Matthew Huddle, an emergency dispatcher with over 15 years of experience in Fire and EMS dispatch and over 20 years of firefighting experience with the Berwyn Heights Volunteer Fire Department, discusses the role of the Emergency Fire Dispatcher (EFD) in violent incidents. He covers the varying definitions of “violence,” the role of premise history, and the EFD’s need to cultivate active listening skills.
Erin Eaton, Operations Manager, and Jeb Lyons, Operations Manager, at Northwest Central Dispatch System (NWCDS) discuss their center’s fire specialist team, including how it started, what it’s accomplished, and how to put your own together.
Isabel talks with Gary Galasso, retired Deputy Fire Chief and current chair of IAED's Fire Council of Standards. They discuss FPDS version 7, including new protocols, what changes were made, and what spurred those changes...
Isabel talks with Allen Siorek, retired Gainesville Fire Rescue District Chief. They discuss the research projects required for graduation from the National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer Program, how realistic NFPA response time standards are, and the shift toward evidence-based practices in the fire...
While Structure Fire is not the most common Chief Complaint handled by Emergency Fire Dispatchers (EFDs), the high death toll and other serious consequences that result make structure fires one of the most important types of calls EFDs handle. The time needed to appropriately and effectively prioritize these calls can be evaluated using a time standard called Call Prioritization Time (CPT). In this study, we evaluate CPT for centers using the Fire Priority Dispatch System (FPDS). The primary objective in this study was to determine CPT for the FPDS...
This study represents a first attempt to classify a subset of time-to-dispatch in a 911 center – the call prioritization time. This time is defined as the time required to gather critical case information, after the address is obtained, and prior to notifying responder units of the call. This study characterizes call prioritization time in nine different 911 centers, all using the Fire Priority Dispatch System (FPDS). Times were examined by individual agency, overall. This was a retrospective, non-controlled, descriptive study involving nine 911 and by FPDS...
The extent of fire emergencies in our communities is of great concern, not only to the public, but to the nation's fire departments, whose role is not only to respond to them, but to mitigate and, even earlier, to prevent them. The variety of types of fire-related emergencies reported to 911 is of significant interest to this ongoing mandate. The aim of this study was to characterize the distribution of calls handled using a Fire Priority Dispatch System (FPDS™) in the studied agencies. This was a retrospective and non-controlled descriptive study...
