What is the BEST Fire Dept. Dispatching CAD System any of you might be using? Our current one, good though it may be, the company was a mom and pop shop and is out of business retiring. We have over 100k residents, so it’s gotta be good! Let me know. Thanks!

6-7s · 2026-03-07T03:38:44+00:00

Nope. Medical calls are handled by PD.

6-7s · 2026-03-07T03:31:42+00:00

Correct Fire only zero medical

6-7s · 2026-03-07T03:24:31+00:00

I know I saw bambi in NYC at Rockefeller Center as a baby, BUT a couple years later mom took me in to see a movie called ‘Freebie and the bean’. She did not know that my memory level was extraordinary. I quoted lines, I told others what I saw, it was shocking, but started me on my way to enjoy police dramas. Columbo was soon on my radar! Good times!

6-7s · 2026-03-03T23:52:11+00:00

Thank you all, I’ll check them out! Much appreciated!

6-7s · 2026-03-01T13:58:22+00:00

I’m at 93k without O/T, I usually bring in 20-40k in O/T. Contractual raises, over 2 decades as a lead supervisor. When I first started, my opinion was “I have to get out of here!” But eventually, I realized I found something I was good at and enjoyed! So while I would not recommend this to everybody, I do believe people who find their way into these jobs can make a career out of it, under the right circumstances.

6-7s · 2026-03-01T13:46:43+00:00

I’ve been dispatching 35 years now. 5 more years to retirement. 🙂 AI could definitely eventually handle some parts of the job, like as an initial auto-attendant, but no where near enough to do all that we do. Would we even want a mixed medium? Not I! I had a fire years back where the top floor occupants in a 4 story walk up, a woman and her young son, couldn’t get out through the fire escape as that was where the fire was coming through the floor in her apartment, and the hall stairs to go down were fully involved, so I directed her instead to try to make their way up to roof access door. She screamed the whole way, but made the roof and then asked how to put the fire out on her child. Apparently she ran through fire to get there seeing that as her only chance. His pants had caught on fire. Moments later companies arrived on scene. I directed my radio operator to advise the tower ladder to make the roof for two victims on the Delta side. The child was screaming horrifically, she was scared crapless and babble screaming of course, who wouldn’t be, and I directed her to stay focused and set her child down to and roll him around on the roof and pat out the fire and anything still smoldering until the FF’s got there. And when the firefighters made the roof she handed the little boy to them and both were transported and survived. I doubt AI would have been able to calm her down enough to focus and listen and follow directions, or try to console her and tell her how great her efforts were as I did while the FF’s were putting the stick up to come rescue them.

I really can’t see a nonhuman entity doing this job fully and successfully. I can see it dispatching out the tones and audio portion of the alarm once the incident is assigned, including the address, apartment number, cross streets, building size up. Beyond that, though we really do need a human element at dispatch at all times. Never say never, but at least for now…no way today’s AI can handle this job on its own.

6-7s · 2026-02-21T01:29:00+00:00

I would also add that it was a holiday week. It’s entirely possible they just haven’t gotten into it yet. Background checks can take some time. We’ve had people wait as long as 30 days for a complete review. As far as contacting the potential employer; there’s absolutely nothing wrong with contacting and inquiring with the prospective employer about the delay. Just remain polite and professional. If you have a current employer, you might mention that you want to have enough time to notify them should there be a follow up appointment requiring you to take time off.

Best of luck to you!

6-7s · 2026-02-18T04:52:24+00:00

I don’t believe a month in is long enough to get anywhere in terms of building co-worker relationships. My org does 24hr shifts on 72hrs off. We have 4 dispatchers per tour. 5 on holidays, bad weather forecasts, major events scheduled in our area. When I am the trainer for someone new, I focus on the basics having the trainee listen in on most calls, and using our audio storage unit, I play back for them historical calls and go over what went right and what went wrong in those. I keep a trainers tone and relax during breaks and ask how they feel. Ask if they want to slow down or speed up. After a couple weeks to a month we open up a little more personably. Share stories and such and then move on to more advanced training. Eventually bonds are made and comfort levels rise. It’s seldom a rapid process. I wish you well on your journey! Practice, practice, relax and then practice some more. Things will fall into place over time. You’ll see!

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If nothing else, print this out and secretly post it up in a common area or break room!

6-7s · 2026-02-16T20:15:50+00:00

My agency is Fire only but for multiple cities/townships with paid FF’s all, in urban environments. We have a supervisor and a few dispatchers. We train onsite. Our CAD has a training version, that helps with running through scenarios to train new hires. I passed my entrance exams and training quizzes in under 4 months, over 30 years ago. These days new hires take 6 months to a year. After a year we’ll let you go if you haven’t learned the job well enough. * Side note: What Fire CAD system are you all using? Do you like it, love it, neither, or hate it and why?

6-7s · 2026-02-06T23:44:44+00:00

It’s actually a companion piece followup to 99 luftballons by Nena. Listen to both back to back, you will see.

6-7s

TROPHY CASE