Should every member have a portable radio?

[carterlakecapt]

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.

[nmfire]

We have 30+ Portable radios however we put them in chargers on the apparatus. There is enough portable radios for each SCBA on the truck. For the medical, utility, and brush trucks, there are two each. The end-result is the same, enough for everyone to have one on-scene. But in our case, keeping them charged on the apparatus is far more reliable.

[Bones42]

we put them in chargers on the apparatus.

Same deal here.

[BoxAlarm187]

Only our Chief, Assistant Chief, and Senior Captain are issued radios. The rest are mounted in chargers on the vehicles.

[FireMedic049]

Personally, I don't see a problem with this as long as your people have the requested radio discipline and you have the resources.

My department (small career) issued us radios a year or two ago and we've had no problems that I'm aware of regarding inappropriate use, theft, damage or anything else and we're in a "higher than average" crime area.

[nmfire]

The success or failure of issuing them to personnel is definately based on how seriously they take it and how diciplined they are. It is HUGE responsibility.

They need to remember to charge the battery at least once a week if they keep it in their gear or in their car. Once winter rolls around, expect that to be more like twice a week or more when it gets really cold. They absolutely have to keep up with this or the radios will be useless.

[Eng34FF]

We have portables mounted in the apparatus in chargers and issue them to Captains and above only. This seems to work OK.

It would be nice to be able to issue everybody a portable, but out county limits the number that we can have. As a practical matter, since members are not allowed to respond to the scene (officers excepted), they have no need for their own radio. For us, the money is better spent somwhere else.

[WaterbryVTfire]

My department has issued radios to most of our interior qualified people. Some keep them on their gear most times, other bring them home (like myself). I have given mine to officers when they have forgotten theirs.

[KB1OEV]

I would say, leave the radios at the station and distribute pagers to all the firefighters. That way you don't have radios with dead batteries or forgotten at home.

Thats what my dept does. Officers and EMT's get radios, everybody else gets pagers. We have a portable radio in the cab of each engine and a bank charger of HT1000s in our rescue truck. Each engine also has a headset wired into the truck radio for the pump operator.

[dfdlt109]

My department, a small volunteer organization having 35 members and 106 sq. miles of area, issue a radio to line officers, engineers, and squad leaders (drivers for the utility vehicles). The rest of the membership is issued a pager. Each of our radios are also equipped with an 'identifier' that sounds each time the PTT is hit, thus reducing A LOT of the misuse of the radios. We're in the process now of installing radios on each piece of apparatus for everyone else to use while on emergency calls.

[dmleblanc]

Well, I'm going to disagree with the majority of posters here and say that I think it's a good thing for all members to be issued their own radio. Of course, I'll admit that our department makeup is different than yours...although we have a similar number of members (around 30) we cover 75 square miles. Unlike your department, only a handful of members live near the station and can make the truck; many of them will respond POV to the scene out of necessity. Therefore, it's helpful for officers to know who is responding (or more importantly, how many are responding), so they can decide if they should call mutual aid for more manpower.

. 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. .

I haven't found this to be true. I find that when a member has his own radio, he tends to take better care of it than one he just "borrowed" from the station. We haven't really had a problem with it.

[NewHampshireFF]

Well, I'm going to disagree with the majority of posters here and say that I think it's a good thing for all members to be issued their own radio. Of course, I'll admit that our department makeup is different than yours...although we have a similar number of members (around 30) we cover 75 square miles. Unlike your department, only a handful of members live near the station and can make the truck; many of them will respond POV to the scene out of necessity. Therefore, it's helpful for officers to know who is responding (or more importantly, how many are responding), so they can decide if they should call mutual aid for more manpower.




I haven't found this to be true. I find that when a member has his own radio, he tends to take better care of it than one he just "borrowed" from the station. We haven't really had a problem with it.

I agree completely.

Don't confuse the problem. If your members lack radio discipline, THAT is the problem, not the fact that they have been issued radios.

Our policy is similar to the OPs. Officers direct to the scene at their discretion, EMT's direct on medical calls. All others to the station, and no need to tell dispatch you are on your way.

HOWEVER, during times when dispatch is concerned about the likliehood or speed of a response (i.e., during the work day) they frequently issue an, "any unit" call to find out if people are responding. Our firefighters need to be able to respond when called.

[quietone]

With the exception of officers, our portables stay in the charger on the trucks until the incident. We had at one time allowed personnel to take a radio with them, that proved to be useless.

We never had a problem with too much or inapropriate radio traffic. Our problem was that when a call came in, they didn't have the radio with them. It was at home in the charger. Didn't do us any good there. We took all of the radios and put 'em back on the truck.

[The nots so new FNG]

We are fortuneate. We have both radios for every riding position on the trucks and radio's issues to all FF's. We also are in the mode that many responders go straight to the scene rather than the station due to geography of our district.

I think we all agree that everyone on the fireground needs to have a radio. How that happens really is up to the response and operations guidelines of the department in question. (as well as thier fiscal status - radio's are expensive)

[ROOKIELZ]

All our firefighters have two way radios. They are kept in the hall. Members are to respond from the hall. Ocassionally, the Officers will take their radios home with them and we bring their gear on the apparatus with us.

[carterlakecapt]

Thanks for your guys opinions I do appreciate the ideas. We only have these radios because a large paid department that boarders us went to 800 and donated 28 HT1000 to us. Our old chief was the one who issued the radios to everybody and since we have a new chief I thought about bringing it up to him. I wouldnt have a problem with it but like most of the other posters have said usually when the call comes out the radios are at home in the charger and dont do us any good. We have not had any stolen or damaged as of yet except mine which was dropped in a bath tub full of water, although it seem like we are replacing alot of batteries. I dont know if they are just old or are left on the chargers too long.

[ndvfdff33]

I'd say keep them in the station. This way nobody will forget theirs, the radios will be constantly charged and there will be no need to worry about someone abusing having a radio.

[TNFF319]

We give every member a radio. This cuts down the cost since we don't need to buy pagers. It also allows members to say they are responding to the station. This allows officers to know how many people they will have to work with. it also allows dispatch the ability to dispatch a second company if no one responds to the call. We make members sign an agreement that if they damage the radio they buy a new one. It works well for us.

[PineyPower]

No, not at all.

[dmleblanc]

usually when the call comes out the radios are at home in the charger and dont do us any good.

They shouldn't be at home in the charger. Members should be charging them when they're at home and when they're out and about they should have their radio with them (at least in their vehicle). That's dependent on the discipline of your members. Are their pagers at home on the charger when a call comes in?

although it seem like we are replacing alot of batteries. I dont know if they are just old or are left on the chargers too long.

Very good chance they're being left on the charger too long. Yet another argument for issuing them to members, so they'll get charged and discharged on a regular basis. Our radios can scan all the local channels, so some members like to carry them so they can listen to neighboring fire departments, sheriff's office, etc. Consequently, the batteries get cycled regularly.