Computer Aided Dispatch Question

[BlueMoon2]

I am a long time firefighter and I've always wondered about something and I am wondering if anyone that knows the answer can help me out. How do chief officers and emergency planners determine who is due and how much is due to any given address? There must be software to determine closest unit to send right? How does that work?

I know that when a person calls 9-1-1, the call taker asks for the address of the emergency and the nature of the emergency and that determines a lot of who is going and how much of it is going. But all of that has to be pre-determined right? How?? I'd love to know the technical side of it.

I've heard of ARC GIS mapping and I'm thinking that might have something to do with it. Can anyone explain this to me? One of the former fire chiefs told me that the ESN (Emergency Service Number) is also involved in it?? I don't know.

 

[fyrfyter33]

Where you are talking about, has a lot to do with it.

State, county and area of the country, as well as technology in place.

Then you add in what the department thinks is necessary, local policies and capabilities as well as population demographics and community demographics.

For years we had to ask for specific units. Then our CAD did run cards. No we are upgrading the CAD to automatically determine closest fire units based on who is in/out of service.

I suggest you ask your Chief officers. One of them has to know. It varies widely depending upon where you are.

 

[CapStar362]

several agencies in Atlanta area ( Clayton, Fayette and many more ) have automatic CAD systems that knows where every unit is, whether its in service or not, call response time and if extra units are needed based on the dispatchers input.


i cannot remember who it is agency wise, but one high rate agency in the Atlanta area even has Google Traffic data and GA-DOT loaded into their CAD. and it will adjust calls based on that info.


but your best advice is to check with the IT Guys of your Department or someone who is fluent in that setup. like FF33 said.

 

[QDP2012]

...How do chief officers and emergency planners determine who is due and how much is due to any given address?

Regarding the Charlottesville/Albemarle area...

Pre-1990's, it was simply a mutual-aid agreement between stations to help when called, and each station would handle the calls based upon its own protocols.
In the late-1980's and early 1990's, as the CECC was being assigned rescue-dispatch duties in addition to PD-dispatch duties, the JCFRA members and UVA-OMD helped CECC establish protocols for multi-agency rescue/medical-dispatch (in addition to any national standards that existed). A similar process for the fire-protocols happened when CECC was assigned fire-dispatch duties years later as they built and moved into their Ivy Rd building.

Regardless of incident-location, there is a standard protocol for a reduced-structure, another protocol for a commercial-structure fire, another for a special-rescue in a confined space, etc., with regards to what types of apparatus should go and how many should go. These protocols existed before computerized-GIS systems were used, though they were likely updated as GIS was implemented.

Then based upon incident-location, and mutual-aid agreements, the nearest available agencies will be assigned to the call. This would be true even if the dispatch center used punch-clocks and flip-charts. Fortunately, their GIS systems handle the heavy-lifting. Based upon the administrative protocols established by the chiefs, OMD(s), and others, CECC's IT staff make sure the GIS systems behave accordingly.

So far, the dispatch protocols seem not to be based upon apparatus GPS-location, but simply upon incident-location, and nearby fire/rescue station locations, or police-sector assignments. This is why sometimes you hear CECC PD-dispatchers asking "is there an officer closer who can back-up unit ##?" It seems that even if they have a constant GPS-fix on every officer, they dispatch by sector-assignment, not GPS-location.

...There must be software to determine closest unit to send right? How does that work?

As was mentioned in the above posts, only CECC staff can answer specific questions about their software.

I know that when a person calls 9-1-1, the call taker asks for the address of the emergency and the nature of the emergency and that determines a lot of who is going and how much of it is going. But all of that has to be pre-determined right? How?? I'd love to know the technical side of it.

The call-takers ask for the address of the incident because it might not be the same as the ANI/ALI address from the caller's phone; and to help identify any prank/bogus calls. The incident-location and incident-type and incident-severity all factor into the response-level that is assigned. As mentioned above, the set of questions that the call-taker asks has been established as a protocol by the chiefs/OMD/managers, etc. Those questions are put into the software, so that the call-taker can type the answers into the computer, and thereby share them with the related dispatcher(s). The response-protocols sets agreed to by the chiefs/OMD/managers, etc. are also programmed into the software, so that when a certain type of incident is created in the system, then the correct response is automatically assigned.

Basically, the software system is a big database, that handles the GIS/tax-map location information, the call-type/response-type information, the available-apparatus/personnel information, and lets the dispatcher build an incident (like a trouble-ticket in a customer-service center), for which the software then "suggests" an appropriate response. The system also allows dispatchers to log events, like "time in custody", "time of birth/death", "time of fire-contained", etc. (No more old punch-clock on cards.)

I've heard of ARC GIS mapping and I'm thinking that might have something to do with it. Can anyone explain this to me?

Albemarle County uses a GIS system for more than just dispatching. You can see the page at AC:GISWeb Charlottesville has a similar site at Charlottesville GISWeb. I don't know what GIS software is doing the work.

One of the former fire chiefs told me that the ESN (Emergency Service Number) is also involved in it??

You can read more about PSAPs and ESNs at Wikipedia:Enhanced_9-1-1#Location.

Basically, any enhanced-911 phone system across the nation is programmed to know which PSAP should handle calls when someone dials 911, or #77, or whatever ESN is active in the area, and directs the caller's call to the appropriate 911-center/SO/PD/ etc. Initially, this was configured only for landline phones. But, as cell phones became more common, the phone companies had to adjust so that cell-phone calls to 911 would also route correctly. This took a bit more work, and even now can sometimes connect to the wrong PSAP, but it is much better now than before. For people using VoIP services, like Vonage, there is even another layer of complexity. The Vonage:911 page explains more about their way of handling that.


