Fire in a House Kansas City, MO (KCFD) 2501 Myrtle 11-15-2013

[MFD76]

Great pics and info, MFD....I'm not far from KC, but don't know a whole lot about their department; are they on a Harris radio system?  What is the difference between Rig A5 and Portable C5?

 

Does KCFD have set policies for SFD's, etc? or is the first Engine running the line and first Truck splitting an unwritten rule?  How are the follow-on (subsequent) arriving Pumpers and Trucks assigned to?

Thanks I really appreciate the positive comments. 

 

The previous radio system was Ericsson. The current is the Kansas City Regional Motorola P25. The follow is a little complicated and is specific to Kansas City Missouri portion of the radio system. They adapted the old Ericsson system and added some new towers to the current system. One issue in the early stages of development was coverage. Kansas City, Missouri is a very large landmass city 319 square miles and about 460,000. When ever I take out of town people buffing they have a hard time realizing the sheer land mass size of the city not including the suburbs. Also with that some of the digital system could not transmit out of a number of buildings in the city. They decide to equip all pumpers with Digital Vehicle Repeaters (DVR) for the new P25. The long and short is rig radios link to the tower and the portables link to the DVR repeater in the pumper. This solves the problem of the portable not transmitting in some parts of the city from certain buildings. KCFD tried to make the system a simple as possible by using it at every incident. 

 

We use a similar set up in my department. However our Chief Buggies carry the DVR. When operating at predetermined buildings we switch the portables to our DVR channel. This does require that our District Chiefs respond with us to these locations, even for first aid runs. 

 

They do have unwritten standard arrival assignments. The assignments are taught in the fire academy. It makes for an extremely efficient fire ground and makes the chiefs job much easier. The chief can look at the arrival order and check in with companies to make sure they are on track. Many of the suburbs stage and wait for assignments IMO is lunacy and can create a number of fire ground missteps. Here is the run down for most house fires.  

 

1st Chief command and his Captain-buggy driver (District Safety Officer DSO) inside supervisor eyes and ears for the chief. 

1st Pumper: line off into the structure. 

1st Truck: captain with fireman search fire floor/ FAO with FAO tillerman OV mostly roof vent or straight truck FAO with fireman OV mostly roof vent.

2nd Pumper: bring in the plug, second line off into the structure 

2nd Truck: captain with fireman search floor above or adjacent area/ FAO and FAO tiller or fireman inside hook open up for pumper company, ladders, OV. 

3rd Pumper: if working fire bring second plug, third line off into structure or assist Truck duties.

 

KCFD brings two plugs for all fires. First due pumpers use booster tank until FAO hand jacks LDH or second due pumper brings a plug. 

 

Taylor great question here is a run down off the top of my head. The one small is a 1.75 hand line regional term smilier to Fort Worth calling the 1.75 a big booster.

 

KCFD unofficial & official terms used every day, 

Fly Piping: using aerial with nozzle to suppress fire from above.

One small: 1.75 hand line. 

One large: 2.5 hand line

Gandy: homeless person 

Red line: booster

Plug: Fire Hydrant

On the way: Responding

Clear: Responding the old term when fire alarm could close the bay doors from the alarm office.

In Service: finished with the alarm and returning or if enroute can return without arriving 

On the Air: Inservice in still district

Slow em down: emergency to non-emergency

DSO: District Safety Officer Captain rank drives Battalion Chief 

Chief Buggy: Batt. Chief or Deputy Chief car

Brush Buggy: Brush Fire Unit 

Hook & Ladder: Tiller TDA

regular alarm: 3 pumpers, 2 trucks, 1 chief

first alarm: 3 pumpers, 3 trucks, 2 chiefs

General Alarm: city wide all resource response

Silent Watch: Fire Alarm will ring bells turn on lights and alert companies 2100-0630

Man on Watch: Fire Alarm can no longer monitor silent watch due to major incident and someone sits up listens to radio and rings house bells and get companies out over PA or Voice. 

working fire: air wagon, car 120 (EMS), RIT company, Power & Light, Gas Service

Bump it Up: either upgrade to emergency response or make it the next higher alarm

Alarm Office or Fire Alarm or Fire Alarm Exchange: Fire Dispatcher

Grass & Weeds: brush fire

Plugging: machine conducting annual fire hydrant checks in still district

Wet Drill: training drill with water and hose

Drilling: drill without water

Fire Acadmey or Drill School: Fire Training Acadmey

Car 101:  Shift Deputy Chief citywide tour commander

101 @ Pumper 10, Truck 3 

Car 102-108: Shift Batt. Chiefs in charge of geographic district 

102 @ Pumper 8 (Downtown)

103 @ Pumper 14 (North of river Northeast)

104 @ Pumper 23, Truck 10 (Eastside-Old Northeast)

105 @ Pumper 35, Rescue 9 (RIP Truck 9) (Eastside-Southeast)

106 @ Pumper 19, Pumper 32, Truck 7 (Midtown-Plaza)

107 @ Pumper 36, Truck 15 (Southside)

108 @ Pumper 4 (North of river Northwest)

Pumper: Engine

Truck: Aerial Ladder, Tower Ladder, Tractor-Drawn-Aerial

Rescue: Heavy Rescue Squad