United Fire and EMS District
The United Fire and EMS District (commonly referred to as just "United") is the product of multiple municipalities (everything in between a small town to a "big" city) north of Brickford City that got together to pool their resources to better server their citizens. United is a full time department with volunteers and part timers assisting at some of the more rural stations. United has multiple challenges to contend with, including narrow roads and rough weather. Many of the member communities have also jointly invested in public transit, interconnecting bike paths, hiking trails, and more.
United has 3 bureaus supervised by the Chief and Assistant Chief of the Department. The 3 bureaus are Fire, Medical, and Communications with the Fire and EMS bureaus having their own Chief. Each United Battalion has a Battalion Chief and Deputy Battalion Chief, who supervise members of both the Fire and EMS bureaus out in the field.
The Communications Bureau staffing is a bit different from the others. Communications consists of a Chief, Deputy Chief, 2 Captains, 4 Lieutenants, 16 Dispatchers, multiple Per-Diem Officers and Dispatchers, Information Technology, and Radio Maintenance. The United Communications Bureau will hire both internal (from the other Bureaus) and civilian candidates for all positions with the exception of Chief, Deputy, and Captain. If a civilian hire is interested in deploying with HAZCOMM or any other field ops, they are required to pass certain certifications, and a promotion to Captain or above requires Fire Fighter and Field Command Certifications. I.T. and Radio staff are generally civilian positions, however United members from any Bureau can join the team if they have the qualifications.
General Response Plans
Any crew can request additional resources at any point. Most calls however follow these general guidelines:
- Alpha, Bravo, Omega level Medicals - Ambulance only
- Charlie, Delta, Echo level Medicals - Ambulance with a Mini-Rescue and/or Paramedic Intercept Vehicle.
- Alpha, Bravo, and Omega level MVAs - Ambulance and Mini Rescue.
- Charlie, Delta, and Echo level MVAs - Engine added to the standard MVA response.
- Any MVA involving public transit, a rollover, and/or entrapment will get a Battalion Chief and a Heavy Rescue in addition to the C/D/E MVA response.
- Any MVA involving hazardous materials will add HAZCOMM to the Charlie/Delta/Echo response.
- Fire Alarms - Battalion Chief and/or Deputy, Mini Rescue, Engine, and Ladder. A Mini Rescue is only added if the station with jurisdiction has one. Battalion Chiefs are not required to respond but can at their discretion.
Large Response Plans
Much like the general responses, these can change at the ICs request and in rare cases the discretion of a dispatcher. The first alarm and beyond will also have stations backfilled. Many large incidents will start with a generic "Still Alarm" run card that is pretty similar between these large incidents, below is the general building fire response structure.
- Building Fire - Entire station with jurisdiction, an additional Engine, Ladder, Mini Rescue or Heavy Rescue, the Battalion Chief and Deputy.
- A First Alarm is confirmation that the fire is legitimate. First Alarm - initiate station backfill, and add 2 Engines, a Ladder or Tower, Ambulance, second Battalion Chief or a Deputy. The Bureau and Department Chiefs may responded as well and a RIT team is established.
- Second Alarm - an Engine, Ladder or Tower, Rescue, HAZCOMM, the PIO, and the Light/Air.
- Third Alarm - 2 Engines with a Ladder or Tower.
- Fourth and Fifth Alarms - 2 Engines.
- Further alarms - 1 Engine or 1 Rescue or 1 Ladder with any additional resources command asks for.
Additional ambulances will be added where needed, but at least 1 is dispatched to all incidents.
Resources
United operates a large fleet including various staff/intercept cars, ambulances, boats, mini rescues, rescues, forestries, tankers, engines, and trucks.
Staff cars: Ford Expeditions, Ford F Series trucks, Volvo Wagons, and Volvo SUVs
Ambulances: Door forward. Based on Frazer, Braun and PL Customs. Ford F550
Engines: Sutphen Urban and Rescue Engine Custom Pumpers
Forestries: SVI Type 6s
Mini Rescues: NFPA Class 8, F550 mini pumpers (can also be used as a forestry if necessary) Class A CAFS, UHP booster reel.
Other: Boats, ATVs, Mobile Command, Hazmat, etc
Heavy Rescues: Single axle Seagrave or Sutphens
Tankers: Dual Axle Sutphens
Trucks: Seagrave or Sutphen 75ft rear mount quints or mid-mount towers.
The United stations are staffed with an ambulance at minimum, with few exceptions. Apparatus types are distributed in a way that is necessary for response times, needs, and load balancing.
Each of the 5 United districts has 4 stations. United stations are numbered based on their Battalion then station, so Station 12 is Battalion 1, Station 2.
Apparatus numbers are broken down by station then the apparatus identifier listed here:
Station (11-54) | Apparatus ID:
Staff cars: 0
Ambulances: 1
Engines: 2
Forestries: 3
Mini Rescues: 4
Other: 5
Rescues: 6
Tankers: 7
Trucks: 8
Examples:
The Aerial at Station 14 (Battalion 1, Station 4) would be Truck 1480.
The Battalion Chief for Battalion 5 (Battalion 5, Station 1) would be 5100.
The Deputy Battalion Chief for Battalion 5 (Battalion 5, Station 1) would be 5101.
The Engine at Station 43 (Battalion 4, Station 3) would be Engine 4320.
Finally, the 4th number (0-9) is used to identify secondary apparatus such as a Battalion chief, a second engine, second ambulance, misc utilities or apparatus, reserves, etc.
Bureau and Department Chiefs, the PIO, Fire Prevention, HAZCOMM, and a few others are assigned the station/district prefix of "10" because they operate outside of the traditional District/Station hierarchy. The Apparatus type still applies.
Department Chief: 1000
Assistant Department Chief: 1001
Bureau of Fire Chief: 1002
Bureau of EMS Chief: 1003
Bureau of Communications Chief: 1004
Bureau of Fire Deputy Chief: 1005
Bureau of EMS Deputy Chief: 1006
Bureau of Communications Deputy Chief: 1007
Fire Prevention Officers: 1008
Public Information Officer: 1009
HAZCOMM company: 1080
Color scheme:
White with a black cab. Orange striping, orange and black decals.
