Lakes Region Dispatch
 

I know this may be an odd question for this board but does anyone know the codes the Lakes Region Fire dispatch uses? They use phonetic alphabet levels such as "Alpha Level" and they also use the term "Status" such as "Status 3"...I've looked high and low and can't find anything.

As a dispatcher there for greater than a decade (by way of intro), the dispatchers (these days) via 911, assesses the call by the Greek alphabet. Alpha being the least of an emergency and delta being the most. They are on the other end of the phone, so they are analyzing it from what the caller(s) say. Omega (the other remaining level) actually implies the person has deceased. Again, this is derived from the point of view of the other side of the phone.

The emergency responders get on the scene and report a status 1 (which is the highest) to a status 4 (which is a non transport). A signal 22 is equivalent to the omega level from above.

Its something that has developed over the years for quick information transfer between the responder and dispatcher without a lot of misleading verbiage one might encounter from certain members on a forum... :)

Yeah like "He has a big boo boo" or "Yep he is as dead as a doornail."

I'm just answering the OPs questions. Listening to the scanner/caring about your neighbor has various priority levels, depending on the person.

WOW...wifi, thank you! I didn't think I would get an answer at all.

Feel free to PM me for anything else reference this topic :)

Oh no.....I was just doing the Forum member verbiage.....:D

I'm a 911 call taker in Mass, and it floors me, that they use 'possible obvious', when they have a deceased person. Wish we used that sort of system, but then again, I live in Mass....:laugh:

Wifi, are there scanners now that work? The last time I had one they had changed over so we couldn't get a lot. I never bothered to check out a new one to see what they could do now.

Lakes Region moved off their old low band frequency a few years back and moved to high band. Many reasons, but the main one was homeland bucks and compatibility with the police department radios. The state police did the same way back. Turn your old scanner back on and program 159.900 and you will get LRMFA, or you can listen live on your PC.

Many police/sheriff departments have gone digital, again with homeland dollars, and your old scanner can receive the channel but won't decode it, you need a new expensive scanner for that. Some departments, like the NHSP, run digital scramblers that you can't decode at home. Lots and lots of (your) money spent in the last few years making the local communications companies very rich.

Marine patrol moved from low band to 900, you will need a new scanner for that too, and last I heard, they ran analog in the clear. The NHSP originally had plans for 900, but the terrain here made it too costly and they went from low band to high band, digital, scrambled.

In any event, happy listening :)

Meredith Fire Horns
 

Can anyone tell me what the various fire horns mean? I understand the one at 12 noon but I'm not sure what the others mean. Thanks.

I worked pre-911, so we talked directly to the calling party and dispatched at the same time. It was small back then, with single person shifts covering parts of 5 counties for fire and ems. I'm sure we could trade some interesting calls....

Lots of complainers about those horns. Yes, the short noon time blast to test it. The horns had two purposes, first was three blasts to announce a call, usually if it was a structure, you got three blasts at the end of the dispatch as well. It also notified the nearby public that traffic activity was to be expected. The second purpose was to relay the fire boxes. So, if box 123 went off, that is what the horn would announce. I believe that part of the system is down, but I'm not sure. I think Meredith dismantled their fire box system, maybe someone can clarify.

Wifi, great info. Thanks. On the computer side, it works terrific as well, although I think they only transmit channel one....the primary channel. Do you know of any resource where the other fire ground channels are transmitted over the internet? When using the internet, I get terrific coverage on both sides of the communication that my expensive scanner does not receive....hills, etc. etc. and I do not us an aux. antenna. But the internet connection solves it, but only for the primary dispatch channel. Once units switch over to other assigned channels, we loose it. Any thoughts... I listen to nothing other than Lakes region Fire....and those folks do a fabulous job !

They only broadcast channel 1 as received off Mt Belknap. You will notice, when they talk, for instance, to Strafford units, the internet reception will be bad, but the dispatcher hears it, that is because he is using the Blue Job antenna. For years Belknap was all we had, so its not all that shabby.

scanner app??
 

does anyone know of a scanner app that i could listen to marine patrol on?

Speaking of Mount Belknap, has anybody been up there lately?

