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Communications
List some ways that are good about communications, and some bad things not to do in communications.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Keegan Allen on
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the local fire department i am on is having troubles on communicating with each other. I thought i could get on here and learn some do and dont when it comes to communicating on a fire scene.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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Keep it Brief, to the point, and limit who gets on the radio....and PLEASE use proper procedures....I like the hey you, this is me as a reminder....ie .."Central Dispatch....Heuvelton Fire".....After you call out of service get everyone to a tactical frequency and stay off of Hi-Band Fire...keep it clear for other calls or command to use for Assistence....Too many people with portables usually...Have way too much chatter going on.....
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Permalink Reply by Marc on
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http://lafdtraining.org/ists/tb024v0391.pdf
take a look at this,
it is the LAFD training bulletin on radio communications
parts 1-6
take a look at them, they are what we have been using for over 12 years and has worked GREAT!
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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We use to have low band frequency that our emergency services were dispatched on it got so busy with traffic from the different depts we went to high band and than ultra high and now we are using 800 Freq and it seems to work well you just have to pay attention.Stay off the radio unless you need to be on there.Hughie The 57 House
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so what if you are not crossed train. The department i am on has a seperate ambulance. In a situation like this what would you do when you have a car accident, and you have traffic people talking, air care, ambulance, and fire all talking at the same time. When it comes down to who is in charge like commander like here everyone thinks they are commander when your chief isn't there. We also have to many people copying over each other, and our dispatch will page out people over top of people because our repeater will not be off and we dont recieve a page or something. Sorry i am making this diffucult.
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Permalink Reply by Rob on
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Communications do's:
Do pass info on to the next shift or post a memo for other volunteers if there is a critical issue
Do speak clearly using plain english on the radio in a calm tone
Do key the radio and wait long enough to start talkin so as to avoid cutting your words off
Utilize all means to pass info on to others in your station/department. Email, text, memos, or heaven forbid pick up the freaking phone and call someone.
Do practice with your radios. Especially important since everyone is going to these radios that you need a freaking roadmap to figure out what agency is in what zone.
Do try your radio with your air pack before you go on a call. Voice diaphragms work well in almost all cases. Voice Amps, while they sound good to the ear, may not play well with certain radios/frequencies/power levels.
Communications don'ts:
Don't yell in the mic. It just distorts and sound slike crap and nobody knows what you said.
Don't withold information from other crew members. They might need to know the hydrany at 123 XYZ Street is out of service.
Don't be long winded. Think about what you want to say and say it, others may need the channel.
Explanation of the voice amp thing...
One department I worked for had 800 MHz Motorola hand held radios. Some had speaker mics, some did not. We had Scott AP50's with the AV2000 face piece and voice amp. I found that if you used a radio without the speaker mic held up next to the voice amp you created an instant feedback loop when you keyed up the radio. If you used a radio with a speaker mic and just held the mic next to the voice amp you were ok. Using the same radios on an ISI Viking we had no trouble.
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Permalink Reply by John Rulli Jr. on
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There are communication classes out there. Check out your state fire academy website for info.
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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on
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Communication is good because of the need to know where your going, what your doing there and what the need is. How the heck are you going to know that? ESP?
This discussion seems like a no brainer..............
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Permalink Reply by Eric on
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Short, clear messages that get the point accross. Don't yell into the radio, that will make you less readable than just about anything else. If you have a voice amplifier on your mask, don't yell into that. They are meant to be spoken into and amplify the voice so you don't have to yell. If the amplifiers are yelled into, they also become unreadable. A good thing for inter-departmental communication is to train with the other department(s) so that they can see how you operate and you can see how they do as well. Following the incident management system from the top down and bottom up makes for smoother communication as well. Everything can get crazy when everyone with a radio is shouting out everything that's going on all at once. I want to point out with that that I do believe that everyone should have a radio just in case, but not everyone has to be talking on them all the time. If things flow with a set chain of command/incident management system, they should (in theory) flow smoothly.
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What do u mean that this isnt a no brainer question?? I just want to know who should be in charge on a scene.
