GATTRS in Travis, Bastrop, and Williamson Counties

[garys]

Thanks, that all makes sense based on what I'm hearing of AFD and Wilco Fire dispatch. This morning it was an AFD engine and CP unit of some sort.

My further understanding is that Georgetown FD has it's own ambulances and does it's own transports outside of Wilco EMS. I was talking to a a couple of Georgetown firefighters about a month ago and they told me that RR is sending a bunch of providers to paramedic school with the plan to be to start up their own ambulance service within the FD.

The off duty officer thing makes sense. I didn't get close enough to see if those were magnetic signs or something similar. There were a variety of vehicles including one that was a black & white Explorer that was likely a former agency vehicle.

Austin/Travis County has a signed Auto-Aid agreement in place with most Travis county fire agencies. Pflugerville and Manor are notable exceptions. Some Williamson County agencies are also now onboard with this agreement, notably Cedar Park and Leander as you heard. Round Rock was initially onboard but they left after a few months due to inequitable call distribution from the agreement.

The vehicles are you are seeing are most likely privately owned vehicles, owned by TCOLE certified law enforcement officers who are doing off duty employment for the construction companies.

 

[garys]

I have to finish building out my Burnet county sites. Since I seem to be staying east of I-35 for the most part, I don't hear them too much. OTOH, I hear Bastrop a lot and will program the LCRA P-25 sites for Hayes County as well.

I have to take my wife down to Buc-ees in Bastrop sometime in the next few days, so I might hear something interesting.

BTW, regarding Burnet radio traffic. I understand the City of Burnet has just signed an interlocal agreement with the City of Marble Falls to move their dispatch from Burnet County SO to Marble Falls PD/Comm. Supposed to go into effect in March 2024. City of Burnet PD/FD/EMS only moving per the newspaper article I saw.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

BTW, regarding Burnet radio traffic. I understand the City of Burnet has just signed an interlocal agreement with the City of Marble Falls to move their dispatch from Burnet County SO to Marble Falls PD/Comm. Supposed to go into effect in March 2024. City of Burnet PD/FD/EMS only moving per the newspaper article I saw.

From a monitoring perspective that won't really change anything though as Marble Falls uses a core connected MCC7500 console and only utilizes control stations (conventional resources) to access the system in the result of a leased circuit and microwave failure. Now if they were still dispatching from their old location down town using the old MCC5500 (which utilized those consolletes) some of that traffic would push over to Mustang.

 

[pbeezy]

Heard some radio checks on TG 1027, APD Emergency. Not one I see come up too often. Anyone have any scoop on what or why they might be testing?

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Heard some radio checks on TG 1027, APD Emergency. Not one I see come up too often. Anyone have any scoop on what or why they might be testing?

Most likely verifying alerting is displaying correctly on a console.

 

[garys]

I have to add that in addition to "POLICE" vehicles at construction sites, there is a civil engineering firm named "PULICE." Which just added to my confusion because some of their truck have amber/blue LED lights.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I have to add that in addition to "POLICE" vehicles at construction sites, there is a civil engineering firm named "PULICE." Which just added to my confusion because some of their truck have amber/blue LED lights.

About 10 years ago construction vehicles were officially given the okay to run blue to match TxDOT vehicles. Of course, at this time TxDOT began changing all the wing lights out on their light bars to all amber because of a multitude of call in complaints about people thinking they TxDOT vehicles were police vehicles.

Officially, forward facing red (can be stead burning) is what designates an emergency vehicle in Texas but the light pre-emption systems TxDOT uses isn't keyed off of red.

 

[garys]

Back in the early 1980s on my first or second visit someone in EMS explained that warning light regulations were pretty loose. Ambulances had blue, red, and white lights. Austin EMS had all of that as well as two siren heads and four speakers on the front bumper.

He also said that legally emergency vehicles did not have to stop a red lights or stop signs. Yikes.

As to the rest the amber/blue lights taking some getting used.

Last non radio thing. When did DPS go to white hood only and the rest black? I was over on E. Koening in Austin which seems to be where their central maintenance is. Lots of new Tahoes sitting their waiting for equipment. Some Game Warden vehicles as well.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Back in the early 1980s on my first or second visit someone in EMS explained that warning light regulations were pretty loose. Ambulances had blue, red, and white lights. Austin EMS had all of that as well as two siren heads and four speakers on the front bumper.

He also said that legally emergency vehicles did not have to stop a red lights or stop signs. Yikes.

As to the rest the amber/blue lights taking some getting used.

Last non radio thing. When did DPS go to white hood only and the rest black? I was over on E. Koening in Austin which seems to be where their central maintenance is. Lots of new Tahoes sitting their waiting for equipment. Some Game Warden vehicles as well.