Hope this helps,

 

[CapStar362]

You can read more about PSAPs and ESNs at Wikipedia:Enhanced_9-1-1#Location.

Basically, any enhanced-911 phone system across the nation is programmed to know which PSAP should handle calls when someone dials 911, or #77, or whatever ESN is active in the area, and directs the caller's call to the appropriate 911-center/SO/PD/ etc. Initially, this was configured only for landline phones. But, as cell phones became more common, the phone companies had to adjust so that cell-phone calls to 911 would also route correctly. This took a bit more work, and even now can sometimes connect to the wrong PSAP, but it is much better now than before.

Hope this helps,

funny you mention this about mobile lines.

the problem they are having is if a tower resides in another jurisdiction, given that towers have a 5-10 mile range, a tower could easily be sitting in another county. the time needed in certain emergencies, the tower does not have the time to resolve the location of the caller and route the proper PSAP/ESN, with a rough guess. while a huge problem when mobile phones first came about. it has improved ( see below )

rather than take that time, the best thing to do, is to state to the dispatcher that you are on a mobile phone and what county you are in as the FIRST thing.

most people will not do this in a "panic" call. its just blurting out i need help ..... etc etc.


either way, new technologies have sped up location resolving to aid this, as you said.

one problem people seem to be stuck on is this:

the same system that uses radio telemetry: AKA Radio Pinging or Range Finding, has been in place since 1996 and actually been in use since WW-II Literally as a method.

media outlets and fear monglers think that just because this system is from 1996, it takes too long.

WRONG, if a call is pinpointed it takes literally no more than 15 seconds to narrow down a area of no more than 1000 sq feet to pin-point you.

that is reliant upon how many towers can see your phone.

2 towers will resolve a area down to accuracy of within 1300 feet

3 Towers, that number is now 256 Feet

4 Towers = 35 feet

Past 4 towers is rare

5 towers = 8.3 feet

6 Towers = 24 inches

7 or more 3.5 inches

this is all Radio Triangulation.

ive seen a dispatcher pinpoint a phone live. as a demonstration when i was in CAP just after i left The Marines. i was instructing some cadets from my old squadron GA116 , and we went to the PD Station to show them how CAD, E911 and Dispatchers operate.

the PTC ( Peachtree City ) Police Chief got into a car with a officer, told the dispatcher to answer the alternate line and play along.


he called the number 5 minutes later - 911 what is your emergency

yes, i'm in the trunk of a car, i have been kidnapped. i am on a mobile phone. PLEASE HELP

okay sir, please stay with me, are you moving or stopped?

i'm moving, i hear the road and feel bumps and turns

okay sir, please hold on.


she looked at 1 monitor that had the call active and then clicked a button - Trace and Locate

1 monitor traced the call and the line owner information. it showed the Chief's Name, number, address, ESN of the phone and carrier it was on.

another monitor a map showed up. a large translucent blue circle appeared and began to shrink.

it kept shrinking, more , more , more. finally that circle stopped and a square appeared with the title:

"Locked"

the area was no bigger than a 250 foot circle on Highway 74 moving northbound towards Highway 54, 12 seconds had elapsed from the moment she started the locate till it locked the phone.


this is how fast a cell phone can be located.

much faster than it used to be, and damn sure faster than the media says it is and why the dispatcher stays on the phone with a caller.

the dispatcher stays with the caller to CALM THEM, not distract them from the time it takes to trace them.

Clark Howard is one person who was spreading that fear, and i had a few words with him via email and phone.

he apologized to me and said that is what was presented to him as a story. and a replied, maybe you should take a tour and watch it yourself before spreading lies.

 

[N9JIG]

In the Chicago suburban area we had numerous small fire departments and an intricate mutual aid system called MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System). Using "Box Cards" each agency devised for their Still Districts the Mutual Aid dispatcher would be able to see who was due on each alarm. If a rig was unavailable or already committed to the call a replacement would be drawn from the next level up.

The Still alarm level was the standard response from the agency, perhaps including a neighboring agency under Auto Aid agreements. The First Alarm and up drew equipment from an expanding distance around so as not to strip the area of resources for additional calls. Rigs could be sent to the scene or Change of Quarters.

It all works well for incidents, large and small. It is very orderly and adaptable. It has since been adopted statewide and by several neighboring states. Most towns had separate cards for mass casualty and Haz-Mat incidents as well.

The system predated NIMS by decades and already conformed to most of the protocols, only requiring minor tweaking to comply once these became the norm. NIMS training was easier for people familiar with MABAS as it all pretty much followed what they had already been doing for years.

Originally the Box Cards were just that, uniformly formatted 5x7 cards that the agency printed up and sent out to each agency on their cards. This way an agency could see when they would be due, and if it sounded like it was going to get worse they could plan on going when called. It also eliminated the self-dispatch of mutual aid units, a big problem...

The police departments in the Chicago area built a very similar system for large incidents and that too has been very successful.

As CAD systems were developed for the fire industry they integrated these responses. Nowadays the Box Cards are virtual but the protocol remains.

As for determining the proper responses that is more an art than a science. Years of experience, knowledge of the community and training go into determining that the normal response for a specific incident will be at a particular level. Of course once the incident actually occurs the command officers can (and usually do) alter the responses to fit the particular need. For example, if a fire is further away from the water system they may decide to add a couple tenders to tank water around ("Tenders" have wheels, "Tankers" have wings...).

 

[fyrfyter33]

If tankers have wings, then tenders can't tank water around, they have to tender it!