LACo Fire Dispatch channels?

[Randyk4661]

Now that county fire has been on their new system for awhile now, I would like to get a better grip on how the dispatching channels work.
I think I have the general idea of the areas with help of the RR database and the battalion coverage combined with the division maps.
Countywide dispatch is still a bit of a mystery. My first thought is it's for helicopters and camp crews but there is alot of routine medical and fire calls dispatched on it.
Can someone give a better description of how the system works with six different dispatch channels?

Thanks

 

[officer_415]

My understanding is that all calls are dispatched on LAC U-1 (Countywide Dispatch), and then units respond on D-1 thru D-5 depending on the location.

 

[Randyk4661]

Thanks for the reply Officer_415
It's starting to make sense now that I have some dedicated time to closely monitor.
U1 for in station countywide dispatching.
D1-D5 are on radio dispatching and response channel.
The database is somewhat confusing listing them as only dispatch channels

Take me back to the days when there were only 5 or 6 frequencies to program, much simpler

 

[officer_415]

Take me back to the days when there were only 5 or 6 frequencies to program, much simpler

It's not that different from the old system:

Blue 8 --> LAC U-1 (Countywide Dispatch)
Blue 12 --> LAC D-1 (Santa Clarita/Antelope Valley)
Blue 1 --> LAC D-2 (Southern LA Basin/Catalina Island)
Blue 5 --> LAC D-3 (San Gabriel Valley)
Blue 3 --> LAC D-4 (Western LA Basin/Santa Monica Mtns)

 

[Randyk4661]

I'm going further back,
Basin dispatch, 154.43
Valley dispatch 154.34
Antelope dispatch 154.40
and two VHF tacs that I can't remember
These were back in the early 70's (Emergency TV show days)

 

[f40ph]

How often are D1 and D3 patched together? Is there any common standard time/days?

 

[XTSJunior]

D-2 & D-5 are permanently patched together. Same Dispatcher, just one provides Catalina coverage off three sites.

D-1 & D-3 can be patched together based off Dispatch staffing & activity levels. Same with D-2 & D-4. So hypothetically, you could have D-2, D-4, & D-5 all patched.

 

[Randyk4661]

D-2 & D-5 are permanently patched together. Same Dispatcher, just one provides Catalina coverage off three sites.

D-1 & D-3 can be patched together based off Dispatch staffing & activity levels. Same with D-2 & D-4. So hypothetically, you could have D-2, D-4, & D-5 all patched.

Actually D2,D4, & D5 are patched right now.

 

[PdxPaul]

I'm going further back,
Basin dispatch, 154.43
Valley dispatch 154.34
Antelope dispatch 154.40
and two VHF tacs that I can't remember
These were back in the early 70's (Emergency TV show days)

Tac 4 154.265 Rarely used
Tac 5 154.295.

 

[AM909]

Tac 4 154.265 Rarely used
Tac 5 154.295.

nka national interop VFIRE22 and VFIRE23

 

[batt14firebuff]

Here’s the order in which incidents are dispatched from what I remember from talking to LACoFD dispatchers:

1. Call taker receives call and enters into cad, then pushes to the U-1 dispatcher. Not sure if call taker entering the incident triggers the fire station tones, or if U-1 triggers that.
2. The U-1 dispatcher verifies the information of the call and dispatches it over voice. U-1 is broadcasted in all LACo stations continuously.
3. Depending on if the dispatched unit is available in quarters or on voice, the area dispatcher (ex. D-4) will either voice the call over their channel (ex. “Bleed ALS, 8s”), however they will only voice the address and units attached if a unit is being dispatched on voice (ex. “Bleed ALS, 8s. *3 tone* engine 8 with squad 8 on voice bleed als… etc”)
4. All units respond to incidents on their assigned geographical dispatch channel

 

[dpunter]

Here in Palmdale, I receive both D-1 and D-3. Antelope Valley units are assigned to D-1, but D-3 is a bit cleaner voice. D-3 works fine for me. All command channels are loud and clear. I actually like the new system.