They moved all the antennas from the fire tower to the radio tower. Plus the moved or maybe removed all the buildings near the fire tower. Just foundations remain. I still don't know how they did it, no road to the top.

Not sure about Marine Patrol but I have used Radio Reference during storms.

We have a separate 911 system as of now, but, we're going to the system you speak about. I will be answering 911 and dispatching, fire, amb. and police. Oh, boy,can't wait.....The good side to this, is the pay hike! LOL

Some corrections are needed to wifi's info

A status 4 patient is a non emergent patient being transported for diagnostic tests, evaluation, etc. you won't hear it used as it is now mainly only a private ambulance/transport service issue and used mainly on paperwork as a code. An omega level call is one that a person is uninjured and usually is coding for a lift assist only needed call or a child stuck in a swing set, etc. an "echo" level call means the patient is most likely not breathing or without a pulse, or is in immediate danger of those issues occurring. CArdiac arrests, respiratory arrests, severe anaphylaxis with airway compromise,etc.

The "signal ##" are reserved for things we don't want broadcast over the air in plain English that are sensitive in nature. LRMFA has 4 of these codes and all usually one can deduce from the other dispatch information or radio traffic what it is we are actually responding to or discussing.

Scanner
 

I have police scanner app on my ipad. It's free. You can listen to your town or other towns or multiple towns at the same time. Very cool. I just don't know how to get marine patrol.

What happened was WLNH went up there this winter. In exchange for permission, they built a new building with everything imaginable and replaced the tower, so everyone could be housed in one place. Prior to that, NHEC went up and replaced the Rohn 25G that LRMFA and BCSO used. Prior to that, Metrocast went up there to receive their signals from all over, their exchange was running power and phone poles up. The antennas on the fire tower were primarily NHSPs.

Its a far cry from 30 years ago, when they ran armored 220V/30A up to what amounted to an outhouse and a 6 pair phone cable all on the ground with only LRMFA and BCSO. Its now quite a state of the art facility loaded with customers. Private enterprise doing what government can't.

It was mostly accomplished by helicopter.

Yes, you are referring to the MPDS (Medical Priority Dispatch System) codes e.g. 17 Alpha 1, which would be a fall with injury but not to a dangerous body area.

Well, no matter where you are in the State of NH when you dial 911, your call will be answered by an EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatcher) that is in either Laconia or Concord. If your request is for the PD the EMD will transfer you to your local agency and drop off the line when it is certain that they have your location. The same is true if it is a request for the FD.

If it is a request for medical assistance the EMD will request the ambulance and stay on the line with you while providing medical instructions until the ambulance is off with you. The EMD's are highly trained professionals and whether it's for a baby not breathing or a skinned knee they will instruct on what to do until EMS arrives on scene. They have an extremely stressful task and they do a great job.

As far as the MPDS codes go, you can find the full list of them and their meanings at:

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index...ispatch_System

Per a friend who is an EMT...
 

I do have a scanner and listen often to the dispatching. I asked my friend for some clarification on the calls and this is what I got.

When the call goes out, often times the dispatcher will list a "level" from Alpha to Echo level.

Alpha level is the least serious, with Echo level the most serious. Obviously the letters in ascending order raise the level of seriousness by degrees.

Statuses go from 1-3...I have never heard a status 4 on Lakes Region Dispatch. The statuses go from most serious 1 to least serious 3, and at least from my listening, it seems that this is most always determined by the responding units, rather than the dispatcher.

Signal 21 is a patient who has either psychological problems or is suicidal. Signal 22, unfortunately, is a deceased person.

It is interesting to listen to the calls, but sometimes you hear a call about someone you know...not necessarily a good thing.

That reminds me... When I was a kid - a gazillion years ago, my father who had been a police officer in our town was listening to the scanner, it was a call for a car accident. When the dispatcher asked for the name of the driver, the officer on the scene said they'd phone it in. 'Some bigshot's kid' my father thought. A few minutes later I called and said 'Dad, I had an accident' (he was always a bigshot in my eyes!)

I agree with you up. When I had a scanner, I was always nervous who had the accident or whatever.

Love that story, rrr!!!!!:)