Cheaper to purchase is my guess since especially GM has an entire line in the paint booth dedicated to just white full sized SUVs in Arlington. Take the hood off, spray it white...put it back on the truck. No masking or anything like you would have to do to have a white roof. I seem to remember most of the sedans having a white hood/trunk with the rest being black...probably made the decision to not paint the liftgate white for some reason on the SUVs. Same reason USFS went away from puke green and just to white on their trucks.

 

[KTR722]

The origins of DPS running a white hood, roof and trunk (with black sides) comes from the 1960s when DPS used that scheme with the thought that the sunlight would reflect off the top and thus keep the engine and passenger compartments cooler in the summertime. Vehicles back then did not have air conditioning so it was somewhat practical.

The special paint job does add up significantly to the purchase price of every vehicle and the Legislature has attempted a few times (I specifically remember one in the late 1990s) to make DPS go to either a full white or full black paint job.

 

[Wes]

Back to radio traffic. I noticed a lot of inter agency fire response. There was a fire somewhere in AFD's primary area this morning and I heard Cedar Park and Leander dispatched to assist. CP was assigned FTAC205 which is where AFD was operating. I never heard Leander on the channel.

A sort of related question for those who might know. At a few highway construction sites I noticed vehicles marked "POLICE," but with no agency identifiers. I also didn't notice that the tags had "EXEMPT" on them, which seemed odd. I couldn't tell if these were officers personal vehicles, but did notice that they had red and blue lights.

Years ago, the construction contractors would hire officers though their agency -- APD, Travis County, et al -- and said hiring agreement included them either being able to use an official department vehicle. Not sure as to how/why the change came about, but all of the construction jobs are now being done by off duty officers using their own privately owned vehicles. It's usually very random small town officers/deputies. And all I know is that the money is good enough for most to put lights in their own vehicle along with a magnetic sign or two or in more than a few cases, for these officers to buy their own quasi official vehicle solely for these off duty construction gigs.

 

[Wes]

Austin/Travis County has a signed Auto-Aid agreement in place with most Travis county fire agencies. Pflugerville and Manor are notable exceptions. Some Williamson County agencies are also now onboard with this agreement, notably Cedar Park and Leander as you heard. Round Rock was initially onboard but they left after a few months due to inequitable call distribution from the agreement.

The vehicles are you are seeing are most likely privately owned vehicles, owned by TCOLE certified law enforcement officers who are doing off duty employment for the construction companies.

Pretty sure Pflugerville and Manor are running with AFD -- and vice versa. I know there's been some talk about a similar agreement between Austin/Travis County EMS and Williamson County EMS, but I don't know if it's ever come to fruition

 

[Wes]

I have to finish building out my Burnet county sites. Since I seem to be staying east of I-35 for the most part, I don't hear them too much. OTOH, I hear Bastrop a lot and will program the LCRA P-25 sites for Hayes County as well.

I have to take my wife down to Buc-ees in Bastrop sometime in the next few days, so I might hear something interesting.

Let me know if you have questions about the Bastrop County stuff. I might know someone who has a Bastrop County APX 4000.

 

[garys]

Thanks for the information, I was just curious.

In some areas departments are ordering all black vehicles and then using vinyl wraps for the white part and of course the graphics and lettering.

At one time Ford would offer black and white at no extra charge, but that probably changed.

The origins of DPS running a white hood, roof and trunk (with black sides) comes from the 1960s when DPS used that scheme with the thought that the sunlight would reflect off the top and thus keep the engine and passenger compartments cooler in the summertime. Vehicles back then did not have air conditioning so it was somewhat practical.

The special paint job does add up significantly to the purchase price of every vehicle and the Legislature has attempted a few times (I specifically remember one in the late 1990s) to make DPS go to either a full white or full black paint job.

 

[garys]

Just based on what I'm hearing there is a fair amount of cross city and even cross county fire and EMS response.

Bastrop is fairly simple to follow since there are only a few departments and no encryption.

Bastrop uses Acadian for their transports and Pflugerville uses Allegiance Mobile Health. I assume that they are dispatched by the respective fire departments, but does anyone know what radio systems they use for company communications?

 

[Wes]

Just based on what I'm hearing there is a fair amount of cross city and even cross county fire and EMS response.

Bastrop is fairly simple to follow since there are only a few departments and no encryption.

Bastrop uses Acadian for their transports and Pflugerville uses Allegiance Mobile Health. I assume that they are dispatched by the respective fire departments, but does anyone know what radio systems they use for company communications?

Jiminy Christmas. I can spend six hours going on about Bastrop County comms and Acadian. Acadian does have some sort of business 800 mhz radios they use for some of their ops, although it's rarely used. A lot of calls go directly to the truck's MDC. There's little rhyme or reason to Acadian's dispatch.

