Rural Depts--how do you find addresses? - My Firefighter Nation2024-03-29T16:00:20Zhttps://my.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/rural-deptshow-do-you-find?commentId=889755%3AComment%3A3470156&%3Bfeed=yes&%3Bxn_auth=no&feed=yes&xn_auth=noWell im not rural but in are…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-17:889755:Comment:34753462009-02-17T01:04:40.420ZDennis Brownhttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/DennisBrown
Well im not rural but in are town they use reflective numbers on there house and plus when we go out for driver training we drive up & down each street so we get used to the address in the town like from the beach to the main rd .# start low at the beach and go up and each rig has GPS in it for us dummies and at the station we have a board that lights up with the address it helps out to
Well im not rural but in are town they use reflective numbers on there house and plus when we go out for driver training we drive up & down each street so we get used to the address in the town like from the beach to the main rd .# start low at the beach and go up and each rig has GPS in it for us dummies and at the station we have a board that lights up with the address it helps out to Great map! Lots of informatio…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-17:889755:Comment:34752662009-02-17T00:37:42.865ZRabbithttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/Rabbit
Great map! Lots of information. You obviously put a lot of time and effort into this. Thanks, Michael.
Great map! Lots of information. You obviously put a lot of time and effort into this. Thanks, Michael. By GPS- systems nowadays.
dis…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-16:889755:Comment:34728382009-02-16T12:43:19.710ZFinn Volunteerhttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/FinnVolunteer
By GPS- systems nowadays.<br />
dispatchers signs a call, same time our fireengines GPS-system wakes up and red dot appears to a map.<br />
Paper maps are still in use as backup, if and when this new "star wars"- system fails..<br />
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At old days it was that "Big tree-> left, third road to right, over the hill and far a away"<br />
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Fifefighters who now their area by street by stree,t are still irreplaceable.
By GPS- systems nowadays.<br />
dispatchers signs a call, same time our fireengines GPS-system wakes up and red dot appears to a map.<br />
Paper maps are still in use as backup, if and when this new "star wars"- system fails..<br />
<br />
At old days it was that "Big tree-> left, third road to right, over the hill and far a away"<br />
<br />
Fifefighters who now their area by street by stree,t are still irreplaceable. I dispatch and am fire/ems. I…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-16:889755:Comment:34725942009-02-16T08:20:25.771ZGeorgehttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/George19
I dispatch and am fire/ems. If in a city we will give the house and street number along with any cross street if needed. When its a county call we will tell units that is house so many from a cross street. Also we try and educate the public about having house numbers being visible from the roadway. The county nor any of the cities have any requirements other than having a house number. This sucks as you know because the little 2 inch number on the house that has been painted over 4 gillion…
I dispatch and am fire/ems. If in a city we will give the house and street number along with any cross street if needed. When its a county call we will tell units that is house so many from a cross street. Also we try and educate the public about having house numbers being visible from the roadway. The county nor any of the cities have any requirements other than having a house number. This sucks as you know because the little 2 inch number on the house that has been painted over 4 gillion times is not something you see day or night when responding. Dispatch here does all it can in helping to locate houses for the units responding. Your maps look very usable Mi…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-16:889755:Comment:34718422009-02-16T05:45:38.778ZTony Phttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/TonyPowell
Your maps look very usable Mike. But you had to go to all that effort? We just get metropolitan street directories for the urban areas and topographic (with roads and buildings) map books issued to us for the rural areas of the State. Ahh, the joys of being a state-wide fire service!
Your maps look very usable Mike. But you had to go to all that effort? We just get metropolitan street directories for the urban areas and topographic (with roads and buildings) map books issued to us for the rural areas of the State. Ahh, the joys of being a state-wide fire service! Hey Frank great idea....a lit…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-16:889755:Comment:34715532009-02-16T04:27:11.935ZPaul Montpetithttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/Heuvelton
Hey Frank great idea....a little problem though....our district goes North for approximayely 11 miles....South for about 13 miles east for about 17 miles and west about 20 miles......You think you could learn every street, road (County Rt and State Rts) and address...?? Good luck Brother.....Paul....Actually we don't have to worry too much....Dispatcher tells us where to go and sometimes even how to get there.....LOL
Hey Frank great idea....a little problem though....our district goes North for approximayely 11 miles....South for about 13 miles east for about 17 miles and west about 20 miles......You think you could learn every street, road (County Rt and State Rts) and address...?? Good luck Brother.....Paul....Actually we don't have to worry too much....Dispatcher tells us where to go and sometimes even how to get there.....LOL In my county in S.E. Tennesse…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-16:889755:Comment:34714692009-02-16T04:10:04.441ZPaul Westhttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/PaulWest
In my county in S.E. Tennessee the central dispatch which most local jurisdictions contract with they use a high dollar CAD/GPS coordinate computer system for dispatch, however it's nearly impossible to get them to give nearest cross street and its on the monitor right in front of them. Its a hold over from the days of, go to the big oak tree and turn right and they don't like change here. One example is a dispatch to "Valley View Hwy.", This road runs for approx. 45 miles thru three counties…
In my county in S.E. Tennessee the central dispatch which most local jurisdictions contract with they use a high dollar CAD/GPS coordinate computer system for dispatch, however it's nearly impossible to get them to give nearest cross street and its on the monitor right in front of them. Its a hold over from the days of, go to the big oak tree and turn right and they don't like change here. One example is a dispatch to "Valley View Hwy.", This road runs for approx. 45 miles thru three counties but you have to force a cross street out of them. By the way, none of the dispatchers have field experience in fire, police etc. One saving grace is still being a relatively rural county, somebody on duty knows generally where a call is and occasionally the citizens in scanner land ( and thats most of the county) will call dispatch and "feed" them info that they have at their fingertips. The county has a 911 director and the whole county mapped/addressed good but he has no authority over dispatch protocol. We sell reflective address si…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-16:889755:Comment:34714092009-02-16T04:02:11.403ZGreghttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/Greg29
We sell reflective address signs that we make ourselves. We order the supplies in bulk and then make them at a low cost. We dont use this as a fund raiser, just getting the address where we can see them is benefit enough. We go door to door some, include in fund drive requests, local weekly paper ads etc.
