The county firegrounds are assigned when requested by an Incident Commander. They are assigned geographically based on the repeater coverage area. The odd channel number is the repeater channel and the even channel number is the talkaround mode of that repeater. The repeater is used for initial communications and the talkaround is used for on scene communications. Some departments will use a talkaround channel that is not associated with a repeater in their area as their "Interior" fireground channel. These are often not coordinated with the 911 center since the communications are fairly localized. The county has 2 newer "Tactical" fireground channels that can be requested for this type of "Interior" communications instead, however these are rarely used.
You will often hear the dispatcher say "Use Fireground 5, 6 on the scene."
Fireground 5/6 - Illinois Mtn in Highland
Fireground 7/8 - Clove Mtn in Union Vale
Fireground 9/10 - Hosner Mtn in East Fishkill, Depot Hill in Beekman, Woody Row in Milan, Cronomer Hill in Newburgh
Fireground 11/12 - Observatory Hill in Pawling, Woody Row in Milan
Fireground 13/14 - Silver Mtn in Millerton
Tactical A & Tactical B are mobile/portable only
That being said, many departments use their own frequencies for fireground communications and never mention this on the air.
