dispatching of units

Quote from no one

hi I'm from the UK and ive always found it interesting watching youtube videos of American fire trucks responding but it has always boggled me as to why you send out so many vehicles for calls that seem relatively minor it would be good if someone could give me and insight in to why this would be nice to know.

kind regards Matt

Hi matt good question. I would appreciate it if you would give some examples, so we can better explain. Nick.

Quote from no one

for example say a small electrical fire in a building i watched on youtube there was a good 3 fire trucks and a battalion chief and a ladder truck for a fire that was relatively minor where as over here we would have just sent one fire engine and of it is bad then we request to make pumps 2 or 3 depending of the severity of the fire.

ok good example. here we like to dispatch units based on the worst case scenario. if there is a fire in a structure, that sends of alarms...literally and figuratively. we don't know how fast that fire is going to spread, or if there are people in the building that are unaware of the fire until it is too late and they become trapped. so if we need the extra units...they are already there. and they will be needed for something, for example, if the units you said were sent, they would be assigned something like this:

-battalion chief is the incident commander.
-engine 1 will do primary search
-ladder will do any necessary equipment detail and ventilation
-engine 2 will be on primary attack
-engine 3 will be secondary attack and backup rescue for engine 1.
boom all units needed.
when it comes to structure fires, it is extremely important that the cavalry be sent to ensure protection and saving of lives and property. thanks for your question we'll see what the others say. and to be honest with you, that is just the amount of units that would be sent to an electrical fire in a house or small building. if it industrial, like a hotel, factory, or shop, 2 times the units - literally - would be dispatched.

Quote from EFD850

I can't speak for every fire department in the United States. But, I can atleast speak for the department I work for. I work for a farely large department. Here are my departments GOGs on responses.
Electrical Hazards, Smoke Investigations, Medical Calls, Outside Fires, Vehicle Fires - 1 Engine or 1 Ladder if Engine is OOS for 2 company stations.
Structure Fires - 1 BC, 3 Engines, 2 Ladders
High Hazard Structure Fires - 2 BCs, 3 Engines, 2 Ladders, 1 Rescue
Fire Alarms - 1 Engine, 1 Ladder
High Hazard Fire Alarms - 2 Engines, 1 Ladder
Wrecks - 1 Engine or 1 Ladder
Wrecks with Pin in/Entrapment - 1 BC, 1 Engine, 1 Ladder, 1 Rescue

I am sure I missed a few, but that is the basic responses.

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to add to EFD850's input, I can also give you an idea of the Houston, texas fire dept. response standards:

-structure fire: 2 chiefs, 2 ambulances, 4 engines, 2 ladders, 1 safety officer
-fire/water flow alarms: 1 engine (to me that is ignorant should be full assignment)
-gas leak: 1 chief, 1 ambulance, 2 engines, 1 hazmat,
-brush or trash fires: 1 engine
-medical: 1 engine or ladder, 1 ambulance
-vehicle fires: 2 engines, or 1 engine and 1 ladder
-mobile home fire: either the same as a structure fire, or 2 engines, 1 ladder, one chief, one ambulance
-electrical malfunction: 1 engine

also, after the required units have been dispatched, according to any guidelines a department may have, some units can be disregarded if they are not needed.

Quote from no one

thank you very much makes sense to send the units incase you need them very interesting thank you for your time and explaining !

kind regards matt

I enjoyed it!