huh?

[blueeighty88]

I'm sitting here at the computer, and I hear an MVA being dispatched in another county. They go w/ an ALS Service, Rescue Co., and an Engine Co.; The Rescue and Engine are on the road right away, I still haven't heard an ambulance respond; but it could just be I'm not picking it up. It's a good 7 miles from the town, and about ten for another towns fire department. Well, an off duty paramedic gets on scene, says the location and township. Whoops stop the boat. The chief of the responding engine says it's in the other companies area. The engine & rescue are almost on scene. The other company has not been dispatched.

The chief orders all of his units to recall b/c he would not be able to have command and feels they won't be able to properly operate; the medic-who is not on the fire band *1NOTE recalls the rescue b/c there is no entrapment. The medic asks for ETA of fire... Fire has self recalled. The other company has to be dispatched, they respond but ETA to the scene is about 15 minutes.

Does this sound right to you? How can it be possible, that two engine companies are incapable of working together? The second company dispatched sounds a bit steamed that the first recalled; I would be too.
I just had to rant about this, they sounded like such *********s, recalling them selves from an accident w/ injuries simply b/c they would not have command of the scene.


*1NOTE: They were fighting on the radio one evening, which just shows thier lack professionalism. They said "EMS has no place on the scene till fire is done, you people stay out till we tell you we're done." This was at an MVA w/ entrapment and serious injuries. Rescue took their good old time, and spent over an hour cutting the roof off w/ just a SawZall. They had a heavy rescue, but elected to take their time b/c they had a fight and wanted to make a point. They don't give a **** about the patient, as long as each company on scene can be in command. And this causes fights, big time; fighting to get to the scene first, EVERYONE responding to the scene... One person per apparatus so everyone on scene can be king of the hill. I'm an EMT, and once used their frequency to report that I was on scene (in POV) of an MVA w/ heavy entrapment & seven patients and needed units dispatched. The first unit on scene, pushed me aside and told me to use my own frequency next time. UGH! These people **** me off. None of the crews in my area are like this, how do these companies get to be so bad. I should record some of their calls and post them; EMS units taking 30 minutes to get out the door-no 2nd due dispatched.

[RLFD14]

[opinion=on]

[disclaimer] I don't know all of the circumstances so this response only takes into account what info was provided [/disclaimer]

Companies should respond according to their districts, unless someone is way out of position or conversely in a better position to provide much more rapid response. Dispatcher skills go a long way in determing when either case is true. This of course assumes all involved parties have signed mutual aid agreements.

I think the first companies should have continued. At least the engine, anyway.

I can recall a time on a past department when the address for our Township district was confused with a similar one in the City, about seven miles North. 5495 Hwy 35 in the Township is pretty far away from 5495 Main Ave (which is also Hwy 35) in the City. It was dispatched as Main Ave, so the City career staff responded. When the City's first engine arrived and found no fire, they guessed at the mistake and headed out of town towards the new address as we were paged, while the City's other rigs went back in service. They beat us to the call, and stopped the kitchen fire cold with just their rig, their 500 gallons on board, and the three man crew. Saved the house. Won't get into OSHA and all, but there is some long-standing animosity between these departments yet it did not keep them from doing the right thing because they were in the right position - I can assure you that they would not have have risked their safety just to show us up. I wish all departments could get set aside their relationships and do the right thing when they can, like this case worked out.

[/opinion]

[Dave1105]

One word mate... ego..... I wouldn't worry about it, if it's not your area there aint much you can do. Eventually it will bite them in the butt and they will have to change the way things are.... In the mean time keep doing things the right way and set an example.. it's all you can do.

[blueeighty88]

I'm not worried about it, it just really ****ed me off to hear an emergency service provider talk that way.

People are forgetting that we are all here to save lives. I always give my Julian Wise speech when I hear people do this in person; but I just felt better about ranting in here.

[firefighterbeau]

The first dispatched units should have kept going, I remember a time last summer we were called to a hay fire, our assitant chief kept sayin over the radio that it wasn't in our district. I told him flat out that 2 units would continue until someone got there to determine where exactly it was, happen to be 50 feet into another district. The point is the exact same one that was made in an earlier post, we got there and started putting fire out as the units whos district it was in showed up. With MVC's your dealing with someones life, if your already on your way continue til, you are released. Companys and depts really need to learn to work better together.

[dmleblanc]

We have had several instances when we were dispatched by mistake into a neighboring department's area (usually due to mis-programmed 911 address). Our usual response to this situation is to continue to respond. We notify Dispatch that the address is out of our district, request that the proper department be dispatched, and advise that we are continuing enroute. We will only cancel our response when the department having jurisdiction says it's OK. (Normally, by the time all this communication takes place, we're nearly on scene anyway)

I agree that we must place the needs of our patient/customer/victim/public whatever, above any petty ego trips or sacred boundary lines. The delay caused by the erroneous dispatch already has that department playing catch-up. I'd hate to think that we lost a building (or a life! ) just because we can't all play nice with each other.

[Weruj1]

It is no secret that we dont have the best relationship with our southern mutual aid neighbors we border. If we end up in their area we notify their dispatch in case they want a crew to come out. They sometimes do the same for us, but either way...............someone needs help and lets sort out the details later. The only time I have a different opinion is when a department gets an address that is CLEARLY not in their area, if it is an unknown then do what you gotta do and sort it out later.

[Dickey]

Now children.......fight nice!!!

[firefighterox]

We had the same thing happen to us, twice. First time was before i was on the dept. got dispatched for a RV fire and the caller only knew the last town he went through was ours and he was on Rt. 26, so lee county 911 called bureau county 911 had us dispatched, and lee county dispatched two other depts that this call might have been in their districts. we got to the edge of our district and kept going cause we didnt know anyone else had been dispatched, so we get on scene and start putting the fire out and another dept shows up and their asst. chief starts freakin out at one of our guys for going to the fire and how it isnt our district and so on and so forth.* my uncle who is our asst chief, freaks out. he threw his gloves on the road and said if it wasnt for the cops there the next thing hitting the ground would be his a**. that was our bad story now the good story. I was listening to the nosy channel on my pager i heard our next town over get paged for a possible structure fire. and then the dispatcher just stopped. then she came back on and said be advised this is in Ohio Fire's district, will page them out next. so we get paged out and respond get on scene start putting it out while the other dept shows up. We didnt realize they never got cancelled and told them they could just go home, politely.
*= the funny thing was the asst chief freaked out about it not being our district, it wasnt his either.

[Dave404]

Who cares who's area it is - as long as the people that called 911 get the service they required. It is about serving the public. If I am called to a situation and it is out of our "RESPONSE AREA" I will advise the dispatch and continue on until stood down by an on scene unit. If a neighboring department is responding into our area they advise us (usually MVA) I will ask if they require assistance and if they do we will respond.

Boundries are a thing of the past - get a unit to the scene as quick as possible - we should all be able to work together to achieve a common goal - preservation of life!

Just my thoughts.

[ftfdverbenec770]

why cant we all just share our toys and play nice.

[ROOKIELZ]

why cant we all just share our toys and play nice.

Exactly! Get the job done and forget the turf wars. Don't impose but don't neglect; that's all you need to do. Oh; and tell the other team if they did a good job.