Seattle Fire Questions

[AlmostHandy]

Hey there!

Are there any Seattle Fire Department experts out there?

The other day, I caught the primary call for that 2 alarm fire on 1st and Spokane. It started around midnight, and I listened for almost 4 hours before I fell asleep. It was a HUGE fire, and they had to continue to call in units from all over the city.When I woke up and checked the Incident List, it showed that the incident was still active, and they had dispatched several units I wasn't able to identify.

Engine 80
Engine 91
Ladder 80

I did some searching, but couldn't find any reference to these apparatus on any website.

I had suspect that E91 came from Mercer Island's Station 91, but when I drove by the scene the next day, both E80 and E91 had the Seattle Fire Department logo emblazoned on the side. I'm was pretty certain that Mercer Island had their own Fire Department, but I wasn't able to find any apparatus pictures, or station lists of any kind.

Oddly enough, the city still lists that incident as active. I'm guessing because of an ongoing investigation. I can't imagine that it's still on fire.

1/7/09
1/8/08


So, does anyone know where E80, E91, and L80 come from?

Also, every now and then during the fire, we would hear the computer dispatcher tell some Apparatus to move up to a certain station. We hypothesized that this was to make sure there were no coverage gaps in the city, since so many units were in one place out of service, but couldn't find any info on it anywhere.
Does a human decide when to move an apparatus from one station to another, or is that computer controlled?



Thanks everyone!

 

[Ishyid]

I know a little bit about SFD, but I have never heard of these appartus'. It is knid of weird, but my best guess is they are back up rigs that are stationed somewhere in the seattle district. I do know that all of Grahm Fire Department rig numbers begin with nine's, but I couldn't imagine they would send a rig all the way to Seattle. I also find it weird that they dispatched Battalion 55 4 times in a 2 in a half hour period. I am wondering if there is was another big incident that was heppening around that time that Battalion 55 was cought up in. And about sending units up to other stations, with a big city like Seattle, I'm sure a computer tells the dispatcher when to move units to other stations.

 

[AtomicTaco]

I can confirm the active call part--I just walked over to see the end of the car fire on 12th. E17 is still on scene, along with Marshal 5. Whoever's dispatching tonight is having trouble with the CAD, as they initially sent out MAR-5 to an Aid call in Lake City (it was between the car fire and the marshal dispatch). When the RP called in he said 11th instead of 12th; and the dispatcher initially send MAR-5 to 11th again. Since I had a radio with me, I told the crew on the scene of this since they didn't seem to notice.

Update: E17 just drove by on their way back to the station. Both units were on scene just a few minutes ago, and everyone was talking as I walked home. I'm sure that it's only the marshal there now, and that even though they were dispatched separately--the call is not closed, so all units responding to that call stay active on the web display. I'm sure the CAD has an updated list of what units are doing what.

 

[AlmostHandy]

Yeah, the day after the 1st & Spokane fire, I noticed that most of the units that had responded to that 2 alarm, had been dispatched and cleared of several other calls each since, and were still logged as active on that fire.

In fact, I just checked, and they're all still logged as active. That's funny.

I really wish that realtime911 page had some search and sort functions. I'd love to search by unit or incident type through a range of dates.

 

[AtomicTaco]

It doesn't update previous days. A call could go out at 23:59 and unless they cleared it within 60 seconds, it'll stay active indefinitely.

http://www.public911.com/911/Seattle
Will show all units grouped with each call, regardless of how it's dispatched. No searching by equipment. I could probably write something that'll do that, I just need time, motivation, and a strategy.

 

[tmfok7]

Also, every now and then during the fire, we would hear the computer dispatcher tell some Apparatus to move up to a certain station. We hypothesized that this was to make sure there were no coverage gaps in the city, since so many units were in one place out of service, but couldn't find any info on it anywhere.

That is exactly why they move the apparatus. Most departments have a maximum response time they have to meet. So they will move the apparatus around to cover stations within areas were coverage is greatly reduced due to high call volume in that area. A side note too; I have heard that Engine 80 dispatched to incidents before. It's been awhile, but it seems to me it has mostly been on the north end of the city.

 

[AtomicTaco]

Clicking around the SFD site some more, I found this awesome page:

http://www.seattle.gov/fire/mr/TypeCode.htm

 

[AlmostHandy]

WOW! That is getting saved for sure.

What a great page! Answers something like 4 or 5 of my old posts! lol