Joseph11 said:
I agree with both of you, but I don't think we should have automatically assumed that he has bad intent. Welcome to the board, Mike.
No bad intent here guys...I have some involvement with local fire companies and do like to know when a decent job is going on somewhere...even if it's at 4AM. I choose not to listen to the scanner throughout the night due to the fact that our EMS down here is dispatched on F-1 along with fire, and to be awakened at 4AM by tones for a fall victim two towns over does not make my night. However, if there was a fire down the street from me, I'd most certainly like to know about it at whatever time it is.
I often use the pager at night, to awaken me for calls which particularly interest me. Also during the day in some situations, where I cannot monitor a scanner constantly, but would still like to know about fire calls in the area. Since the ISAT is toned out for fires which are generally considered big jobs, I have an interest in them...but not enough to listen to a frequency which contains dispatches for jobs which are 85% EMS throughout the course of the day waiting for them, not to mention that I'll probably end up missing the dispatch anyway, since my attention is generally divided between about 6 things at once. I cannot afford a tone-out capable scanner at this time, so I use a pager which was sold to me by a firefighter who moved out of the area (actually out of the continental US) for much less than the cost of a tone-out scanner. I do not "respond" to fires with FD personnel, but since my family history includes membership in the fire department, I do have an interest and if an interesting job is happening, I just might head in that general direction (I always obey all traffic regulations like any law abiding citizen, I do nothing stupid or illegal). I do not get in the way of the firefighters who are working, but do shoot photographs of local firefighters in action for some relatively small publications. I supply some images to fire companies involved in an incident free of charge, and many of them are very grateful for photographs of their members in action. I hold valid press credentials, and this is one of the primary reasons for which I like to be alerted on local jobs. I am often alpha-paged for jobs which are considered interesting, but the alpha-pager is not always as reliable as I'd like it to be...
I do know a significant number of local firefighters also, and the pager tones which I currently use were supplied by them with the general understanding between us that I would not "respond" with the company, but if I decided to show up, that I obey all rules and regulations for the general public on the fireground, including but not limited to not crossing fire-lines (this would be significantly interfering with operations). Even if it was not verbally stated, the understanding is there, and I respect their wishes to do their job without interferance. I do not at this time have any personal contacts at this time who are ISAT team members, and so I cannot respectfully request this information from them, and so I figured I would check here...
Sorry to go on and on, but I'm just trying to establish some level of credibility here...I didn't mean to come off in a negative way for my initial post, and perhaps some more in-depth explaination was in order...
Take care.
Mike
