Can you call "On the road, In service"?

[dmc2007]

I'll throw my $.02 in. I don't see a problem with public-service departments going out and running brief errands in their response area-- because they are also familiarizing themselves with community buildings, citizens, etc, and unlike police we aren't expected to be proactive in seeking calls. As long as the above doesn't put gross wear and tear on the vehicles and you remain ready to take calls.
I work for a private service-- so what I do with my time and vehicle and between me and my supervisors/company owner, generally not the public unless we're disrupting them. I'll admit it, I went to Target yesterday for 10 minutes on a 12/24 hour shift, then got lunch at Panera. I parked the truck in the parking lot about 15 spaces from the store, and left my partner in the truck (with it on, because it was effing cold and company policy requires it to be on for Rx temps). It's simply not practical for either me or my partner to drag the drug box through Target with us so the truck could be off.
In this case, we weren't working a 911 contract, but an ALS transfer/SCT truck. We do some STAT transfers, but were less than a mile from our contract hospital and could get there quickly if we needed.

South Bay Center...good times.

At my hometown volunteer service, there are few rules (don't even get me started), and we are allowed to be anywhere in our area and can generally be on the other side of our borders provided we stay close. We can go further with officer approval, but otherwise don't have to notify our four dispatch agencies, as they have no expectation of knowing where we are, nor do they care (again, don't me started).

At my campus service, we don't post in quarters, and can be anywhere in the response area. It's best to stay close to the center of campus, but otherwise we're free to do as we please.

At my commercial IFT job, we get assigned posts in general geographic areas, and can be anywhere tangentially close. If we need to step out, we can do so en route to post or once we get there. We can also make diversions if there is somewhere we need to go by calling dispatch and asking (they almost always say yes). We just call over the air to say we'll be out of the truck (we don't carry portables), and call back in when we return. Dispatch has our phone number and can reach us if they need us.

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

South Bay Center...good times.

At my hometown volunteer service, there are few rules (don't even get me started), and we are allowed to be anywhere in our area and can generally be on the other side of our borders provided we stay close. We can go further with officer approval, but otherwise don't have to notify our four dispatch agencies, as they have no expectation of knowing where we are, nor do they care (again, don't me started).

At my campus service, we don't post in quarters, and can be anywhere in the response area. It's best to stay close to the center of campus, but otherwise we're free to do as we please.

At my commercial IFT job, we get assigned posts in general geographic areas, and can be anywhere tangentially close. If we need to step out, we can do so en route to post or once we get there. We can also make diversions if there is somewhere we need to go by calling dispatch and asking (they almost always say yes). We just call over the air to say we'll be out of the truck (we don't carry portables), and call back in when we return. Dispatch has our phone number and can reach us if they need us.

How big are these response areas? Being allowed to be anywhere within your borders is a lot different when the area is 2 sq mi vs 200 sq mi...

 

[rescue1]

I am no firefighter, but I understand wearing those suits in the truck suck. Since the fire side of things around here are all volunteer, it actually does save time to get dressed first as you are waiting for manpower.

Yeah, in volly areas that's true. The county in question, though, had a paid county fire department that was expected to respond in a minute or so. In reality it saved no time, since it will take 30-45 seconds whether you do it before you get in or after you get out. I believe the original purpose to to prevent the practice of dressing while responding, since doing that would mean the firefighters wouldn't wear seatbelts, since they were putting on their coats and gloves while they rolled to the call.

 

[JPINFV]

How big are these response areas? Being allowed to be anywhere within your borders is a lot different when the area is 2 sq mi vs 200 sq mi...

For IFTs there often isn't a response area in the traditional sense. I had days at my first company where my first post and last post might be 50 miles away. It depends on how units are positioned and the type and location of the calls coming in.

 

[dmc2007]

How big are these response areas? Being allowed to be anywhere within your borders is a lot different when the area is 2 sq mi vs 200 sq mi...

