Howdy,

I'm sure Ed is correct for his dispatch/service area, however you must keep in mind it depends on the local protocol. Basic rule: The more alarms the more equipment that is sent.

There are 5 ways a fire crew can become involved in a situation

1) Someone walks up to them and reports a problem
2) Someone calls the station directly and reports a problem
3) The crew is just there when a problem happens
4) Dispatch receives a call
5) Dispatch receives an alarm

There are more types of fire apparatus than you can imagine.

Most apparatus carry basic life support equipment from there it depends on what the primary function of the apparatus is.

Fire Engine: These are designed to put out fires. “Put the wet stuff on the red stuff.” They carry hoses of different sizes, water, some ladders, fans, axes, chain saws and other basic equipment. Normally you will see ladders hanging on the sides and be able to see a hose bed from the back with several sizes of hose laid in it.

Fire Truck: These are designed to attack and hard. They carry a ladder for everything and all type so equipment to make entry into anything. They carry the heavy equipment for really cutting through things to make entry. They also carry climbing/repelling equipment. They normally have a huge ladder centered on top of the apparatus that is attached to it and can be raised and lowered. They also have pads that come out from the sides to stabilize the truck while the ladder is up.

Water Truck: These are designed to get water where it is needed and that is about all they do. They look like mini-tankers. Most are also designed to attack brush fires with spray nozzles located up front and towards the side where the operator can control them.

Air Wagon: When performing normal activities we use up a decent amount of O2. Now, try to go up and down stairs lugging a few hundred pounds of hose and equipment. “Charge the line” (have water put in it after you are close to the fire) and move into a burning building. All of a sudden your bell is going off, because you are out of O2. The normal responding apparatus have extra tanks, but you’re going to run out fast. The air wagon looks like a medium sized delivery truck. It has compressors on it and can charge the canisters up again.

Depending on the location (structers/mother nature) your department may or may not have the above. There are also rigs designed to respond only to medical calls/vehicle accidents, water rescue, wilderness, brush fires, wild fires etc…

If you’ve made it this far, good for you. Now let’s look at the question.

It all depends on the information available as to what the initial response is.

For example, someone was just driving down the road and smelled smoke in the area of the intersection of X and Y streets. They didn’t see anything burning, it’s the first day of spring that has reached 75 degrees, it’s a Saturday at 1 in the afternoon.

Good chance there is a BBQ going on, but this would be a one apparatus response. Dispatch would be notified via radio from us.

4 calls come in at 5:15 pm that there are 3 motor vehicles involved in an accident (MVA) at X and Y Avenues. One of the cars has rolled onto it’s top and the other two vehicles involved include a full size pickup and a sports car. This is easily a 2 apparatus response with a truck being one of those. It may even be a 3, but the Battalion Chief (BT) may want to keep apparatuses in reserve due to the rush hour traffic and the need to respond to something else that may arrive. If more are needed and the initial station is emptied plus the next closest station is also emptied, then apparatus are ‘moved up.’ That is an apparatus is moved to one of the empty stations from one of the stations that has two or more available that are the next closest.

It is also based on the type of structure/area/object on fire/number of callers and what the caller tells the dispatchers. Most importantly it is based on the order of the Commander on site. I believe Ed would back me up on this. You DO NOT want to find yourself being called into your supervisor’s office to explain why you did not dispatch the requested equipment to the Commander or BT when it was online and available.

A normal structure response (house on fire) for our area is 1 truck and 2 engines. A rescue unit for us would be an American Medical Response ambulance crew. A Battalion Chief may or may not go. More alarms mean more resources are called to the scene, but you can’t always have more of everything respond. Our city only has two trucks and even with neighboring cities helping out you don’t always get what you want. Empty a station and replace it with a crew from the next city over (moving up) and they may have no idea of where or how to get someplace quick if a call comes in.

Keep in mind some districts/cities only have one or two apparatus total and the entire crew responding may be volunteers.

Our city has volunteer firefighters (30) and the union does not like it as they think it takes away union jobs (that were never there to begin with). I believe volunteers are a very good resource for departments, but then again…I was a volunteer for 3 years.

For any union members that may be reading this, I am a union supporter. And for any journeyman out there keep in mind the industry thought is that as a firefighter it takes 10 years on the job to make it past that level.

I am by no means an expert at anything, so the above is only my observations.

Thank you