Williamson County Fire/EMS in 2025...

[rattlerbb01]

Trying to see if anyone has an updated listing of talkgroups for the county fire departments. There are some obvious changes to the channel lineup over the last decade that aren't reflected in the database. I've been using Calls to track response channels and unidentified talkgroups by tracking unit numbers, channel alias IDs over the air, and such. Some things such as Central Fire 1-4, Central Med 1-3, etc are heard on the Fire Central and Jarrell Fire Primary (toned together for Jarrell calls) that I've identified, however for things like "Central Med 3" it must be encrypted because neither dispatch or field unit radio IDs came up on Calls after being told to go to that talkgroup from Central Fire 1. Another curiosity of mine is where is Florence dispatched at? There was a structure fire with plenty of mutual aid from Burnet county coming in at 8:20 AM on April 7th, but there are no dispatches on Fire West or Fire Central to correspond to that call at the same time.
I know there is a high volume of calls coming in there, but I was hoping someone could help fill in the blanks. PM or Submission is fine if you want to remain anonymous.

 

[clementrw]

When I lived in Williamson last year, the South Med talkgroups were the only med talkgroups that are unencrypted.

 

[rattlerbb01]

When I lived in Williamson last year, the South Med talkgroups were the only med talkgroups that are unencrypted.

That's what I figured. I've followed a few dispatches that say go to Central Med X.....and nothing.

 

[garys]

Cedar Park 4679 is referred to on the air as "Cedar Park Fire 1" and I've never heard anything on the TG tagged as that in the RRDB. Dispatch 2 is the main dispatch channel.

I know that dispatch is by an elocution system, but it seems inconsistent. Sometimes Taylor FD is dispatched on East, but other times Taylor Fire 2. Hutto is consistently dispatched on East and then uses Hutto Fire 1 as the fireground channel.

I've heard some traffic on Wilco EMS Med TGs, but more operational than anything else.

What baffles me is that the hospital notification TGs are clear and repeated.

 

[garys]

This morning I'm hearing fire traffic regarding an incident in Cedar Park. It might be a drill, but it's been going on longer than most drills and there has been no announcement that it is a drill. I've heard traffic on TG 4732 "Wilco EMS Scene 3, 4733 "Wilco EMS Scene 4" and 4734 "Wilco EMS Scene 5."

Those are my Alpha Tags, so may not exactly match the RRDB.

 

[garys]

It seems it was a drill and they did several evolutions with different agencies in the area. I heard the same call go out to Round Rock later in the afternoon with the response TG being Round Rock Fire 2.

 

[garys]

For the last few days I've been hearing fire training on TGs 4732 (tagged in the as EMS Scene 3), 4733 (tagged in the as EMS Scene 4), and 4734 (tagged in the as EMS Scene 5). All fire related training, nothing EMS. I thought I heard 4733 referred to as "Scene 2", but can't confirm.

Most in the Cedar Park, Leander, and Liberty Hill areas as far as addresses.

 

[rattlerbb01]

I had some free time and was able to identify that these old channels have been repurposed based on dispatching channel assignments and subsequent matching fireground traffic:

4470 Liberty Hill Fire 1 -> West Fire 3
4471 Liberty Hill Fire 2 -> West Fire 4
4480 CP Fire 1 -> West Fire 1
4481 CP Fire 2 -> West Fire 2
4504 Hutto Fire 1 -> East Fire 1
4505 Hutto Fire 2 -> East Fire 2

New TGs id'd
4679 CP Fire 1
4680 CP Fire 2

I also found that 4951 in the database as Taylor Fire 2 is locution dispatching for Taylor only, but seems to be possibly patched to WC E DISP, or maybe not. There are some calls for Taylor only that aren't also recorded on WC E DISP, but that could just be a busy node. What it looks like ultimately is that most of the old 4400 talkgroups for department only Med/Fire tacs have been all repurposed to regional Med/Fire groups, and groups in the 4500's and above are the newer department specific ones.

Another thing that I am hoping to accomplish is getting each WC dispatch figured out for which all departments are handled. So far I know:
West: Liberty Hill, Leander
Central: Jarrell, Granger, Weir, Florence
East: Hutto, Taylor, ESD 10, Bartlett

Not sure: Sam Bass, Jollyville
Department Only: Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown

 

[rattlerbb01]

One other thing I am running into is that patching can distort which talkgoup is actually being used. I have seen 4507 which was Thrall Fire 1 now being referred to as "East Scene 1" when they had a big task force page out in April, but I am delaying making that change since I think it may have been patched to the true ES1. I'll need to see more usage on it to verify.

