Phone Line Ingenuity Links Fire Station to Dispatcher
FEATURES
EQUIPMENT INNOVATIONS
(Photo courtesy of the Oxford Fire Department)
When the Oxford, OH, Fire Department moved from the municipal building, where a dispatcher is on duty 24 hours a day, to an unmanned central station, the problem of providing adequate communications between the new building and the dispatch office was a major concern.
The Oxford Fire Department consists of 27 paid-on-call firefighters, one full-time fire prevention officer, and 10 nonfirefighter emergency medical technicians. No personnel are routinely on duty at the fire station, whose district encompasses some 25,000 residents, including Miami University’s 15,000 students.
In the municipal building, dispatchers could contact fire personnel at the station via intercom or through an adjacent door, and could answer administrative calls to the department when they weren’t picked up in the chiefs office.
With the relocation of the fire station, several communications requirements needed to be addressed:
- It had to be possible to answer the administration telephone number 24 hours a day at both the fire station and the dispatch office;
- A direct intercom had to be set up between the dispatcher’s console and the fire station;
- The public had to have some means to report an emergency or get help at the fire station; and
- A building fire alarm system had to be installed in the new fire station, with alarm transmission to the dispatcher.
After investigating many communication methods, the department determined that leased telephone circuits from the public utility were the most viable link. Our goal then was to minimize the number of lines
Using basic telephone equipment and some ingenuity, we solved all communication needs with two telephone lines: an offpremise extension of the administrative line, so the administrative telephone number can ring at both the fire station and the dispatch station, where it’s answered after three rings; and a ring-down line that handles the other communication requirements.
A ring-down line is a direct telephone link from one point to another. Removing the handset at one end causes incoming calls to ring on the phone at the other end. When the handset on the ringing phone is picked up, the call is complete. In our case, when a caller picks up any phone at the fire station, the phone at the dispatch office automatically rings. When the dispatch phone is answered, the circuit is complete. This setup eliminates the need for a separate intercom and emergency reporting circuits.
Power for the ring-down line is from a battery supplied by the telephone company. We determined that multiple instruments could be used on either end of a ring-down circuit, so the line could appear on the multi-button key instrument in the dispatch center, and at the station the line could be terminated at various locations, including the front door, where it would serve as an emergency phone.
We were concerned that the phone at the front door of the station would be prone to theft or vandalism. Also, it could be quite a nuisance if pranksters took the receiver off the hook and ran. We considered a “break glass” or similar enclosure, but since the station is unmanned, we felt that the phone would also serve as an information phone for anyone having fire department business.
We solved this potential safety problem by fabricating a special kind of instrument:
- A standard telephone was mounted in a cabinet inside the station.
- Outside this location we mounted a weather-proof telephone box painted red, with a red light over the top.
- The handset was removed from the inside telephone, and the wiring was extended to the outside box.
- An aluminum faceplate was fabricated for inside the box, and a hanger bracket and momentary toggle switch were installed.
- An armored handset cord like those used on pay phones was installed on the handset, and this was mounted on the faceplate.
- The faceplate was then installed in the box with the use of tamperresistant screws.
Dispatchers hear the building alarm over the phone.
(Photo courtesy of the Oxford Fire Department)
Signs on both entrances to the station refer persons to this phone. Upon opening the box, a caller sees instructions to pick up the handset and hold the toggle switch up. The dispatcher simply answers “Fire dispatcher” and provides the information or assistance. When the conversation is completed, the individual is instructed to release the toggle switch and replace the handset.
Our next goal was to add the building fire alarm system to the ring-down line, which turned out to be a simple task. The alarm control panel, in addition to sounding an internal alarm at the station, has a switch relay which closes upon activation of the system. An electrical pull box was mounted above the alarm panel, and a standard telephone was installed inside the pull box, connected to the ring-down circuit but wired through the relay in the alarm panel. The handset was taken off the hook and mounted inside the box next to the phone, and a recessed alarm horn was then mounted in the front cover of the pull box.
When the alarm activates, this phone switches “off-hook,” ringing the station line on the dispatcher’s instrument while the horn blares into the phone receiver. The dispatcher picks up the ring-down line, hears the alarm, and dispatches appropriately.
Since its installation several years ago, the system has performed flawlessly and met all our expectations. The outside phone is used regularly and has not been subject to vandalism or pranksters. The building fire alarm system has also proven reliable, with only a few false alarms, none of which was caused by the phone line.
Total monthly costs for the two lines is $31. (Of course, these rates would vary by localities and distances involved.) All instruments and inside wiring are property of the city. Dual phone jacks are installed in the fire station’s offices, training room, and watch desk. A brown phone for the administrative line and a red phone for the intercom are at each location. The administrative line has a standard ring, and the intercom has a continuous ring, so there’s no mix-up about which phone is ringing.
The intercom is used for every emergency response and reduces unnecessary radio traffic. The first member responding to the station acknowledges the alarm from the watch stand, writes down the address, and asks for any further information. This lets the dispatcher know the radio page was received and a response is taking place.
After the call, the intercom is used to report the company back in quarters, get the times for reports, and so on.
An adequate communication link between station and dispatcher, a method of providing emergency assistance to citizens of the community, and protection of firefighting resources by an automatic building fire alarm should receive serious consideration for all fire stations, existing or planned.
