The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Night Watch
Does your Department still do Night Watch? Intrested to know how many departments still carry on this tradition.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Robert Owens on
-
No we dont, we go on LOCK DOWN after 2000 hours typically.
All units are puled back into the building, all bay doors closed, radio goes into "nite mode"
Not that you cant sit out side or leave the doors open after that time but we are allowed to go into nite time mode @2000 and alot of stations do, especially here in the coming winter months when its getting cold outside. We are still a safe haven and out doorbell is loud enough to wake you up if someone needs our help but we do not have a formal "nightwatch"
I know in the City of Richmond FD the do a type of night watch in were there is a hide away bed in the radio room and the person on watch for the night sleeps in the radio room. They are responsible to answer all phone calls, and answer the door if someone needs to come into the station.
-
Permalink Reply by 55 TRUCK on
-
That is how are night watch is. We have a murphy bed(hide away) in the radio rm. Person on night watch is reponsible for answering the phone and door. You can hear the doorbell throughout the station, if your not on watch, you can go back to sleep. Unless the night watch flips the switch for the house bells.
We do lock everything down at night. If know one is sitting out on the approach or in the bay. We shut the doors. In our area things go missing if not, even our parking lot has chain link fence around it with barbed wire on it. Also our bay doors don't have sensor to make them go back up, keeps people from slipping in when we go out on a run.
-
Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
-
No nightwatch.
Each station has a phone and radio "bed" but doesn't mean someone will sleep there. We typically don't call on the phones after 10pm so it isn't like we are getting calls at all different hours. If dispatched on a call, there are a couple radio mounts at different places in the station and someone will answer up.
Usually the house captain or an officer will sleep by a radio and phone to answer calls, but it varies and depends on the station. One reason for us is that if the phone does ring in the middle of the night, it typically would be an issue for the officer......otherwise if thinking of calling a station after 10pm, one knows it quite possibly is the house captain answering, and do you really want to piss them off? If it is family/friends calling for another member, well then the house captain would have a talk with the individual.
Daytime calls are answered by anyone, but new FF's have it engrained that they should be the ones to answer any calls or doorbells. They get the point too from station ribbing etc if they miss out on the call. When a new guy gets to a house, there is typically someone else there that will "race" them to the phone or radio to answer up, if the new guy doesn't get it, they get some ribbing. It becomes a friendly competition and helps the new guy understand their role. As years go by, people understand more and one could be the youngest in house, but you don't see a "race" to the phone as much, but any phone calls or doorbells basically are the youngest FF's responsibility.
-
Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
-
When I first started my career, and worked as a rookie fireman (photo above), we had a dedicated night watch, which after 17:00 was staffed by the rookie firefighter. This was considered the perfect opportunity to learn your district and answer emergency calls. You also had an adjoining bedroom, close to the radio and phones.
But this was before 9-1-1...
And before mobile computer terminals on our fire apparatus...
This is why "Night Watch" went night night...
TCSS,
CBz
-
Permalink Reply by FETC on
-
We used to do it all night. We now have the probie at the bullpen (watch desk) to meet the public when they come into the station or to answer the phone. After 2200 hrs. the probie locks the door, shut off all the lights and goes to bed. With the advent of security cameras and a door bell, the dispatcher can see who is ringing the bell, talk to them and remote unlock the door (if needed). As for the phones, incoming calls after 2200 hrs. are answered by the dispatchers, if it is an emergency they ring the house bell and announce, if it is not an emergency they transfer the call to the junior officer's bedroom (Lieutenant) to answer a question from the public. Senior Officer's are only bothered if it is an emergency.
-
Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
-
At my part time FD we do not stand a watch but we still lock everything down at 2200 hrs and the radio goes into night mode where it will only transmit our individual station tones. At my full time FD, we do stand a watch but the watch is secured at 2200 hrs where the bay doors are shut and the man door is locked. Throughout the day, we all stand 1-2 hrs of watch in the watch office where you answer the phones but when a call comes in, we turn the watch and the phones over to dispatch and we leave.
-
Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
-
We do not stand watch, period. For starters, some of our companies are out of quarters more than they're in the house. When in quarters, there is almost always training, cleaning, or maintenance activity going on, and all hands are involved so no one is available to hang out at a watch desk.
We discourage still alarms, as it wastes critical time to have people banging on the front doors of an empty firehouse while someone needs medical help or while the fire burns unchecked right down the street.
Each of our stations has a large red communications box next to the front door. This box closely resembles the old street pull boxes, but contains a ringdown phone that connects to our Dispatch center as soon as the handset is lifted off the hook.
The ringdown line ALWAYS gets the caller connected to help - even if there is a language barrier. Dispatch can patch the caller to an interpreter - something that the station personnel generally cannot do.
-
-
Ben I think you misread what I wrote. It's called nightwatch not all day and night
watch. We don't stay awake. All you do is answer the phone if some one should happen to call after every one has gone to bed. If some person rings the door bell you answer it. You sleep on a Murphy bed depending on the station, some are in the same room as the radio others are in a room next to the radio/watch rm. Hope this gives you a better idea. Also some stationes don't do night watch, it is up to the officer.
-
Permalink Reply by capcityff on
-
We are still very old school and have night watch. Some one is ALWAYS up at all times of the day/night. While up on watch you sit at the watch desk and answer phones and make sure the companies get turned out for their runs. There still are people that knock on the door in the middle of the night. I'm confused to why Ben says this is a waste of time. What if someone gets shot or stabbed right next to the fire house? It does happen. We also watch out CAD screen to hopefully get a "jump" on box alarms that are being dispatched. Another reason is for the ambulance. The ambulances are so busy that they have their own quieter tone without the bells. Most people can sleep right through them so if no one gets up he can ring the bells for that. Plenty of important calls can come in throughout the night as well. There's the normal sick calls and then there's things that could be important for the company such as the radios going down or suspicious activity/terrorist attack that they don't want being broadcasted over the radio.
-
-
Cap, I looked at Ben's profile if the East coast Dept. he works for is Blufton SC. Then he just wouldn't see a need for nightwatch appears to be a small and young dept. Like you said there's the person shot at 3am who's buddy drags up to the station and rings the bell then takes off. The junkie who drops in front of the bay door. Then there's the over loadded sysytem and you have to go on day watch, etc. The there's the walk up telling about a building some one just lit off, etc,etc.
Tradition. That is what it is all about.
-
-
Cap and 55truck, as I stated before we used to do it. The need for day or night watch is dependant on each individual department's geographic location, population, demographics, culture, and neighborhood. As far as the walk-in or dumped stabbing, shooting or junkie victim, you are in the minority as far as the rest of the country. You work in very big cities. Because of the demographics of where you work I can see the absolute need for night watch. I am one not to bag traditions, like I said we used to do it, but now with everyone having cellphones, or a stations remote location with zero walk in, traditions were altered. What I mean is some firefighters might see a stabbing or a shooting MAYBE once in their entire career.
-
-
I think thats why we do not do it. The county I work in is so dynamic the nite watch would only apply to certain locations.
In the west end there is a TON of money and the University of Richmond so the class of people is highly different not stabbings, or shooting out there except suicide. The North End and a portion of the east end borders the poor part of the City of Richmond I was assigned there for 6 years and we saw a ton of walk up calls, shootings, fires, shootings etc. so much so that we thought about starting an informal nite watch for our safety. The rest of the east is all Rural cows pigs farmers you know the deal and country folk only tend to call for help when they are knee deep in trouble.
So the nite watch would really only apply to 6 stations out of 20 so thats probably why we do not do it any more.
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
