A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

[CorPse]

hey gang,

 

FINALLY getting my Dark Champs campaign off the ground...

 

and I would love to find a source for those neat numeric dispatch codes you hear people toss around on crime shows. I want the campaign cranked up to maximum grittiness and this will be just another way to get that feel.

 

And if there's a similar thing for paramedics/Fire Dept. that would be great, too.

 

Will give Rep to whomever helps - is someone can explain the Rep system to me!

 

Personally keeping the streets full of human filth,

C:sneaky:rPse

[Captain Obvious]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/polcodes.htm

 

These vary from place to place. Do a Google search for "10 codes" and a city name, and you find a lot of them. I'm not sure about fire and rescue codes, or how many they would even need. I mean, pretty much, the fire department knows they're going to a fire most times, right?

[CorPse]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

Sweet! Found some other resources, too.

 

I'll Rep you up if you can explain how it works!

 

RIP,

CorPse

[Mantis]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

Paramedics would use Priority codes according to the severity of the injuries and number of persons injured. In South Australia they have Categories:

 

1: Failed primary assessment, life threatening, two ambulances automatically despatched.

2: Failed secondary assessment, possibly life threatening.

3: Active treatment required, not life threatening.

4: Patient transfer, treatment required, patient stable.

5: Patient transfer, observation required.

6: Patient transfer, no active treatment required.

 

Light and sirens are only supposed to be used for Category 1 and 2 despatches.

 

The following is just background on emergency services locally, I can't help with specific codes:

 

Ambulance services also have special elite teams for use in dangerous rescues (e.g. someone falls down a cliff in inaccessible terrain).

 

Fire services would also have different codes based on the severity of the fire and the consequent risk to life and property. In addition, in SA the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) also deals with rescues from car accidents and other incidents, including animal rescue. A separate organisation, the Country Fire Service (CFS) is a volunteer organisation who deals mainly with bushfires. In spite of the name, CFS stations are not only found in rural areas but are in outer suburbs as well.

 

A fourth organisation, the State Emergency Service (SES), is a volunteer organisation which provides a pool of individuals who can assist the authorities in time of emergency or disaster. They are most often in action providing emergency repairs to storm damage, but also assist in rescues and in fighting large bushfires.

[Toadmaster]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

For the most part in the U.S. Fire and Rescue (including Paramedics) use clear text (they say what the mean) and don't use codes anymore. About the only time they use codes is for a handful of subjects when dealing with crime scenes primarily dead bodies, this varies from pretty obvious ones like coroners case, DB (dead body) to various 10 and 11 codes.

 

Radio shack used to carry a scanner book that listed radio frequencies, it had a listing of common 10 and 11 codes. (edit) Ah I see you already have a pretty good list of those nevermind.

 

 

While clear text is plain english there are a few "codes" really just standardized responses.

 

Enroute - non-emergency response to location

 

Responding - emergency response to location

 

In service, AOR (available on radio) - out of the station on a detail but available for responding to emergencies, or clear of the last call.

 

In quarters, AIQ (available in quarters) - unit is back in the station

 

On delay or Delayed response - available for response but will have a delayed response, often used during training drills since the crew may be away from the vehicle or have to put equipment back on the engine (truck, ambulance).

 

Code 2 - urgent, non emergency response (no lights & siren, following traffic laws)

 

Code 3 - emergency response (lights & siren)

 

On scene - unit has arrived at the location of the emergency (usually followed by a report of conditions)

 

Thats about it unless you expect an extensive use of fire & rescue, there are plenty of accornyms, slang etc but that could go on for days.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

Sweet! Found some other resources, too.

 

I'll Rep you up if you can explain how it works!

 

RIP,

CorPse

At the top right-hand corner of each post you'll see the post number (in this thread) a set of scales, and a "warning" sign.

 

Click on the set of scales and a pop-up will open that lets you enter in a comment telling the person WHY you're giving rep to them for that post. Enter your comment & submit it. That's all there is to it.

 

May you rep well and long!

[Trebuchet]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

I used to own a police scanner and I figured out the El Paso PD's codes prety well. I even figured out their patrol districts by listening who they sent to what addresses and marking it on a city map. (I worked at Police HQ for about 6 months as security, and I had a cop friend check my districts after about a year and he was amazed at how accurate my map was. He said it was about 95% accurate.) Unit 422 was the 2nd unit in District 42, 423 was the third unit in District 42, and so on. Districts typically had 3 or 4 units on duty at any given moment. Figure at least one of those was transporting a prisoner downtown or at an auto accident at any given moment. For big situations they'd send in vehicles from neighboring districts but otherwise the patrol units stayed within their assigned patrol areas.