 

[inlandpatch]

Here’s the order in which incidents are dispatched from what I remember from talking to LACoFD dispatchers:

1. Call taker receives call and enters into cad, then pushes to the U-1 dispatcher. Not sure if call taker entering the incident triggers the fire station tones, or if U-1 triggers that.
2. The U-1 dispatcher verifies the information of the call and dispatches it over voice. U-1 is broadcasted in all LACo stations continuously.
3. Depending on if the dispatched unit is available in quarters or on voice, the area dispatcher (ex. D-4) will either voice the call over their channel (ex. “Bleed ALS, 8s”), however they will only voice the address and units attached if a unit is being dispatched on voice (ex. “Bleed ALS, 8s. *3 tone* engine 8 with squad 8 on voice bleed als… etc”)
4. All units respond to incidents on their assigned geographical dispatch channel

Makes a whole lot more sense now. thank you for clearing it up. I was just about to ask this question as well.

 

[xilix]

To add to this: If you're setting up fire tone-outs on your radio, LAC U-1 is where you'll find them.
The actual tones are on the LA County Fire wiki page towards the bottom.

 

[jrholm]

Off on a tangent. Station 55 and 155 on Catalina Island are dispatched through Avalon Sheriff's Station on Avalon FD's frequency. Some things might get repeated on LACOFD channels, but the apparatus rarely listens directly to them. Same with Avalon Baywatch. Baywatch might actually talk directly to the LACOFD dispatch center open ocean rescues, but usually just through Avalon Sheriff.

 

[LZJSR]

Off on a tangent. Station 55 and 155 on Catalina Island are dispatched through Avalon Sheriff's Station on Avalon FD's frequency. Some things might get repeated on LACOFD channels, but the apparatus rarely listens directly to them. Same with Avalon Baywatch. Baywatch might actually talk directly to the LACOFD dispatch center open ocean rescues, but usually just through Avalon Sheriff.

I have been hearing a lot of traffic on Command 51 for Catalina Island's LACoFD resources, lifeguards, and also Avalon Fire seems to be on that channel as well.

 

[avascan522]

I have been hearing a lot of traffic on Command 51 for Catalina Island's LACoFD resources, lifeguards, and also Avalon Fire seems to be on that channel as well.

Off on a tangent. Station 55 and 155 on Catalina Island are dispatched through Avalon Sheriff's Station on Avalon FD's frequency. Some things might get repeated on LACOFD channels, but the apparatus rarely listens directly to them. Same with Avalon Baywatch. Baywatch might actually talk directly to the LACOFD dispatch center open ocean rescues, but usually just through Avalon Sheriff.

A few corrections to these comments.
In the last part of November 2023, Avalon Fire had LACo ISD outfit all their apparatus with surplus county VHF and UHF XTL 5000's. Once the installs were complete (within 2 days' time), Avalon Fire began using LAC C-50 as a primary dispatch channel with Station 55 and Baywatch units. The LASD Zetron console at the sheriff station was updated to include C-50 thru 52 and D-5 on the console, as well as their standard sheriff talkgroups on LA-RICS. This allowed the Avalon dispatcher to dispatch fire units via the console, including station SCU alerting via MDC 1200 and Zetron alert tones. The only weak spot is that Avalon dispatch and the TRO's at "LA" cannot hear each other because their consoles are on different cores. Sometimes this can lead to confusion when an LA TRO monitors C-50 and hears "dispatch", when the unit really was calling Avalon dispatch.
Command-50 is used for island-wide dispatch, 51 and 52 are used as tac channels or secondary command. Talkgroup "LG Catalina" was used as a tac channel for about a year, just after Motorola techs turned on the trunking system sites on Catalina and their testing was complete. That was around summer of 2022. Most of the fire personnel do not prefer the trunking system, however, so to this day, any digital talkgroups are sparingly used.
"What happened to low band?" I'm not sure if the base-station equipment at Blackjack Mtn. is still there for Alpha-4 (37.200), but most of the field-units have removed their lowband radios and antennas and the former A-4 console at Avalon sheriff is no longer installed. Most of AFD's former lowband handhelds were either declared surplus, or for some of the better-condition ones, they were given to the public works and recreation departments in Avalon for general use. Avalon's lowband frequencies are still active, but only on a non-public safety capacity and an as-needed basis. Avalon Harbor Patrol has also abandoned lowband and moved to UHF. Only two AFD rigs still have lowband mobiles as of now, and those will be removed at a later date.
For handhelds, AFD bought some surplus LA-RICS APX7000's and some 7k's from West Covina.
Don't think I missed anything...