Sorry, I should've Specified...

The vollie response area is around 11 square miles.

The area for my campus service hasn't been measured, but I'd peg it around .5 square miles, if that.

For my IFT job, we cover a fairly sizeable area, including much of the City of Boston, the immediate suburbs, as well as the area between Boston and Brockton, which are 20-25 miles apart. Our posts are generally in reference to a facility where our next call is coming out of, and we generally stay within a few blocks, but this is fairly lax provided we're on time for the pickup.

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

Yeah, in volly areas that's true. The county in question, though, had a paid county fire department that was expected to respond in a minute or so. In reality it saved no time, since it will take 30-45 seconds whether you do it before you get in or after you get out. I believe the original purpose to to prevent the practice of dressing while responding, since doing that would mean the firefighters wouldn't wear seatbelts, since they were putting on their coats and gloves while they rolled to the call.

Yeah I can see them wanting to prevent guys from dressing while the truck is moving.

Sorry, I should've Specified...

The vollie response area is around 11 square miles.

The area for my campus service hasn't been measured, but I'd peg it around .5 square miles, if that.

For my IFT job, we cover a fairly sizeable area, including much of the City of Boston, the immediate suburbs, as well as the area between Boston and Brockton, which are 20-25 miles apart. Our posts are generally in reference to a facility where our next call is coming out of, and we generally stay within a few blocks, but this is fairly lax provided we're on time for the pickup.

Yeah, that's not too large. Do they respond direct to scene or do they go into station first?

And when I was working for privates a lot of runs were scheduled, so you knew what time to be where. The ones that were not, you had 5 minutes to get back to your post if you decided to stray.

 

[DrParasite]

my former FT job had a coverage area of a little less than 6 sq miles of urban area. we could go wherever we wanted as long as we still had a rapid response to any calls. that means we typically didn't go to the far end of the city, because once you did, you were guaranteed to get a call on the other side of the city, and if it was rush hour, you were going to have an extended response.

my PT job is a little more than 13 sq miles of suburban area, and while we can go anywhere in town, we try to stay semi central so we have a rapid response to any calls.

my former volunteer squad is a little more than 22 square miles in size (suburban area). we could go anywhere in town, and occasionally crossed a town border to get food (since our station was half a mile from the town line). but we typically stayed in town.

at my current job (where i am in dispatch full time), all units are posted somewhere in the 25 sq mile city, usually north, south, east, west and central. We give then a street corner, but the reality is, as long as they are in the area they are assigned, and respond rapidly to any emergency calls, dispatch isn't going to be busting anyone's chops. Not only that, but if you want to get food from someone outside of your post, as long as you ask dispatch, it is almost never denied.

I've heard of IFT companies where you are posted at a hospital or facility, but most want you somewhere near the facility you are contracted with. Back when I dispatched IFT, i didn't care where my units went as long as 1) they answered the nextel when i called them 2) were within 10 minutes of a facility, and notified me if they were going to be further out and 3) were on time for their scheduled runs. The only time I got annoyed was when the facility wanted an immediate run, and I was trying to squeeze them into the schedule, and it took the unit 20 minutes to get to their designated hospital, resulting in cascading delays.

Dispatch isn't your enemy, and as long as you answer up for a job and get there quickly, most don't care what you are doing. and if you need to wander from your post or station, as long as you tell dispatch (because we cover for people waaaay more often than we look to screw someone or get them in trouble, despite what people say) and get back to your area as all of our bosses want, most dispatchers won't give you any grief.

 

[medicdan]

How big are these response areas? Being allowed to be anywhere within your borders is a lot different when the area is 2 sq mi vs 200 sq mi...

At least in the realm of the private I work for, it's not strictly about distance or area of posting location, but being able to get from wherever you are to wherever you're supposed to be in reasonable time-- usually 10 or 15 minutes in city traffic.

