Fire Siren

In response to several questions about the siren alerting system in Clinton I will explain how the system works. There are 2 sirens in the Town of Clinton, 1 on the firehouse and the second 1 is located on West Main Street by the Shell Station. When the Clinton Fire Department is dispatched for a call a tone is sent out via a radio frequency. This tone makes our firefighters pagers beep and sets off the sirens in town. The sirens are on timers and should only work from 6:00 am until 10:00 pm.

The sirens serve several functions, alerting firefighters, alerting the public, and can be used during a state of emergency. Our firefighters carry pagers so some people have asked why do you need the siren to alert your members. Simple pagers do malfunction, members may work outside and not carry the pager, or they may be in a loud environment and can not hear the pager. Alerting the public that the CFD has been dispatched for a call is another reason for the siren. When the public hears the siren they should be alert for firefighters responding to the station as well as fire, police, and EMS apparatus responding to the scene of the call. Last but certainly not least in the event of a serious emergency town officials could use the sirens to alert the public.

Many questions have been asked in regards to the intermittent use of the siren on West Main Street. There were a few factors that came into play causing this siren to be out of service several times over the last several years. One cause was the Hunterdon County Communications Center switched all fire department dispatching to a different frequency and it took a while for the new equipment to be installed. A second factor was the Exit 15 construction when the power was disconnected and the siren was mounted on a new pole. Lastly there was a minor problem with the timer that was fixed recently. For those who ask how we made due when the siren was down the answer is simple, members missed several calls during this time.

The most important thing to remember when you hear the siren blow is that your neighbors are leaving their families, their jobs, school to help out the community. They don't get paid and there is always the chance when that siren blows that a firefighter may not see his or her family again. If anyone has further questions or concerns please do not hesitate to ask, we are always at the firehouse on Monday evenings so feel free to stop by.

Mutual aid and box alarms in action - PART 2

In the previous post we got a quick introduction to mutual aid and box alarms. Let’s now take a hypothetical example of a residential fire alarm in the heart of Clinton. The dispatcher will get the call and dispatch the call in the following way. “Stations clear, Box 45-01 Level 1- 45 Fire and Rescue. 45 Fire and Rescue responding to 11 Street Road for an audible fire alarm. Caller stating that the alarm is making a chirping noise, no visible smoke”. In this case it is a basic fire call which will be handled by units from Clinton Fire Department and no mutual aid is needed. In cases where there are many potential victims such as schools and large businesses, mutual aid units will be dispatched even for a Level 1 alarm e.g. smoke or CO detectors.

Let’s look at another example where a homeowner comes home to find their basement filled with smoke. The homeowner calls 911 and the necessary departments are dispatched. “Stations clear, Box 45-01 Level 2 - 45 Fire and Rescue, Engine 46-61, Ladder 14-69, Engine 91-64, 18 Fire (FAST) responding to 11 Street Road for a possible structure fire. Homeowner reporting their basement is filled with smoke and they smell something burning”. In this case the homeowner is getting a full response from our station (2 engines, a tower ladder and a service truck) as well as an engine from Annandale (46) and Quakertown (91), a ladder from High Bridge (14), and a FAST from Lebanon Boro (18). The responding officers have the necessary resources coming into the scene without having to do anything. In addition they can also upgrade the box based on the criteria established for that location.

Mutual aid based on box alarms has revolutionized the way that we all work together. Previous to box alarms an officer would get on scene and then they would call for help. Now we have a mindset where we’d rather get everyone on the road and then cancel them, rather than getting on scene and knowing that your next available ladder is at least 15 minutes away. Additionally with less members available for daytime responses Clinton may only be able to staff 1 Engine initially. With the automatic mutual aid the box alarms provide the officer in charge will still have adequate resources responding.

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Fire department mutual aid & box alarms - PART1

The next two posts will describe the mutual aid process and the role of box alarms. People are often amazed by the number of fire department apparatus that respond to their house in a short amount of time. We often hear “I just called 911 to report a burning smell in my house and the next thing I have a hundred fire trucks outside my house - wow.” The primary reason for this effective response is mutual aid based on box alarms. Box alarms are designed to give the responding officers the necessary resources based on the severity of the call. Time is ALWAYS of the essence when responding to a call and box alarms get the necessary resources rolling in a short amount of time.

Box alarms are geographic groupings which allow you to create a response based on the type of risks that are present and resources required to combat emergency situations.

Potential risks include:

• water supply issues e.g. hydrants/ponds; distance to water etc

• number of occupants e.g. schools, business, hospital vs. residents

• resources required e.g. water shuttles, ladder trucks etc.

• size of the structure e.g. business, school vs. a home

Once a department has created these specific boxes they are sent to the 911 dispatch center that then enter these locations and responding departments into their dispatching computer systems. Once a fire call comes in the necessary resources are dispatched based on the emergency that is reported.

The mindset of fire departments using box alarms is to be ready for all potential situations. Each time a reported structure fire is dispatched; all the volunteers in the Town of Clinton and our surrounding mutual aid departments jump in their cars and respond to their fire departments leaving their families and jobs. The mindset of modern firefighting is to get the resources rolling and cancel them if the situation is less severe than the initial 911 call. Our commitment is to keep our neighbors in our communities as safe as possible by dealing with emergencies in a proactive and professional manner. In the next post I’ll go over a couple of hypothetical examples to illustrate the power of box alarms in action.

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