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Life Risk / Station Tones


Vema11

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Hi everyone, in my service we have Life risk bells which sound when we get a persons reported/ persons involved. Water, RTC etc. 
we also have standby tones for standby moves and the normal tones for run of the mill shouts. 

Just wanted to ask does any other service out there have different bells for different shouts? And what would you change if anything about your current station tones and why? 

 

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Our turnout has the initial tones for about 5 seconds, then it says the incident, followed by the appliances attending. The initial tones are always the same. Been the topic of discussion for a while as there are some who don't react to the initial tones, but wait for the list of appliances to see if their truck is going. It also means that people know the job en route to the truck so may stop for a wee which seriously hits our turnout times. 

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The standby tone I like, but  'Life risk' and 'Run of the mill' tones? 

It sounds like a dangerous path to tread for a control officer or mobilising system to assume the status of a shout to that extent.

How do crews react to run of the mill shouts? A quick toilet visit, glass of water or finish lunch first.

I have been to many shouts that aren't what they first appear . Rubbish that turns into a 4PF person's reported. A wash down roadway that is a RTC with person trapped

There are numerous grass fires that end up umpty-pumpers 

I do not agree to tear-arsing around at the same speed to everything. The drive to arrive concept is spot on.

But I wonder what a coroner would say if a run of the mill defined job ended up a fatal? Dodgy ground to tread

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Similar to above, a single tone followed by the job and call signs, if its a make up the call signs for every appliance are read out alphabetically, so it could take a while on a MP10. But everyone gets up regardless. 
At my present station theres been no problem with turnout times. If its a BRV job the driver of the ladder will go down and see where it is in case they make up, plus there will usually be a couple of bods milling about to do the doors, wig wag lights and to fill out the call book

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Hi messy, maybe bad phrasing in my part. Our brigade doesn’t actually call it run of the mill😂 I meant simply just the normal tones.  Which would alert us to house fires, rubbish, AFAs, hazmats, make safe RTCs etc. 

Its a different way we do things as I haven’t heard of any other brigade doing it. But in my experience it does make you move slightly quicker cause it’s persons. But it may also get made persons on route or when we get there like you said. Really the life risk bells might save a few seconds I can’t imagine it ever going to court to be honest. 

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We pre alert certain incidents, in that the bells go down whilst the call is being taken , that way you know , something significant is coming get your kit on and wait..it saves probably between 30 seconds to a minute of turn out time.

The tip out just says pre alert, then the details follow swiftly after...same tone.

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Standard tone followed by the call sign from the station and then the type of job. We also have turnout screens strategically placed around the station which gives the appliance(s) attending the type of job and the address. The messages are pre records so occasionally the type of job is missing, which can mean something a bit different or more often or not just a glitch in the system.

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1 hour ago, Becile said:

We pre alert certain incidents, in that the bells go down whilst the call is being taken , that way you know , something significant is coming get your kit on and wait..it saves probably between 30 seconds to a minute of turn out time.

The tip out just says pre alert, then the details follow swiftly after...same tone.

Got rid of ours earlier this year.  Not sure if they ever improved response times. Turn out times yes but duration to the incident would always be dependent on traffic/time of day no matter how quickly you went out the doors. 

I'm sure the boss @Carl knows the figures.

@Vema11 Did you ever hear the old life risk bell? Sounded like you were in a submarine

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Interesting, maybe as we are a bit rural (Apart from usual towns etc and m25) it has made a difference in our attendance times...horses for courses I guess.

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@CaptainFlack I can’t forget my first shift,  at 3am getting a persons with the old life risk bells and the voice With the count down timer. I didn’t think they were bad enough to change them But the new ones are better. 

they weren’t pleasant where they😂 

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On 06/08/2020 at 23:40, CaptainFlack said:

I'm sure the boss @Carl knows the figures.

To be fair, you should too. 🤔

Have a look at Ops Alert 11:2020 issued on the 7th Feb 2020

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3 hours ago, Dyson said:

We have to be out in a minute, what ever the call. Reliefs and standbys are slightly different. 

Is that a brigade rule or station by station? Slightly tangenting but for us it's 90 seconds. Some stations that's really easy because they're small, but the bigger stations that can be a real challenge, especially if it's an out of bedder, as you've got further to go. 

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Yeah all stations. There are league tables of course 🙄😂 now you mention that I think we do have 90 secs as an outside limit but they expect 60 seconds. I’ll be on the truck and booking out in a minute.  

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Are any of these targets actually necessary? 

In my time in the job, I never saw a slow turnout, except during drills when kit needed to be packed up.

On the odd regular AFA I might let someone have a quick pee before leaving or collect food or a sleeping bag if en route to a standby.

Slowing down turnouts to make them safer was more of an issue. Target times undermine that safety message to be fair. Plus I would rather the driver(s) take 30 - 60 seconds at the station map rather than get lost on the way.

Targets seem like unnecessary micro-managing to be honest.

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60 years ago, we had a bell that went off, and we had 30 seconds to get the first appliance out of the station. Home Office rules.

I remember one incident when the bells went and everyone scrambled. The first appliance was waiting for nearly two minutes the last member of the crew was in the toilets on a serious job. He still got hauled over the coals, as did the Station Officer.

  • Haha 1
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I stood by at a Station where their Guvnor had a reputation of being an 'independent thinker' - OK, did what he wanted despite the rulebook. 

We had a turn out drill. Ww knew it was coming as we had received a tip off. I went to get up and he ordered me to "Slow down lad". After that we eventually strolled downstairs, took our time getting rigged (making sure the LFB logo on the tunic buttons were the right way up), one guy produced a clothes brush and they took it in turns brushing invisible dust from each other.  I was not allowed to start the engine until the Stn O said and he was busy using to nearside appliance mirror to remove an imaginary eyelash. He then got out of the pump and checked the guys had seatbelt on before we moved out and the drill was over. I have no idea of the time, but it felt like 10 mins!

All the time, a really lovely DO was waiting with his stop watch and steam coming out of his ears with anger

The Stn O then received a huge rollocking. He stayed silent throughout, looking out of the window, but when the DO had puffed himself out and gone quiet, the Stn O said "Talking of inconsequential things, don't you think that's the nicest tree in west London?".

Most though urn out drills to be a waste of time, but this guy took it to the next level :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

At my station we still have the old school bells. Obviously no distinguishing between standbys and shouts until you get to the tip sheet. 

Still shit myself everytime the bells drop (not literally of course).

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