Crews try to "read" dispatch's intentions-- often to post us in advance of a specific scheduled call out of that area, but maintain available for other things if they come in. Depending on how busy the day is (and our informal gauge of it) controls our daring to run errands. I'll say that during the week days things are generally too busy to think about errands like I pulled off this past holiday weekend.

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

my former FT job had a coverage area of a little less than 6 sq miles of urban area. we could go wherever we wanted as long as we still had a rapid response to any calls. that means we typically didn't go to the far end of the city, because once you did, you were guaranteed to get a call on the other side of the city, and if it was rush hour, you were going to have an extended response.

my PT job is a little more than 13 sq miles of suburban area, and while we can go anywhere in town, we try to stay semi central so we have a rapid response to any calls.

my former volunteer squad is a little more than 22 square miles in size (suburban area). we could go anywhere in town, and occasionally crossed a town border to get food (since our station was half a mile from the town line). but we typically stayed in town.

at my current job (where i am in dispatch full time), all units are posted somewhere in the 25 sq mile city, usually north, south, east, west and central. We give then a street corner, but the reality is, as long as they are in the area they are assigned, and respond rapidly to any emergency calls, dispatch isn't going to be busting anyone's chops. Not only that, but if you want to get food from someone outside of your post, as long as you ask dispatch, it is almost never denied.

I've heard of IFT companies where you are posted at a hospital or facility, but most want you somewhere near the facility you are contracted with. Back when I dispatched IFT, i didn't care where my units went as long as 1) they answered the nextel when i called them 2) were within 10 minutes of a facility, and notified me if they were going to be further out and 3) were on time for their scheduled runs. The only time I got annoyed was when the facility wanted an immediate run, and I was trying to squeeze them into the schedule, and it took the unit 20 minutes to get to their designated hospital, resulting in cascading delays.

Dispatch isn't your enemy, and as long as you answer up for a job and get there quickly, most don't care what you are doing. and if you need to wander from your post or station, as long as you tell dispatch (because we cover for people waaaay more often than we look to screw someone or get them in trouble, despite what people say) and get back to your area as all of our bosses want, most dispatchers won't give you any grief.

That seems pretty reasonable. Out here, dispatch works for us, so they generally don't care where we are. If there is a delay in response, when it's CQ'ed we'd have to explain it to the chief. Dispatchers out here aren't out to get anyone--if they were, we'd change dispatching agencies!

We might let dispatch know that the primary truck is going for an oil change so that way they can dispatch the second due truck when the next run comes in, but once again, it's for our own benefit. Otherwise, we'd either have to dispatch it ourselves, or mark dispatch and have them re-dispatch it!

I've never understood the field crew vs. dispatch mentality--it seems to me we are all working together for the same goal...

 

[katgrl2003]

We can go anywhere in our first due. My area is about 2-3 miles wide, and 7 miles long. We don't have to ask permission to leave station, and can be out of the truck as long as we want as long as we have our portables with us.

 

[dmc2007]

Yeah I can see them wanting to prevent guys from dressing while the truck is moving.



Yeah, that's not too large. Do they respond direct to scene or do they go into station first?

And when I was working for privates a lot of runs were scheduled, so you knew what time to be where. The ones that were not, you had 5 minutes to get back to your post if you decided to stray.

At home we almost always will leave the station with a full crew (for food, etc.), so we go straight to the scene. At school we may be separated, but coordinate a response and pick the rest of the crew en route.

 

[rmabrey]

System status here too, so we are always on the road.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

 

[medicdan]

I'm sorry for your back and your company's diesel bill.

 

[Handsome Robb]

I'm sorry for your back and your company's diesel bill.

Honestly I don't mind the SSM setup. We are always out and about, meeting and talking to people when we aren't on calls and learning the finer points of mapping and the city (for me, the FNG, at least) to name a few perks.

Maybe it's me being young, inexperienced and debatably dumb but at this point in my life I love what I do, the agency I work for, my coworkers and where I live.