Williamson County Fire/EMS in 2025...

[garys]

For those following the recovery operations in Williamson County, there have been several change to the DB as TGs have been reassigned. Some formerly rarely used TGs are now busy with disaster related communications.

 

[Ensnared]

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.

I listened to some of the radio traffic in Austin, online. I heard Travis Sheriff's Office & small communities. Austin PD, as expected, none. I appreciate any and all efforts to identify talk groups, in this radio system.

 

[garys]

The post you quoted is from April and there have been several updates to the RRDB for Wilco since then. I've been using DSD+ to find the changes and sent in several submissions to the RRDB for GATTRS in both Williamson and Travis.

TCSO dispatches Manor PD on the East TG, and Sunset Valley PD on the West TG. I'm still working on figuring out some of the others.

I listened to some of the radio traffic in Austin, online. I heard Travis Sheriff's Office & small communities. Austin PD, as expected, none. I appreciate any and all efforts to identify talk groups, in this radio system.

 

[Ensnared]

The post you quoted is from April and there have been several updates to the RRDB for Wilco since then. I've been using DSD+ to find the changes and sent in several submissions to the RRDB for GATTRS in both Williamson and Travis.

TCSO dispatches Manor PD on the East TG, and Sunset Valley PD on the West TG. I'm still working on figuring out some of the others.

I greatly appreciate your efforts.

 

[garys]

I've found that a fair number of entries for Travis and Williamson were out of date and submitted updates as I sorted things out. I'm not sure why, but some of the information seemed way out of date. Well, the why was because people weren't submitting data.

I greatly appreciate your efforts.

 

[Ensnared]

I've found that a fair number of entries for Travis and Williamson were out of date and submitted updates as I sorted things out. I'm not sure why, but some of the information seemed way out of date. Well, the why was because people weren't submitting data.

 

[rattlerbb01]

I've found that a fair number of entries for Travis and Williamson were out of date and submitted updates as I sorted things out. I'm not sure why, but some of the information seemed way out of date. Well, the why was because people weren't submitting data.

For Williamson what we’ve found is that almost all the old department Fire and Med channels (numerically between 4460 and 4511) have been reassigned as regional response and ops channels, with 4 Fire, 4 Med, and 4 Scene groups for West, Central and East each. Just have a handful more outstanding that need to be heard on the air or deduced from dispatches and corresponding activity from DSD in the case of encryption.

 

[garys]

I don't think that this is Wilco Fire/EMS, but I also didn't find it in the RRDB. TG 3395. Discussing an address off of Hero Way in Leander, but no further information. Not a Leander or Leander ISD TG.

 

[rattlerbb01]

I don't think that this is Wilco Fire/EMS, but I also didn't find it in the RRDB. TG 3395. Discussing an address off of Hero Way in Leander, but no further information. Not a Leander or Leander ISD TG.

Comes in just before 3396 G1 Regional Ops 1. Could be another bank of rarely used interop talkgroups?

 

[garys]

I see 3396-3419, but I don't see 3395. Maybe I need new glasses.

Maybe it's an out of area agency and they're working in Williamson. One of the people didn't seem familiar with the area at all.

Comes in just before 3396 G1 Regional Ops 1. Could be another bank of rarely used interop talkgroups?

 

[rattlerbb01]

I see 3396-3419, but I don't see 3395. Maybe I need new glasses.

Maybe it's an out of area agency and they're working in Williamson. One of the people didn't seem familiar with the area at all.

That's what I am saying, maybe 3395 is another interop channel from an unknown (to us) zone in the radio personalities. There are plenty of talkgroups that exist that just haven't been submitted yet. For instance, when I talked to a deputy in one of the South Texas counties a number of years back, I remember asking him (knowing already from my listening) how many channels they used in those radios for such a small county. He literally sat there and flipped through 3 or 4 zones of channels, Tacs, Talks, Public Works, LE this, LE that, etc... I knew from listening that they only used two of those talkgroups regularly, and two others very infrequently. The rest were useless and just existed. More talkgroups than county employees.

 

[garys]

Ahh. I misunderstood your meaning. Yes, that makes sense. An event as huge as the flooding is going to generate all sort of seldom heard users. Maybe I should rescan other regional interop groups on GATTRS to see there is a hint there.

Maybe an ad hoc TG was created for out of area users who are here to work on recovery.

