Simsbury Fire

[SCPD]

Does anyone know why MOST of the part time fire dispatchers are not setting off the sirens between 7a-7p for hot responses? I hear the truck sirens but no pole sirens. Years ago, they were always set off properly by the respective stations (depending which apparatus was dispatched). Now they are not done at all and most of the time when it is a limited response, all stations go off. The full timers are always good about doing it.

Is it because the DTMF code comes across 33.94 and the part timers work out of town during the weekday so they truly believe they aren't used?


It would be nice to have some consistency. They are a great tradition of the fire service.

 

[PJH]

Its a good question to call the main station or send them an email...

Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company - Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company

 

[doctordialtone]

Sirens

Does anyone know why MOST of the part time fire dispatchers are not setting off the sirens between 7a-7p for hot responses?

It would be nice to have some consistency. They are a great tradition of the fire service.

A couple of reasons;

Sirens were originally required by Volunteer Departments to summon members to the call. In the "old days" many members were farmers who worked in the area fields during the day.
The audible sirens called the volunteers to the fire house.

Today, alerting is done by other means, including pagers, cell phones and other notification methods.

Also, most volunteers work out of town now, so sirens wouldn't do any good. Many Volunteer Fire Departments now have paid employees during the day for this reason.

Therefore, the sirens are becoming more and more obsolete.

In our town, they are only used for daytime structure fires.

 

[SCPD]

Simsbury

I was hoping that someone in Simsbury would read my question and truthfully answer my question. Right now, it seems like the dispatchers are deliberately are not setting them off. I wouldn't make that statement if I didn't believe it. There are 3 full time dispatchers and about 6 to 7 part timers. The sirens continually do not go off when the same 4 part timers are working. It would be inappropriate to mention names so I will not do it. i also believe that a couple of them weren't doing it and the other ones followed.

 

[SCPD]

Simsbury

I will also mention the fact that until September 2008, the sirens used to sound until 2200hrs. Neighbors were complaining and it got brought down to 1900. There are towns in other states that have these siren parades with 25 trucks blowing their sirens at once and the siren going off all night long for calls. Yes, that is what I call ridiculous. Going to 1900 or 2200 on a daily basis is not unreasonable and I don't know why the fire district gave in to it. People are complainers, but once they have a need for the fire department, their attitude quickly changes and realizes that any little thing helps.

Suppose setting off the siren brought 5 more people to a call? It could help save someone's life.

 

[bondo_06092]

Sounds like you have a connection to some of the dispatchers. Why not ask them directly?