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Should all members of a department have portable radio's
I am on a small department in south west Iowa. We have 25 members and cover 2.2 sqaure miles. 22 of our 25 members live in town. Only officer's can respond to the scene and everybody else goes to the station. Our chief issued a HT 1000 portable radios to all the members . My idea was to mount chargers on the wall near the trucks if it's a fire call grab a radio on your way out the door because I dont think that all members need a radio assigned to them. But he wanted everybody to take a radio home with them even though the rules he laid out says that only officers will go enroute over the radio for all calls, EMT's /paramedics for medical, and divers for water rescue. The firefighters are not allowed to talk on the main dispatch channel only our fireground channel. I also think that there is more potential for these radios to be broken or stolen just lying around somebodys house or left in a POV. Does anybody else have an opinion on this.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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This has been discussed in great detail. Check out my discussion from a few months ago, "Portable Radios- One for Every Crew Member or do you Have to Share?"
As for my opinion:
If your SOP's are that only officers can respond to the scene and FF's have to respond to the station, then I don't think that everyone needs an assigned radio. I agree that after the novelty of having their own radio wears off, they will start leaving them laying around, or let the battery wear down or worse, lose them! Besides the fact that if they have a radio, they feel that they need to talk on them with unnecessary radio traffic. Put the radios in chargers on the wall and take them as needed when responding to the station for a call. As long as there are enough radios that if 100% of your members respond, they all have a radio. No Firefighter should be on a scene without a radio. That's my 2 cents, stay safe!
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Permalink Reply by jason head on
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Yes ever one needs a radio . butt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! us it the propper way
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Permalink Reply by john on
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In our county all personnel have a personal radio issued to them after probation(24 Station's) from there own dept. It's mandated by the county this way all personnel is to check in at that time (not after 5 min. have already went buy) to EOC that there is personnel in route to station are direct also it gives first on scene to give a size up of manpower for the job at hand. Radios have identifier's in them with station number first 19, then firefighter number second 56 . (1956) Also all officers have numbers that or any 1 are Chief, 2 are Capt. 3 Lt. (1901, 1921,1931 Chief, 1902,1922 Capt) so on, all 0 are for ambulance(1910,1920) after the personnel check in they are to go to the repeater's and stay off main dispatch are to a talk around channel, all radios have the other station's channel in them to so for mutual aid they can be used on there fire ground also, A cell phone is good but when you chance on to a emergency with no signal you just can't beet a radio. With the identifier it is easy to find the person that is abusing the equipment. Also we are starting to purchase a radio from Motorola the TURBO it is a neat tool that when we feel that radio chatter is getting out of hand we can shut that radio off from the Chief are Asst. Chief radio.
Hope it helps with what you are try to figure out
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Permalink Reply by Cory on
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I'm going to keep this very short. No Way , No How , keep them in the trucks on a charger for your interior attack teams. Only issue radios to your officers. I know from experience radios for all members leads to one thing ; Everybody trying to talk at once!! No Good no matter how you look at it. This usually leads to a heated debate in our area on and off duty. And I don't believe it will ever be resolved.
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Permalink Reply by Just Plain Craig Moyer on
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I don't see giving radios to every member but having radios for each person on the engine, rescue, ladder what ever. Do you really need a radio sitting on the dresser at home? And do all the member make runs? I see buying a radio for each seat and leaving them in chargers on the equipment. If you need to call something in then you use a cell phone.
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Permalink Reply by Tiger Schmittendorf on
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Kudos to my Chief for thinking outside the box.
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Permalink Reply by PFC Harmon on
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My dept. like many others cover a large area so we have alot of ff's going enroute pov sometimes beating the engine there by 30 minutes so yes every member needs a radio. I have a portable and a truck mounted radio.
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If you've got personnel ariving on the scene 30 minutes before the engine, what do they do, stand around and look cool in their gear for a 1/2 hour?
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Permalink Reply by Damon Dyer on
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Maybe you need another station closer to that area .
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Permalink Reply by Spanner 122 on
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If he wants to assign a radio to each person, then I wouldn't balk at it... at least you know everyone will have one. It does seem to make more sense to keep them in station if you can't respond in a POV, but it's your Chief's call.
I think every firefighter NEEDS a radio. Unfortunately in my department, 3 radios on a pump for 4 guys, 2 on an aerial for 3 guys. I know I would hate to be the one separated if I didn't have a radio. Recipe for disaster.
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Permalink Reply by BillySFCVFD on
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VFDs and fire scenes are a variable animal. Some VFDs have enough manpower to handle almost any scene, some don't and some are border line on this. Having a radio for every possible responder helps the IC quickly size up the scene and the manpower needed by listening to the radio traffic by incoming FFs especially those in POVs. The IC, early on, can determine if mutual aid is needed or 10-22 those who are not, saving time, energy and promote safety. For those close to a station and can respond in a fire vehicle an issued radio can help once on scene. Our VFD uses their radios for this purpose and abuse and confusion are rarely a problem. It depends on your needs and use. Works good here thou. TCSS
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Permalink Reply by Bob Shelly on
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Your Chief may want to think about that. There is always someone who likes to hear themselves yak on the radio, with what they might think is important, but they end up stepping on the FF inside screaming for ventilation. When scenes go to hell in a hand basket it usually starts out with poor communications and if every one on scene has a radio when the sh** hits the fan everyone tries to solve the problem all at once on the air. Been there, saved that foundation.
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