Chapter 3 Fire Department Communications Flashcards
Fire department communications can be divided into two groups.
Internal and External
Internal Communications
consist primarily of radio transmissions between units and individuals during emergency operations.
External Communications
request from the public for both emergency and non emergency assistance.
Two broad categories of telecommunication systems.
Emergency service specific telecommunications center, Public Safety answering point (PSAP).
Emergency Service Specific Telecommunications Center
Separate telecommunications or dispatch centers that the fire department, EMS, or police operates.
Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP)
Central location that takes all emergency calls and routes the call to the fire, EMS, or police dispatcher.
NFPA 1221
Standard for the installation, maintenance, and use of emergency services communications systems.
Information that should be gather upon receiving a emergency call.
The type of emergency, The location of he emergency, The number and location of people involved, The name and location of the caller, The callers call back number, The cross street, building name, neighborhood, area of city/county, or any nearby landmarks.
Over 96% of the U.S. has access to
Enhanced 911
Enhanced 911
combines telephones and CAD to provide dispatch with instant information such as phone #, address, and directions to the address.
What is a public alerting system?
Any system that the public can use to report an emergency.
Types of public alert systems
Telephones, two-way radios, wired telegraph circuit boxes, telephone fire alarm boxes, and radio alarm boxes.
Wired telegraph box
Very reliable. Only transmit the location and not the nature of the emergency. Notorious for false alarms.
Telephone alarm box
equipment with a telephone to allow direct voice contact with a telecommunicator. Some systems incorporate a wired telegraph and telephone alarm together.
Radio Transmitter box
Contain a independent radio transmitter and a battery or solar panel.
Most common forms of alarm notification in small towns?
Sirens, Whistles, and air horns.
Information broadcast to responders should include …
information received from the caller and information from the pre-incident plan developed for the specific address or similar facility.
Radio systems require you to have a knowledge of
Radio systems and how hey work, Limitations of radio communications, Fixed,mobile, and portable radios assigned to you.
Radio systems can be classified in three ways.
By there location and size, By the type of signal used, By the transmission signal.
Base station radios
Fixed, non mobile, radio at a central location.
Base stations have
stable, powerful transmitters and interference resistant receivers that provide better performance than mobile or portable radios.
Base station equipment includes a
receiver, transmitter, antenna, microphone, and speakers.
Mobile radios are mounted in …………..and are powered by the
apparatus, vehicles. Vehicles electrical system.
Mobile radios have better performance than portable radios but are not
as powerful as fixed location radios.
Portable radios are …………….devices
hand held
Portable radios that are used in a hazardous atmosphere must be
intrinsically safe
Intrinsically safe equipment
Equipment designed and approved for use in flammable atmospheres that is incapable of releasing sufficient electrical energy to cause the ignition of a flammable atmospheric mixture.
Radio signals travel between the transmitter and receiver in either of these formats.
analog or digital
Analog and digital signals travel over either of these two formats.
Amplitude Modulation (AM) (also known as medium wave signal), or Frequency Modulation (FM).
This does a better job of canceling naturally occurring noise by filtering frequencies that are not the human voice.
Frequency Modulation (FM)
A digital transmitter converts the voice in to these which are then broadcast to the receiver.
Digital data packets
Refers to the straight line travel of radio signals between the antenna connected to the transmitter and the antenna connected to the receiver.
Direct communication
When one radio transmits and another receives, the type of communication is callled
Simplex System
Used to increase the range of radio systems and to send signals over tall barriers.
Repeaters
A repeater use two radio frequencies for communication.
Receiving a communication on one signal and then sending that communication to another receiver on a separate signal.
Half duplex system
Allows for communication in both directions simultaneously. Give a example.
Full duplex system. Land line telephone.
Radio systems can be either of these two things.
Conventional or Trunked
Conventional radio system
Frequency is dedicated to one use, such as operations.
Trunked radio systems
Improve efficiency by assigning transmissions to available frequencies. This allows high volumes of traffic to be handled on multiple channels.
A term used to describe a failure tone
Bonk
Used to to distinguish among physical frequencies or channels in a conventional radio system.
Talkgroup
Features of trunked radio systems.
Mutigroup call, Private call, Dynamic regrouping
Mutigroup call
Used to transmit calls to two or more talk groups. When a connection is made the talk groups can talk to each other.
Private call
Permits one radio to call another radio like a telephone.
Dynamic regrouping
Emergency alert signal that when activated sends a signal to the agency dispatch center.
Use of plain language, including certain standard words and phrases, in radio communications.
Clear Text
4 main limitations or barriers to radio transmissions.
Distance, Physical Barriers, Interference, Ambient Noise.
An indication that the receiver is near the limit of its range.
Static and broken up messages
To overcome physical barriers when transmitting a radio signal do these three things.
Turn your body 90 degrees, lift the portable radio higher, raise the antenna up straight.
To improve transmissions while inside buildings consider
moving to a outside wall, roof, window, or doorway.
Sources of interference.
Another powerful radio signal, Vehicle Ignitions, Electric Motors, High Voltage Transmission Lines, Computers, Equipment that has microprocessors, Cell phone towers or transmitters, High power radio sites such as tv and radio systems.
Overcoming ambient noise is the responsibly of who?
The personal using the radio.
Ways to overcome ambient noise.
Turn off apparatus warning devices when they are no longer needed. Move away from noise emitting equipment, Follow radio procedures at all times, Move to a location that blocks wind, Use your body or PPE to create a wind barrier.
Six elements of generally accepted communication model.
Senders idea, Idea encoded and transmitted, Message decoded to receiver, Receiver idea, Idea encoded and transmitted, Decoded and received by original sender.
Sender
The person who initiates the message either verbally or non verbally.
Message
The content of the senders message. May include multiple human senses.
Receiver
Who the sender is attempting to communicate with. May be one receiver or multiple.
Feedback to the sender
Reaction of the message and its tone by the receiver. The receiver then becomes the sender.
Interference
Anything that prevents the receiver from understanding the message.
Two rules to follow with all radio transmission.
Units or individuals should identify themselves in every radio transmission, Receiver should repeat the essence of the message from the sender.
ABCs of good radio communication
Accurate, Brief, Concise
If you cannot be understood while transmitting while wearing a SCBA you should.
Hold the microphone to your throat
Time checks have two important functions.
Used to remind interior crews to check their air supply, Used to assist command to gauge if the strategies are effective.
When giving a tactical progrees report you should check your
air aupply
CARA report
Conditions, Actions, Resources, AIr
A mobile communication center can
monitor the tactical channel, monitor radios used by other agency’s that are not on the same channel, provide radios to personnel, maintain contact with the communications center.
Personnel Accountability Report (PAR)
A systematic method of confirming status of units operating at a incident.
One limitations of a PAR
it uses a considerable amount of radio time, espicially at larger incidents.
PAR can be requested at any time or at the following times.
Regular interval times. Incident is declared under control, Change in strategy, Sudden catastrophic even, Emergency evacuation, Firefighter is missing or in distress, Primary search has been completed, Safety Officer request it.
A incident report is a
legal document.
Incident reports gather information that is used for
Assessing dept needs, Budgeting, Determining trends in types of resources, Determining trends in firefighter injuries, Providing info for national fire safety data base, Determining trends in fire cause, Determining requirements for fire and life safety education programs, Providing info to insurance agency’s.
There is a direct connection between fire ground safety and
fire ground communication.
All fifty states participate in this, but not all departments do.
NFIRS
