Crews don't wake up!

[cdenney]

An issue has been encountered with crews not waking up. They don't hear the in place alerting system.

Current system consists of a set of tones that increases the volume and is followed by a warble. There is only 1 speaker in the bunk room that sleeps 8.

Any ideas on how to resolve this growing problem other than terminating those that don't wake up?

[Bones42]

More speakers?

[cdenney]

Also looking for more to see what other orgs have done that have experienced the same issue, along with what systems are out there.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Do the tones activate the house lights?

I think you need more speakers and greater amplification in the bunk room.

[cdenney]

No house light activation, just tones with warble that wakes up entire department for every call. 3 Stations

[JayDudley]

I've heard of Departments removing the beds and putting the crews on 8 hr shifts and NO!! sleeping. The problem is that it's tough on the neighborhood when your out at 2:00 a.m. testing your hoses or drilling with the hurst.
I'm with the rest when they say "Connect your tones with the lights and more BIGGER speakers.

[GTRider245]

Some kind of house alarm is needed. In my previous full time department we had a house alarm that was manualy activated by the dispatcher. Few seconds pause in between that and the tones made sure we didnt miss anything. It was impossible to sleep through the house alarm. Comparible to a basketball court buzzer, in the bunkroom. The house lights were also connected to the system.

[FireMedic049]

Any ideas on how to resolve this growing problem other than terminating those that don't wake up?

Wire up the beds for electrical shocks with the dispatch?

[jbrescue]

We use the Zetron system. It allows up to 6 different tones. Station one, station two, all call, etc. We have guys that have slept through tones, but it seems better since there are multiple tones. This way, they don't seem to get so used to just one tone.

[FiremanEMT911]

Thats when the buddy system comes in handy lol
we get a call u wake my *** up if im not up

[nameless]

seems like 1 of 8 should be waking up and then they can wake up the rest.

Either that or go back to having someone pull watch and the watch desk overnight.

[Gamewell45]

An issue has been encountered with crews not waking up. They don't hear the in place alerting system.

Current system consists of a set of tones that increases the volume and is followed by a warble. There is only 1 speaker in the bunk room that sleeps 8.

Any ideas on how to resolve this growing problem other than terminating those that don't wake up?

Remove the beds??

[reebokHCFR]

No house light activation, just tones with warble that wakes up entire department for every call. 3 Stations

wow, that's horrible. I couldn't imagine that, though I assume the call volume is rather low. even still, one of my big things about working for the FD (as opposed to the system status ems I was in at first) was having tones and lights come on so you didn't have to listen to the radio all day. but if every station gets toned out for every call, it's no wonder people are missing and sleeping through calls. I'm sure money is an issue, and I'm not real sure what to tell you, but pagers going off for only the station/unit that needs to respond would help, as well, of course, getting a real alert system tied into the lights which alerts only the station that needs to respond. my dept uses Locution (actually no one has told me that but we have the cadvoice exactly like the sample at www.locution.com) and my last dept used a zetron system.

[trendle]

Second the house alarm idea. We use a yelp siren for our house alarm. Each station has 2 tones set off by dispatch followed by the message. The second tone kicks off the siren, about 3 seconds in length. During the day we monitor all stations, at night we change to alert and the second tone opens the speakers AND kicks off the siren. Speakers in the bunkroom, etc. If you DO sleep through it your bed will get a kick.

[TNFF319]

I can't believe that all 8 sleep right through it. Switch to someone taking the watch at night.

[charlie82]

My uncle is deaf, and his alarm clock is hooked to a vibrating pad under his sheets. Hook those up, it feels like a hammer drill.

[A SHIFT FF]

If possible, I would see about assigning different tones for each of the stations. Being creatures of habit it does not take long to unintentionally sleep through the tones when 66% of the time it is for one of the other stations anyway. If your dispatching agency is up to date enough, they should have the technology to give an apparatus or station assignment according to the type and size of incident. That would allow them to select only the assigned station.

My previous department had a car alarm placed in the ceiling tiles right above our heads. The lights came on with the alarm when our station received an assignment. Scared the sh** out of us every time.

[bgk603]

My Dept has a Pager tied in too the loud speaker so that when the Tones Drop the Pager Trips and it comes over the Loud Speaker But the idea someone had about tieing the lights in to the alarm system is not a bad idea either

[alecshawn1]

An issue has been encountered with crews not waking up. They don't hear the in place alerting system.

Current system consists of a set of tones that increases the volume and is followed by a warble. There is only 1 speaker in the bunk room that sleeps 8.

Any ideas on how to resolve this growing problem other than terminating those that don't wake up?

Why not kick their bed?
As for termination? What are you? a jerk?
Seriously, w ehave a few guys that WONT get up unless you make them.
Not really a big deal, you just kick their bed ,go pee and then go on the run.

[JayDudley]

Alecshawn 1- I thought you said" I'm gone" I'm sorry" etc. etc.