[Mantis]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

Just thought of something else - I've heard the term "five-alarm fire" referring to a major blaze. Presumably there is a sliding scale from one to five, but I don't know the criteria.

[Mightybec]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

Code 4 is the most important one of all. That's when I'm sitting on my ass because nothing is happening.

[Toadmaster]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

Just thought of something else - I've heard the term "five-alarm fire" referring to a major blaze. Presumably there is a sliding scale from one to five' date=' but I don't know the criteria.[/quote']

 

Alarms are not universal but it is a pretty common system, another term used in some areas is boxes.

 

This is what we use in my area (off the top of my head). It also varies based on the size and type of building or if it is a wildland fire instead of a structure fire.

 

Still alarm, 1 engine (this would be for a likely false alarm)

 

1st alarm 3 engines, 1 truck, 1 rescue, 1 battalion chief (this is the typical dispatch for a reported fire, if the fire building is high risk like a warehouse, hotel etc more units are assigned on the 1st alarm based on the hazard)

 

2nd alarm 2 more engines and another truck

 

3rd alarm 3 more engines, another truck and another battalion chief

 

I'm in an area with several small cities so if we get past 3rd alarm it pretty much means we ran out of fire department and additional resources will be requested on an as needed basis from further out. In a large city like Oakland or San Francisco they typically can go as high as 6th alarm before they run out of stuff

 

With wildland fires there is an additional modifier based on the weather and time of year, low, medium and high dispatch levels.

 

During the winter months a report of a wildland fire would get a 1st alarm assignment probably just 1 wildland engine to go check it out. During the Summer the same call would get a high dispatch typically 4 heavy wildland engines, 2 light wildland engines, 1 battalion chief, 2 helicopters, 2 air tankers, 2 handcrews, a dozer and a water tender, a second alarm would just about double this.

 

 

A few terms

 

Engine - fire apparatus that pumps water

 

Truck - fire apparatus that has a large hydraulic ladder (the hook & ladder)

 

Rescue - fire apparatus that carries lots of rescue equipment for a variety of emergencies (these are usually big trucks with a box like a beer truck on the back).

 

Battalion Chief - low level chief officer, the next step above a company officer (a crew supervisor), the BC supervises several fire stations

 

Heavy wildland engine - larger wildand engine built on a large truck

 

Light wildland engine - small wildland engine built on a pick up truck

 

Helicopters - these can carry firefighters or a large water bucket

 

Air tanker - fixed wing aircraft that drops fire retardant, also know as Borate bombers or fire bombers. Until recently many were retired WW2 bombers.

 

Hand crew - 15-20 person firefighting hand crew

 

Dozer - bulldozer

 

Water tender - water truck

 

 

Of course this varies by area but this is fairly representitive of the US.

 

 

Some other terms you may hear

 

Job - a decent fire that uses more than just a fire extinguisher (something more than a burnt pot on the stove)

 

All hands fire - this is a fire that uses all of the first alarm assignment, also known as a worker or full bagger.

 

Bread and butter fire - the typical smallish fire that fire departments see the most, generally confined to one room, also known as a room and contents fire.

[Starwolf]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

In my locality how many alarms roughly equates to how many firehouses are dispatched to a scene. So 1 alarm means 1 firehouse (which trucks and how many are dictated by the type of emergency), 2 alarm means respnders are dispatched from 2 firehouses. Using this method a 5 alarm fire is a very bad blaze indeed.

[Red Knight]

Re: A source for Police & Fire Dept. Dispatch Codes?

 

The 10-Codes that you hear so much of are NOT universal. Each department has the option to use their own 10-codes. The department I work for uses a set that is different than those previously posted. This can and does lead to problems with interdepartmental communications.

 

The Fire and Ambulance services use "Plain English" to avoid any such confusion.

 

A funny story I once heard was that a Part-time officer was working with two different departments. One night, after a busy shift he was returning to base and radioed in that he was going for fuel. He used a 10-code. When he arrived at the pumps he found a SWAT van, fire trucks and an ambulance waiting for him. Apparently, he had used the 10-code from his other job. What he thought was "Going to get Fuel", was actually, "Have an explosive device"

 

Just a little humor.... kinda....

 

 

Anyway... in regards to the # of alarms. Generally, the # of alarms = how many fire stations are called out.

 

Now you know