Acadian used to have a comm center in Austin. They no longer have a comm center in Austin as that has moved to Bastrop County's comm center. Acadian's Bastrop comm center dispatches their Bastrop units and I think the Austin units. Their Dallas dispatch center has connectivity to the Bastrop center too. (Not sure if the San Antonio dispatch center for Acadian still exists and/or has connectivity to the Bastrop center.)

There's a lot of variation in how EMS calls in Bastrop get sent out. Some go out on the radio (Bastrop MEDCOM 1 on GATRRS), some only on MDC, and there's inconsistent use of the Active 911 phone app too.

In addition to the Acadian units in Bastrop, there's also an all volunteer first responder group called Bastrop County First Responders. They operate off of MEDCOM 1 and also have their own TG on GATRRS for tac/talk. BCFR units are 2100 series. As for the Acadian units :

1. 921 - Elgin
2. 922 - Cedar Creek
3. 924 - Bastrop
4. 925 - Smithville

921 and 924 also carry whole blood. Sometimes, there's a 923 working a 12 hour schedule. Acadian will move and post units regularly. 700 series units are Acadian's Austin units. 701 and 702 are usually first up to come into Bastrop when call volume goes insane. Both of those trucks are USUALLY critical care trucks. And 700 is the Acadian ODS -- on duty supervisor. FYI, you'll routinely hear an Acadian unit mention "ODS" in their radio traffic, particularly when a crew gets a refusal.

 

[Wes]

Just based on what I'm hearing there is a fair amount of cross city and even cross county fire and EMS response.

Bastrop is fairly simple to follow since there are only a few departments and no encryption.

Bastrop uses Acadian for their transports and Pflugerville uses Allegiance Mobile Health. I assume that they are dispatched by the respective fire departments, but does anyone know what radio systems they use for company communications?

Don't get me to lying, but I don't think Allegiance is dispatched by fire in Pflugerville. Austin FD dispatches all fire departments in Travis County. EMS calls typically go to ATCEMS COMMS. But I'm not sure how that relates to Allegiance.

 

[garys]

Thanks. I can hear the Bastrop, Austin, Pflugerville, and Williamson County simulcast sites in my truck most of the time. Occasionally I can hear Burnet, but only if I'm towards the western end of Round Rock or Cedar Park.

In addition, I have the DPS and Parks and Wildlife VHF frequencies programmed in as well as the DPS TGs for Travis and Williamson. I frequently hear DPS on the GATRRS system.

Jiminy Christmas. I can spend six hours going on about Bastrop County comms and Acadian. Acadian does have some sort of business 800 mhz radios they use for some of their ops, although it's rarely used. A lot of calls go directly to the truck's MDC. There's little rhyme or reason to Acadian's dispatch.

Acadian used to have a comm center in Austin. They no longer have a comm center in Austin as that has moved to Bastrop County's comm center. Acadian's Bastrop comm center dispatches their Bastrop units and I think the Austin units. Their Dallas dispatch center has connectivity to the Bastrop center too. (Not sure if the San Antonio dispatch center for Acadian still exists and/or has connectivity to the Bastrop center.)

There's a lot of variation in how EMS calls in Bastrop get sent out. Some go out on the radio (Bastrop MEDCOM 1 on GATRRS), some only on MDC, and there's inconsistent use of the Active 911 phone app too.

In addition to the Acadian units in Bastrop, there's also an all volunteer first responder group called Bastrop County First Responders. They operate off of MEDCOM 1 and also have their own TG on GATRRS for tac/talk. BCFR units are 2100 series. As for the Acadian units :

1. 921 - Elgin
2. 922 - Cedar Creek
3. 924 - Bastrop
4. 925 - Smithville

921 and 924 also carry whole blood. Sometimes, there's a 923 working a 12 hour schedule. Acadian will move and post units regularly. 700 series units are Acadian's Austin units. 701 and 702 are usually first up to come into Bastrop when call volume goes insane. Both of those trucks are USUALLY critical care trucks. And 700 is the Acadian ODS -- on duty supervisor. FYI, you'll routinely hear an Acadian unit mention "ODS" in their radio traffic, particularly when a crew gets a refusal.

 

[garys]

I probably didn't state that as clearly as I should have. I understand that AFD does the dispatch for the ESDs in the county on a separate TG.

Don't get me to lying, but I don't think Allegiance is dispatched by fire in Pflugerville. Austin FD dispatches all fire departments in Travis County. EMS calls typically go to ATCEMS COMMS. But I'm not sure how that relates to Allegiance.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Let me know if you have questions about the Bastrop County stuff. I might know someone who has a Bastrop County APX 4000.

98% chance there is a codeplug password on there.