Messed Up Situation
Nac...@aol.com
In a message dated 96-09-19 19:24:56 EDT, you write:
<< t took the city over 20 minutes to respond... a house was totally lost,
but fortunately no lives were lost. A county crew could have been on scene
in less than two minutes. What is wrong with this situation? Aren't we
all trained to do the same thing?
Allen >>
What's wrong?
The Chief of the City and the Chief of the County don't talk.
In one small niche of the planet lies Maricopia County Arizona. Most everyone
has heard of Phoenix. How about Tempe, Guadalupe, Peoria, Mesa, Scottsdale,
Paradise Valley, Glendale, Deer Valley, Buckeye, Sun City, Toungtown,
Surprise, Maricopia, Chandler, Daisy Mountain, and only God knows how many
others. They all have one thing in common. Phoenix is their immediate
neighbor. In fact there are even pockets of land that are not in any city or
fire district in that mess. Another thing they have in common is one rule,
"The nearest fire house responds"! It makes no difference who or what the
nearest gang is. They are the closest with the white stuff to go on the red
stuff to make it black. It is not unusual for a fire to be in Phoenix and
have a Glendale Lieutenant as command. In fact there are a couple of areas
where two other departments are there before the nearest Phoenix rig even
turns the corner.
This interesting phenomonon didn't come about easy. It took a lot of meetings
and a lot of ego shrinkage, but it was hammered out. The key phrase was
"Customer Service". When the public, our customer, has a problem they don't
care who owns the big red truck that screams down the street to make the fire
go away. They don't care who rescued aunt Nellie from the bathroom as the
house was on fire. So, why should we?
In my tiny space of this vast state we have three departments with some
rather strange boundaries. There is a house in one that is on it's southeast
corner. The nearest unit is our Engine 2, 3/4 mile away. Next is the City
Engine 11, 4 miles (but they are full time and have a jump on vollies when it
comes to getting out the door), then our Attack 3, and Engine 1. Last is the
district who has the house. That's because they have to go from their station
to the Main Highway, Then 3 miles to an east-west road. This point is only 1
mile from our Station 1, so we've already gone past there by this time. Then
they follow us.
Know what - none of us care whose "territory" it is. Our Deputy Chief (who
will be first in) worked out a plan with the other two departments for fires
in that area. The city has a small airport in the same area. No crash crew or
anything. So it will be the same as the house.
The nearest fire unit responds.
Next is educating dispatchers to think tactically. Often they will
automatically tell whoever is on the phone it is being taken care of.
I had a rather funny one like that. A small brush fire broke out just west of
one of our Lieutenant's house. He told his son to call 9-1-1, and he headed
for the station. I was there when he rolled in. He told me what was up and
that his son was calling it in. Knowing it took him about 2-3 minutes to get
there I wondered about the call. So, I called 9-1-1 and told the operator
that I was the fire department and we had a citizen report the fire. I gave
the location, etc. The 9-1-1 operator told me the fire department was on the
way. Boing!! I asked what fire department they were sending. I got the same
statement and was told not to worry about it. At that point I got real
concerned and told the guy who I was again and that we had not been paged for
the fire.
Maybe that is what happened to your chief.
My nickles worth. The county should have gone. I'll bet at least one of them
had a video camera with them. The city could be stupid about it if they want
but I doubt it would happen. Imagine the row it would cause when CNN got wind
they threw the county guys off the fire.
Best wishes
Gerald Eberwein
mark walter widerstrom
ANY FIREFIGHTER THAT DIES AND OR WHO IS INJURED BY SAVING LIVES PAID
OR NOT ARE GLOURIOUS IN THE EYES OF GOD!!!