That's what I am saying, maybe 3395 is another interop channel from an unknown (to us) zone in the radio personalities. There are plenty of talkgroups that exist that just haven't been submitted yet. For instance, when I talked to a deputy in one of the South Texas counties a number of years back, I remember asking him (knowing already from my listening) how many channels they used in those radios for such a small county. He literally sat there and flipped through 3 or 4 zones of channels, Tacs, Talks, Public Works, LE this, LE that, etc... I knew from listening that they only used two of those talkgroups regularly, and two others very infrequently. The rest were useless and just existed. More talkgroups than county employees.

 

[garys]

TG 3399 is now active. DSD shows it as (EXTERNAL) and the RRDB shows it as "G1 Regional Ops 4."

 

[rattlerbb01]

TG 3399 is now active. DSD shows it as (EXTERNAL) and the RRDB shows it as "G1 Regional Ops 4."

External usually means its either a LTE user or the system is hard patched to another. Saw those a lot during the Alamo Area RRS rollout when many SAPD/BCSO users were still on EDACS for some time.

 

[garys]

Thanks, I've also seen (P) in front of RRFD Dispatch. IIRC, that's a patch from another system.

External usually means its either a LTE user or the system is hard patched to another. Saw those a lot during the Alamo Area RRS rollout when many SAPD/BCSO users were still on EDACS for some time.

 

[Ensnared]

External usually means its either a LTE user or the system is hard patched to another. Saw those a lot during the Alamo Area RRS rollout when many SAPD/BCSO users were still on EDACS for some time.

Thank you for the help in Austin. Perhaps, listeners became disillusioned with all of the APD encryption. I never ever hear any APD talk groups on the SDS 100. I do hear Travis Co SO & other municipalities.

I don't believe all of the talk groups are accurate.

 

[garys]

I've submitted some updates for Travis County Fire as well as ATCEMS. Not new TGs but updated usage information. Also some updates for the smaller PDs that are dispatched by TCSO.

I also discovered that TG 3522 which is listed as DPS for Austin is also used for Williamson and likely Bastrop Counties.

It took me some time to figure out how what I call Automated Mutual Aid (not the official name) works in Travis and adjacent counties. AFD goes into parts of Williamson, some of the Williamson ESDs respond into Travis (and Burnet). Travis ESDs go into adjacent counties as well. It's all determined based on AVL data from the vehicles and mapping the incident address. It makes sense to send the closest apparatus do the call no matter which city or county the incident is located in.

Much different than where I used to live, but it makes sense. More than a little bit of a learning curve, though.

Thank you for the help in Austin. Perhaps, listeners became disillusioned with all of the APD encryption. I never ever hear any APD talk groups on the SDS 100. I do hear Travis Co SO & other municipalities.

I don't believe all of the talk groups are accurate.

 

[Harold]

I've submitted some updates for Travis County Fire as well as ATCEMS. Not new TGs but updated usage information. Also some updates for the smaller PDs that are dispatched by TCSO.

I also discovered that TG 3522 which is listed as DPS for Austin is also used for Williamson and likely Bastrop Counties.

It took me some time to figure out how what I call Automated Mutual Aid (not the official name) works in Travis and adjacent counties. AFD goes into parts of Williamson, some of the Williamson ESDs respond into Travis (and Burnet). Travis ESDs go into adjacent counties as well. It's all determined based on AVL data from the vehicles and mapping the incident address. It makes sense to send the closest apparatus do the call no matter which city or county the incident is located in.

Much different than where I used to live, but it makes sense. More than a little bit of a learning curve, though.

Just about every municipality in Tarrant County has an Automatic Aid agreement with their neighboring cities. Several have combined dispatch facilities that dispatch for multiple agencies, but even then, they get Auto Aid from their neighbors.

 

[garys]

I think it's Travis, Williamson, Burnet, Hays, and Bastrop. But, they have different agreements with other counties. Given how far apart things can be, it makes a lot of sense.

 

[Ensnared]

I've submitted some updates for Travis County Fire as well as ATCEMS. Not new TGs but updated usage information. Also some updates for the smaller PDs that are dispatched by TCSO.

I also discovered that TG 3522 which is listed as DPS for Austin is also used for Williamson and likely Bastrop Counties.

It took me some time to figure out how what I call Automated Mutual Aid (not the official name) works in Travis and adjacent counties. AFD goes into parts of Williamson, some of the Williamson ESDs respond into Travis (and Burnet). Travis ESDs go into adjacent counties as well. It's all determined based on AVL data from the vehicles and mapping the incident address. It makes sense to send the closest apparatus do the call no matter which city or county the incident is located in.

Much different than where I used to live, but it makes sense. More than a little bit of a learning curve, though.

What an excellent response. Thank you very much. I didn't realize folks were still trying to update this page. It is good to know others are diligent in their efforts.