I have to ask because I am mad! I work for a F/T EMS service and I am a retired FF/Medic who has a question. How many Fire/EMS services still use 10 codes. I hate hearing 10-5 when you clear at a call. I think and thought that things were suppose to change follwing 9/11. Am I wrong? I guess what concerns me the most is that I was a carear FF/Medic in S.C and then moved back up north and started to run F/T EMS and the codes are diffrent. Is anyone also running into this problem?
You ask that when all that people have been saying is that even neighbouring areas have different codes? Unless you intend writing a history text, why bother...
I've seen a few people saying the codes shouldn't be used because they're not international, hell, they're not even national! When you have different services (FD, PD whatever) in the same area using different codes, it's long past time to ditch them totally. Go with your NIMS requirement. Speak plain English.
we still use 10 codes here in NC,but if you use a plain text word (because u forgot or was excited or it was someone new) the dispatchers here are pretty good about it...they dont get to exicited about it.I would think that since 9-11, we would have come up with some type of "interoperability" nationally with the way we communicate on the radio.Yes, I know.... dream on.I remember one time...(laughing) we went on a call,and in all of my excitement I called the station 10-8(in service) and 10-17 (enroute)at the same time......boy did ever hear about that.....But you're right some type of standardization should happen.
Our county is in the middle of changing over to plain English from the 10 codes. Here's the main reason:
Last year, one of our sheriff's deputies responded to a call for a possible unattended death, which turned out was located just into the next county. The deputy reported a 10-56, and for the next county to respond to the location.
After a period of time, the next county's haz-mat team showed up! Turns out that what we call a DOA in our county means a Haz-Mat incident next door. I suspect it may have been the dispatcher who relayed the information just by saying 10-56 to the neighbors.
no 10-codes all plane text. we dont even use department/truck numbers or officer numbers anymore. where i live we use to use a four diget number for radio traffic. the first two number where your department and the last two where the type of truck you are in or the officer and now its department and truck and rank.
We slip in and out of 10 codes...its just a habit i assume...but we use clear speak also...i believe they should have a central systme for all...mostly clear speak, becaseu what some ten codes mean here do not follow the same pattern as fire departments down state from us