Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FIRE DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATIONS MANUAL A BASIC GUIDE TO SYSTEM CONCEPTS AND EQUIPMENT

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 03:26:29 -0500

FIRE DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATIONS MANUAL A BASIC GUIDE TO SYSTEM CONCEPTS
AND EQUIPMENT

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
UNITED STATES FIRE ADMINISTRATION

1. Introduction

Communications is a crucial and rapidly evolving element of fire service
operations. Increased sophistication of equipment, incident command
systems, and radio frequency congestion are among the forces stimulating
change, and making it more essential than ever for fire officers to have
a good understanding of communications systems and policies.

Communications and communications systems also are critical to safe and
effective fireground performance. Lapses in communications and radio
difficulties have been implicated in numerous firefighter deaths across
the nation. Limited budgets are forcing fire departments to resort to
more
frequent mutual aid, which requires communication among agencies that
may not
operate on the same frequency.

Computer-aided dispatch systems are becoming increasingly popular. Once
found only in the largest departments, fire departments serving
communities of 100,000 population and below are now adopting these
systems. County dispatch centers serving volunteer or combination
departments also are installing these systems.

Planning for and working with these systems requires fire service
communications managers to be familiar with the concepts and
technologies behind them.

Other communications technology is changing rapidly too, with portable
facsimile machines, automatic vehicle location, computer-aided dispatch,
push-button vehicle statusing, more compact and powerful computer
hardware, and more sophisticated software available. National standards
for communications are changing as well. All of the above changes
require the fire service to keep abreast of communications technologies
more than ever before.

1 Chip Darius. "A Key to Interagency Communication," 9-1-1 Magazine,
January/ February 1991, p. 20.

Scope and Target Audience

This manual is written as an introduction to a variety of fire
department communications topics. It is intended to provide a wide fire
service audience with a minimum level of familiarity with communications
basics: hardware issues, policy and procedures issues, and human
resource issues. It attempts to provide some background on all major
aspects of communications for the fire service, with the exception of
call receiving systems (9-1-1, municipal street boxes, etc.).

The manual is designed to be useful for a wide range of purposes, from
developing specifications for new equipment to development of a
department-wide radio system to familiarizing a novice with the basics
of fire department communications.
In addition to the hardware of wires, radios, and computers, the manual
addresses the policies and planning processes that must be undertaken to
effectively use the hardware to achieve the desired result. Management
of communications through standard operating procedures and policies
also is discussed.

This manual is not a substitute for the numeroustechnical references in
the field, but rather is intended to provide enough detail to give the
reader some understanding of the concepts, and the ability to ask some
of the right questions when a system or procedure is being designed or
implemented.

Examples of fire departments using various communication systems are
cited throughout the text. A bibliography provides a range of existing
literature to get more detailed information.

This manual is not aimed at the expert. It is written in nontechnical
language and is intended primarily for use by those newly responsible
for planning, operating, or improving communications systems within
their fire department or agency, and others interested in understanding
more about fire department communications.

How to Use the Manual

The manual is designed to be used as a reference rather than read cover
to cover. Each section can be read separately as the need arises. For
design of a new system or a review of your department's operations, an
entire chapter or several chapters might be necessary. There is some
overlap among chapters to make them more stand-alone, and considerable
cross-referencing.  Many topics could have been placed in more than one
chapter, and it is suggested that readers scan the entire report to find
topics of interests.

Methodology

This manual was developed mostly by fire service chief officers who had
extensive experience in developing and/ or managing fire department
communications systems. It is written from their viewpoint rather than
that of engineers.
To supplement their personal knowledge, visits were made to five fire
departments reported to have excellent communications systems and
procedures.

(These are cited repeatedly as examples in the text, including photos of
their equipment.) The five fire departments were Dallas, Texas;
Huntington Beach, California; Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Palm
Beach, Florida; and Phoenix, Arizona.

Full Report:
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/txt/publications/fa-160.txt

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