 

[clementrw]

Jollyville was dispatched on West last year (before I moved and stopped listening to them).

 

[garys]

Good stuff, thanks. I'll have to update the information for the SDS and 325P2.

A couple of notes.
Friday I heard fire training evolutions on TG 4359, which I have tagged as Hazmat Ops 1. I was driving on the wilds of Louis Henna Blvd, so didn't have an opportunity to investigate further.

I'm consistently hearing Cedar Park Fire dispatched on TG4632, which I have tagged (per the RRDB) as Cedar Park Dispatch 2. I've had 4679 tagged as Cedar Park Fire 1, per hearing it referred to that way on dispatch locution. I'll have to add TG 4680 as I don't have it programmed in any scanner.

4470 and 4471 I have programmed as Cedar Park Fire 1 and Cedar Park Fire 2, but have never heard any traffic on them. I'll relabel them for Liberty Hill and see if I hear anything, although it doesn't seem likely.

I have heard Taylor locution as you describe, but couldn't figure out why that was happening.

I've heard Jollyville and Sam Bass on I think TG 4518 and will try to pay closer attention. As you know, they aren't all that busy. It's an oddity of the "Auto Aid" dispatch model that sometimes multiple ESDs are dispatched to an incident and cross not only ESD boundaries, but cross over into adjacent counties.

TG 4504 is active and is the first TG used by Hutto Fire when they get on scene In my scanner I have it tagged as "Hutto Fire 1". That's different than what you have below. I don't know that I've heard 4505 yet, but will listen for it. Hutto is pretty busy these days, so it shouldn't take long to confirm what they are using.

I'll update as I get more information and get what I have more sorted. I think I've reprogrammed Williamson County three or four times since I moved here in November of 2023.

I had some free time and was able to identify that these old channels have been repurposed based on dispatching channel assignments and subsequent matching fireground traffic:

4470 Liberty Hill Fire 1 -> West Fire 3
4471 Liberty Hill Fire 2 -> West Fire 4
4480 CP Fire 1 -> West Fire 1
4481 CP Fire 2 -> West Fire 2
4504 Hutto Fire 1 -> East Fire 1
4505 Hutto Fire 2 -> East Fire 2

New TGs id'd
4679 CP Fire 1
4680 CP Fire 2

I also found that 4951 in the database as Taylor Fire 2 is locution dispatching for Taylor only, but seems to be possibly patched to WC E DISP, or maybe not. There are some calls for Taylor only that aren't also recorded on WC E DISP, but that could just be a busy node. What it looks like ultimately is that most of the old 4400 talkgroups for department only Med/Fire tacs have been all repurposed to regional Med/Fire groups, and groups in the 4500's and above are the newer department specific ones.

Another thing that I am hoping to accomplish is getting each WC dispatch figured out for which all departments are handled. So far I know:
West: Liberty Hill, Leander
Central: Jarrell, Granger, Weir, Florence
East: Hutto, Taylor, ESD 10, Bartlett

Not sure: Sam Bass, Jollyville
Department Only: Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown

 

[rattlerbb01]

Good stuff, thanks. I'll have to update the information for the SDS and 325P2.

A couple of notes.
Friday I heard fire training evolutions on TG 4359, which I have tagged as Hazmat Ops 1. I was driving on the wilds of Louis Henna Blvd, so didn't have an opportunity to investigate further.

I'm consistently hearing Cedar Park Fire dispatched on TG4632, which I have tagged (per the RRDB) as Cedar Park Dispatch 2. I've had 4679 tagged as Cedar Park Fire 1, per hearing it referred to that way on dispatch locution. I'll have to add TG 4680 as I don't have it programmed in any scanner.

4470 and 4471 I have programmed as Cedar Park Fire 1 and Cedar Park Fire 2, but have never heard any traffic on them. I'll relabel them for Liberty Hill and see if I hear anything, although it doesn't seem likely.

I have heard Taylor locution as you describe, but couldn't figure out why that was happening.

I've heard Jollyville and Sam Bass on I think TG 4518 and will try to pay closer attention. As you know, they aren't all that busy. It's an oddity of the "Auto Aid" dispatch model that sometimes multiple ESDs are dispatched to an incident and cross not only ESD boundaries, but cross over into adjacent counties.