We sell reflective address signs that we make ourselves. We order the supplies in bulk and then make them at a low cost. We dont use this as a fund raiser, just getting the address where we can see them is benefit enough. We go door to door some, include in fund drive requests, local weekly paper ads etc. Going back just a few years w…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-16:889755:Comment:34711892009-02-16T03:25:48.247ZMike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retdhttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/CaptainBusy
Going back just a few years where I work, the map books, put together and updated by the engine company was the key and typically the only reliable way to find homes. Once a year, when we do our annual hazard abatement inspections for rural areas, we have the chance to not only go to every home in our 1st in but also took the time to make notations on our map books for any significant changes or updates.<br />
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These map book pages were critical if you wanted to find an address. Not everyone is good…
Going back just a few years where I work, the map books, put together and updated by the engine company was the key and typically the only reliable way to find homes. Once a year, when we do our annual hazard abatement inspections for rural areas, we have the chance to not only go to every home in our 1st in but also took the time to make notations on our map books for any significant changes or updates.<br />
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These map book pages were critical if you wanted to find an address. Not everyone is good about posting a reflective number for the address so we would use other tricks like looking for the nearest hydrant (with a blue street marker) to estimate where the house is located. Not all calls give you the proverbial "lume" from a distance. We also typically seem to have a bird dog on scene to lead us to the location if it is exceptionally difficult to locate.<br />
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Now with GIS and better technology, all of our hand drawn maps have been converted to a more accurate map that has all the structures pre identified using GPS coordinates. Down the road when we get the GIS tracking on all the engines, I am assuming that we will be able to see where we are on the map display in relation to where the address is and make any necessary corrections. All of the structures in my 1st in identified using a GPS for lat and long and are on my Garmin GPS. I did not have the patience to wait for the technolgy (and money) to come around. You may not be able to actually see the structure but if a fire is heading toward it, and you know the GPS coordinates, notifying air ops that you want the ridge behind 5442 Colson Canyon Road in conjunction with the known GPS coordinates stands a pretty good chance of getting things done, using 21st century technology...<br />
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Here is an example of a station generated map page I put together a few years back...<br />
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<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1922945821?profile=original" alt="" width="1275" height="1753"/></p>
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Failure to prepare is preparing for failure... preplanning your response is key here.<br />
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Please note that we took the time to flow the private hydrant system to give responders an idea as to how much water pressure they had, should they decide to tie into a hydrant. We also noted local terminology to describe locations along the coast where surfers are found. Four-wheel drive only roads are noted as well as anything that will help the company officer make appropriate tactical decisions. I did the mapping using photoshop, which is time consuming but accurate. Also, please note that there is a smaller area map on top of each map page to note where you are using the "big picture".<br />
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TCSS, Mike In our county the Sheriff 's…tag:my.firefighternation.com,2009-02-16:889755:Comment:34711352009-02-16T03:12:16.226ZAsst. Chief Bigshowhttps://my.firefighternation.com/profile/bigshow733
In our county the Sheriff 's Office/E-911 assigns the addresses. We have a county law that you are supposed to have your address posted at the end of the drive on a sign in colors that will stand out. E-911 also has like a book that describes what the house looks like, location (5th house on the right, etc.). And we carry map books in our apparatus' and pov's. The dispatchers do a great job of directing us most of the time. But we have been known to use such phrases as "turn left at the red…
In our county the Sheriff 's Office/E-911 assigns the addresses. We have a county law that you are supposed to have your address posted at the end of the drive on a sign in colors that will stand out. E-911 also has like a book that describes what the house looks like, location (5th house on the right, etc.). And we carry map books in our apparatus' and pov's. The dispatchers do a great job of directing us most of the time. But we have been known to use such phrases as "turn left at the red gate", " turn on the road across from the white fence".