fire dispatch regime in windsor county vermont

[Peteri Szerlagi]

we finally figured out the fire dispatch scheme in windsor county vermont

basically - each FD has its own radio channel - just a couple of FDs
share channels

2 PSAPs serve Windsor County - Westminster State Police PSAP and
Hartford PD PSAP

each of these PSAPs dispatch multi FDs - and each PSAP also hands off
calls to 2 other dispatch centers

Westminster PSAP hands off calls to Ludlow VT and Springfield VT

Hartford PSAP hands off calls to Hanover NH and Woodstock VT

breaking this down further

Westminster PSAP dispatches for Bethel FD + Barnard FD + Stockbridge
FD + Pittsfield FD + Rochester FD

Westminster hands off calls to Ludlow PD who dispatches Ludlow FD

Westminster also hands off calls to Springfield PD who dispatches for
Springfield FD

Hartford PSAP dispatches for Chester FD + Proctorville FD + Cavendish
FD + Weathersfield FD + Reading FD + West Windsor FD + Windsor FD +
Hartford FD + Sharon FD + Royalton FD

Hartford hands off calls to Hanover NH who dispatches Norwich VT FD

Hartford also hands off calls to Woodstock who dispatches for
Woodstock FD + Bridgewater FD + Pomfret FD + South Woodstock VFC

yup - its complicated

the ambulance / EMS dispatch scheme probably follows pretty much the
same setup - ambulance / EMS is provided by FDs and third service EMS
agencies - some ambulances (maybe mostly the third service ones) have
their own radio channels - there are also (third service) first
response EMS squads (typically called FAST Squads - some or all have
their own non-transporting vehicles) - some FAST squads might be
actually subunits of local FDs - there are also FD rescue trucks -
(and some FDs might respond as EMS first responders without being
officially recognized as a first responder squad - not sure about
that)

yup - complicated

harltand rescue squad recently went 50/50 with hartland FD to purchase
new jaws to replace 25 year old equipment - this shows that there is
typically close cooperation between the ambulances and FAST squads and
FDs - at least 1 of the 3rd service ambulances is stored in a fire
station bay and the amb crew lives in a little house down the street

there are some fulltime crews - both FD and ambulance - but most of
the staffing is 'on call'

many of the first responder teams are als - either paramedic or
advanced emt - for example - norwich fd does not have an ambulance nor
a rescue truck but they are operating an als first responder team -
possible their chief is assigned a fd suv that he uses as an advanced
emt to run ems calls

not - broad brook fd gets 7 calls per year - they are kinda a sub
station of barnard fd iirc - more complications !

note - the state ems office licenses (?or registers?) both ambulances
services and non transporting first response units

come to think of it - possibly all of the ambulances are staffed by
fulltime crews - both fire and third service

the fast squads typically do not have any fulltime staff - they cover
the smaller towns - they arrive before the ambulances

yikes - we wrote a book