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Permalink Reply by SMOKEnPipesJim on
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Hey Keegan, One thing we all have to do to communicate is to make ourselves concise and to the point, slang can be easily misunderstood...
Above ya wrote " List some ways are good communications, and some bad things not to do in communications...." In english, that doesn't even make sense... Ican make a list of wayys to communicate more effectively or I can tell you some "good things about, say short and simple or concise communication or communications, likewise, I can tell you some things you shouldn't do in communication as wellas many"bad things " too.. By communications, do you mean day to day talking? do you mean fireground and Radio communications? or do you mean using body language as communication? Morse code? blackberry?
Physicic? smoke signals? One of the biggest things we can do honestly is to slow down, gather our thoughts take a deep breath before speaking, or if We're typing, type your thoughts , but go back and re read them to be sure they make sense, check your spelling as best you can and correct your typos or In my case my lazy space bar..
I spent some time as a dispatcher before getting hired as a firefighter, YOU would be amazed at the stupid things people say when they call 911 looking for your help..MY house is on fire, Click ... Umm thats nice ..we will wait for the smoke reports I guess... .... we also have tobe careful when Communicating with others both face to face and on the radio say "four B", "four C", "four D", "Four E", Four T, Four Z , Forty, Forty 3 C, etc.. Now add to those a southern drawl or a Latin Accent, a Russian speaking english accent , and You can begin to see problem areas in getting your message across... how about (in dispatch mode still) (911 whats the emergency? MY house is full a smoke at 4 am, where do you live ? 1234 Padooka, Hurry Click... ok was that 1234 east Padooka, west padooka? Padooka Street , Lane Avenue, Blvd.? Then the getconfused if they dont hang up and angry, YOU know .. NO maybe i dont, also is that Padooka In Padookaville is that padooka in Upper western Padookaville? ..cuz I dont know..... another great communication example...
I am on the 2nd floor of a taxpayer the fire began in the store and exptended above to an apartment ... I glance out the front window and see Billy My partner finishing up changing out his scba bottle, I yell down and ask him for a light ....when he comes back up.... and go back to work pulling some walls a minute later, he arrives fresh bottle and I say what about the light? he reachs in to his pocket and hands me soem matches ..DUH HANDLIGHT FLASHLIGHT, you didnt say flash light or handlight did you...
another reversed role .... we arrive 1st due at a check the alarm, 3 story wood frame apartment dwelling the oficer and firefighter enter and hydrantman stayed below when theygetto a 2nd floor apartment with smoke getting worse the officer sends charlie to the front apartment window the hydrantman brings a line over and charlie opens the window thehydrantguy says Charlie throw down the rope, intending to take the end tie it to the hose so charlie can liftthe hose up and pull in in the window.. but Charlie does exactly as told and throws the whole roof rope down at the hydrant man , here ya go...... Both actually happened.... Point is Not everyone is thinking what You are thinking NOR do I expect you to walk into my station andknow exactly what were going to do exactly or why... thatswhy Communication is important to grasp, both ways , IF you dont understand the statement ro the concept of whats being said Tell them you dont understand what they said or what they mean ...
If we are stretching in and working a fire and run short of hose , and I send you to get 100' or 50' more I am execting You to come back with either a flake on your shoulder or a roll of some sort , That can be added with minimal work /effort as quickly as possible and of course the same size as we are using not 3 inch on the 1 3/4
I would expect you to go out to the closest rig grab and be back in two minutes... right? when you show up I would expect you to know exactly where the female butt is and the make since in the worst possible conditions we will have to shutdown, remove the top and add while flounderin around with the tip and the Male butt Imagine is snotty and you cant see your hands,.... Flake the length out Too so when we recharge the line its not in a knot
should I have to expain how? NO your a firefighter I should be able to say Gimme another 100 ..and it should get done.. ..Just another example .. and NO I am not busting your chops about it all, I used to have one JR who's answer to anything said was "Naa Uh" as if the rest of the world understood his level of intelligence.. 1) you act/sound like a moron doing that, 2) its not communication 3) dont try to save that last brain cell ,,its to Late
lol Geez.. I wonder why none of the "hot girls" wanna be seen with you.. Hmmm . I dunno... NAA Uhhhhh
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