Ventura County Fire CAD

[MCIAD]

Just a quick update, our online CAD [FireLine] has been enhanced a little in the last couple of weeks.

When you click on the Incident Number link, it will show any comments posted regarding the incident, and display a map of the location. The programmers have also made it easier for us to post comnments, so you should start seeing more as we get used to it.

The link: http://38.101.117.146/fireline/index.html

 

[Progline]

Mike, I often hear the expression "IFT"??? when talking to the Paramedics. What is that?

 

[Markb]

And IFT is an Inter-Facility Transfer. Something that most Paramedics and EMT's dread......

 

[MCIAD]

What Markb said.

This applies only to AMR units right now. When we dispatch an AMR unit to and "IFT", they acknowledge it with us, then contact their private dispatch center in Moorpark for the info.

Michael

 

[Progline]

Thanks!

BTW, Mike, how did the new system handle the Moorpark Fire a couple of weeks ago? I am thinking it was the first large incident since you migrated over? The winds there must have been really howling, as we couldn't see any header from the West SFV.

-Rob

 

[MCIAD]

I couldn't see the header from 5 miles away. The winds were sustained at around 40 - 50, with gusts up over 70 at the height of the event. That is about as bad as it gets. It was blowing the smoke horizontal instead of vertical.

Our new TriTech CAD system handled it OK. Most of the issues we had were really just getting used to a new way of running a large incident. The way our old CAD worked vs the new CAD are completely different.

One interesting thing is that we now have AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) on most of our fire equipment. As it is GPS based, and accurate to within a couple of yards, it was fun watching the engines move around the fire as they bumped from one house to the next for structure protection. Kept us one step ahead of their needs. Real cool!

Michael

 

[ChrisE_STB]

Hello Michael,

Is there a problem with "Fireline" I can only access it through a AOL window, but can not through Internet Explorer.

Chris

 

[MCIAD]

Well, the answer to your question is yes, and no.

There is nothing wrong with FireLine. It works fine. The problem is with the firewall that the County IT has put up around it. The IP addresses allowed through the firewall are pretty narrow in width.

As an example, I just got done trying to convert to Cable Modem with a dynamic IP from DSL with a static IP. My DSL worked fine, but the Cable Modem did not work at all. As it turned out, the dynamic IP's supplied by the Cable Modem provider were all outside what was allowed by the firewall. And there was nothing anybody, but the IT Dept (and they didn't want to talk about it), could do.

The powers that be are aware of the issue, and since there are media folks who are having the same problems, I think it will get resolved sooner or later. I hope.

 

[ChrisE_STB]

Ok, thanks for the Quick response.

Chris

 

[MCIAD]

Not a problem - just happened to check my mail at the right time.

 

[SloScanMan_01]

questions

AMR has their own dispatch in Moorpark? Do they have a company net, or do they use cellular/Nextel? Does Lifeline up in Ojai have a company net? Are the UHF MedCom channels used at all in Ventura County? A lot of questions, I know, but, I'll be heading down for my cousin's wedding, and want to be prepared.

 

[MCIAD]

AMR does have their own dispatch for their private business interests (read inter-facility transports), however we do all of the 911 dispatching for AMR and Lifeline Ambulance services, by mandate from the County EMSA. In July '07, we will do the same for Gold Coast Ambulance also.

As far as MedComms are concerned, this County does not use the UHF channels. We are VHF exclusively. The following are what we use right now:

MedNet 1: Tactical Operations/On Scene Medical Coordination
MedNet 2: Pre-Hospital Calling - Ventura Co. Med. Center, Pleasant Valley, and Simi Valley.
MedNet 3: Pre-Hospital Calling - Community Memorial, Santa Paula, and Los Robles
MedNet 4: Car-to-Car Tactical
MedNet 5: Car-to-Car Tactical

As far as Company frequencies, all the Company's use Nextel almost exclusively for Company communications.

I know there is at least one local AMR medic on the boards here (MED431B - name withheld), perhaps he can elaborate.

MSD

 

[Mikerh91]

AMR does have a local vhf company frequency, however as MCIAD stated. VCFD does the 911 dispatching for AMR. So when AMR is o/s of a call they are on the VCFD frequencies. AMR rarely uses this VHF frequency.

 

[TES]

. . . There is nothing wrong with FireLine. It works fine. The problem is with the firewall that the County IT has put up around it. The IP addresses allowed through the firewall are pretty narrow in width.
. . . I think it will get resolved sooner or later. I hope.

It's now fixed as far as I'm concerned. After months of no access, a try to access http://38.101.117.146/fireline/index.html on 1 March 2007 surprised me—I actually got to see the latest and greatest evolution of Fireline. Try it. It may work for you now.

 

[MCIAD]

Yea - I tried to post this yesterday, but we got hammered at work (very busy afteroon) and just forgot.

The firewall has been adjusted to allow borader access to the Fireline. If you had trouble with it before, please give it a shot now. You should be able to access it. Please let me know if there are still problems.

Thanks . . .

 

[mkeguyver]

Rumor mill told me that there is a sauna in the new FCC.. also Ventura will be dispatching for Gold Coast? Whats with the MOU with that one.. Also why are the tones faster now? just curious

 

[MCIAD]

Well, the rumor is true, we do have a sauna, but it is not open for anybody to use whenever they want to use it. There is a pretty strict policy being developed regulating the when, who, and how, it can be used. Not sure it is going to used much when all is said and done.

As far as Gold Coast, it is also true that we are going to assume their 911 dispatching in July. They are going to maintain their own dispatch center for inter-facility services, just like AMR does. I am not sure what you are asking when refering to the "MOU".

AND, our tones are faster because our new CAD uses Motorola "Quick Tones" by default. For the most part, they work well. However, there have been issues with some of our "customers", and we have reverted back to our older 1+1 tones for their benifit in certain circumstances.