and then you will hear human voices. Channels are assigned upon dispatch. Zone 1 Bravo-Lima are the only ones to worry about listening to. Juliet is reserved for airport ops, Kilo & Conference are encrypted. Zone 2 channels are for events/overflow, I wouldn't bother loading them unless you have room. Same for the zone 5 training channels. All EMS calls in the city are on Meck Ops 3 and for large events like fires, MCIs, etc medical command will sometime use the next available odd ops channels (5, 7, etc).

 

[phillydjdan]

Perfect, thank you!