Fire response

Quote from Dsallis1992

Hi. This is not completely MissionChief related so admins please delete if not allowed.

I’m curious to know what the US response to incidents are.

In the U.K. say a building fire for example maybe something like make pumps 4 plus Ariel so 4 Engines and an Ariel would be sent and so on. What is the equivalent in the US? can anyone help?

So far I have seen various compliments required based on the type of structure. I think an industrial fire gets 6-8 engines, two trucks, two Heavy's, 2 Chiefs and a haz mat. Kitchen fire gets 2 engines.....and it goes on and on...varies

In the area I observe (Cary, NC dispatch area for Cary, Apex, and Morrisville, NC), it's about the same. First alarm for a structure fire dispatches 4 Engine companies, a Ladder company, a Rescue company or other Mobile Air unit, and 2 Battalion Chiefs. County has a similar structure to their dispatch.

Quote from Dsallis1992

Thank you for your replies. Just getting an idea if there is a standardised response to particular incidents and how it works. I’ve never understood it.

Nowhere close to standardized but most larger departments use some combination of a 3-and-1 (3 Engines/1 Ladder/1 Battalion Chief) or 5-and-1(5 Engines/1 Ladder/1 BC) for most initial fire responses.

Once you get into working fires, every single department is different.