TG 4504 is active and is the first TG used by Hutto Fire when they get on scene In my scanner I have it tagged as "Hutto Fire 1". That's different than what you have below. I don't know that I've heard 4505 yet, but will listen for it. Hutto is pretty busy these days, so it shouldn't take long to confirm what they are using.

I'll update as I get more information and get what I have more sorted. I think I've reprogrammed Williamson County three or four times since I moved here in November of 2023.

Yes, so as for Hutto, LH and CPs old fire 1/2 now being directional Fire channels, that was confirmed by finding recent (last 90 days) activity that has been recorded on Broadcastify Calls. If you can browse the archives for a particular talk group and then cross reference the beginning of activity with an initial dispatch, they will usually say the name of the assigned channel and response begins there. That is the easiest way to ID channels for me, but I need at least 3-4 individual instances of it to feel comfortable. The tough ones now to find are the Meds because I’m pretty sure they are mostly encrypted under some lame HIPAA excuse they love to government speak about.

 

[garys]

Maybe the information in the Locution system hasn't been changed East Fire 1 and that's why it's being referred to as Hutto Fire 1 on dispatch. I listen to Hutto Fire as that's where I am hiding with the Hippos.

Like you, I want to be sure that I'm hearing it right, so I take a while to submit new data.

"lame HIPAA excuse" is great. It's like the lame "officer safety" excuse they give for encrypting LE traffic. But I digress.

Yes, so as for Hutto, LH and CPs old fire 1/2 now being directional Fire channels, that was confirmed by finding recent (last 90 days) activity that has been recorded on Broadcastify Calls. If you can browse the archives for a particular talk group and then cross reference the beginning of activity with an initial dispatch, they will usually say the name of the assigned channel and response begins there. That is the easiest way to ID channels for me, but I need at least 3-4 individual instances of it to feel comfortable. The tough ones now to find are the Meds because I’m pretty sure they are mostly encrypted under some lame HIPAA excuse they love to government speak about.

 

[garys]

Wilco Fire Scene 11 TG 4399 is being used for training. There was also a reference to Training 1 as the fire ground, but I haven't caught it yet.
TG 5022 tagged as Jarrel VFD Admin. seems more operational.

 

[Harold]

Yes, so as for Hutto, LH and CPs old fire 1/2 now being directional Fire channels, that was confirmed by finding recent (last 90 days) activity that has been recorded on Broadcastify Calls. If you can browse the archives for a particular talk group and then cross reference the beginning of activity with an initial dispatch, they will usually say the name of the assigned channel and response begins there. That is the easiest way to ID channels for me, but I need at least 3-4 individual instances of it to feel comfortable. The tough ones now to find are the Meds because I’m pretty sure they are mostly encrypted under some lame HIPAA excuse they love to government speak about.

HIPAA specifically exempts radio communication.

AI Overview
Learn more
"HIPAA allows for radio communication of patient information between healthcare providers for treatment purposes, even if the communication is not encrypted. This is because HIPAA recognizes the need for quick and effective communication in treatment settings and doesn't require eliminating all risk of incidental disclosure. However, healthcare providers should still take reasonable steps to protect patient information, such as using private channels, minimizing the amount of PHI disclosed, and ensuring that the information is not transmitted to unauthorized individuals. "

 

[garys]

Rattlerbb01 knows that. I know that. His use of the word "lame" at the least implies that he knows it's BS. HIPAA is widely used as an excuse by people who should know better. On the few occasions I would have to respond to "Skilled Nursing Facilities" nurses would sometimes hand me a sealed envelope with patient information only to tell me that "HIPAA prevents you from reading that." I'd open the envelope, pulled out the paperwork, hand the envelope back to the nurse, and tell her to call the FBI.

HIPAA specifically exempts radio communication.

AI Overview
Learn more
"HIPAA allows for radio communication of patient information between healthcare providers for treatment purposes, even if the communication is not encrypted. This is because HIPAA recognizes the need for quick and effective communication in treatment settings and doesn't require eliminating all risk of incidental disclosure. However, healthcare providers should still take reasonable steps to protect patient information, such as using private channels, minimizing the amount of PHI disclosed, and ensuring that the information is not transmitted to unauthorized individuals. "