Medford - pop 64,000 - 8 square miles - a city
Medford FD - 6 stations - 153.89
Sta 1 - Square - E1 L1 C2 (C2 is the onduty Deputy Chief / platoon leader / platoon commander)
Sta 2 - West - E2
Sta 3 - East - (E3) L2
Sta 4 - Riverside - E4
Sta 5 - South - E5
Sta 6 - North - E6
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Response Levels
T box - a "T box" is a "transmitted box" - it is a box that has been transmitted via the telegraphic box alarm system by the fire alarm operator - a "street box" is not a "T box" because as soon as someone pulls the hook on a street box, the bells start ringing in the stations without the intervention of the fire alarm operator - "T boxes" are transmitted based upon info received via the fire alarm operator via radio, telephone, verbally, or carrier pigeon :-)
High School Box - 2E 1L C2 (4/30/99)
Master Box - 3E + 1L + C2
Minor Building Fire - 2E + 1L + C2 - T box transmitted
Alarms sounding in building - 3E + 1L + C2 (5/7/99) - T box transmitted
Building Fire - 3E + 1L + C2 - T box transmitted
Ambulance Call - 1E + Private Ambulance
Motor Vehicle Accident - Unknown if Injuries - 1E + 1L + 1A (as of November 1999)(and Oct 2000)
Motor Vehicle Accident with Injuries - 1E + 1L + 1A
Motor Vehicle Accident with No Injuries Reported - no response
911 Hangup Calls - 1E + ?Police
Lockouts - 1E (called a Code 51)(lockout = people who have lost their keys and cannot gain access to their motor vehicles or homes)
Interstate Highway 93 Responses - 1E + 1L + 1 ambulance (incidents in Somerville get Somerville FD, Boston FD, and Medford FD)(incidents in Stoneham get Stoneham FD and Medford FD)(incidents in Medford get Medford FD plus either Stoneham FD or Somerville FD)
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Dispatch Operations
There was a plan to combine the police and fire dispatch centers in 1998 - there was controversy surrounding this event. Units are primarily dispatched via radio and the telegraphic bell system. Boxes are beeped out on Channel 1 after an alert tone. No paging is done on Channel 1. All calls are announced via radio. A EMS call is announced following a 1 second tone followed by 2 quarter second beeps.
December 2000 - here is an example of a typical dispatch - beep - "Attention Medford Fire Department - attention Medford Fire Department - Olin Center - 180 Packard Ave - Tufts University - alarms sounding - called in by Tufts PD" - box beeped - call repeated with assignment - Eng 2 Eng 5 Eng 1 Ladder 1 - C2 OK (just a rough transcript)
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Staffing - probably 3 on each rig - if there is a shortage of firefighters on a given shift, then E3 will go out of service and the firefighters will move to the stations that need additional manpower.
Dec00 - E3 is ?never manned now
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EMS Operations - As of July 1, 1999, Armstrong Ambulance Service will be providing ambulances and crews on contract to the City of Medford. At a minimum, one ambulance with a crew of 2 ?EMTs will be based in Medford Center at the police/fire station. This unit will identify as A1 on 153.89 and be dispatched via radio by the Medford Comm Center. Previously, AMR had provided the service. Prior to AMR, it was Baystate Amb Service out of Malden.
Here is a June 2000 note from sme2@onelist.com - The Medford A-1 truck (Armstrong owned but marked A-1 with "In service to the City of Medford") is marked as ALS. Typically other trucks seen in town are also ALS. Almost always they are traditional ambulance bodies. Once or twice I have seen a BLS truck accompanied by an SUV ALS vehicle in Medford. I don't recall the unit callsigns (or paint jobs :)
Repeating - Armstrong runs ALS in Medford with transporting ambos. Occasionaly an SUV is thrown into the mix, but I've never noticed if they are NSP-badged or not. The first ambulance in Medford is Armstrong colors with A-1 as the callsign and painted on the truck, also a tagline of "In service to the City of Medford" under the Armstrong logo. (Dec00)
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Radio Operations
153.89 is the primary radio channel. "8-5-4" is the callsign used by the dispatcher.
6May99 - 153.83 is now used as a fireground channel. The dispatchers do not have access to this channel. This was first heard in use on 5/6/99 at some highrise firefighting drills.
Radio Test - 0800AM
C2, Engines 1,2,3,4,5,6 Ladders 1,2 : Portables - C-2-hundred E-1-hundred E-2-hundred E-3-hundred E-4-hundred E-5-hundred E-6-hundred L-1-hundred L-2-hundred
New Radio Test - 0800AM - 4/4/99
.....portables - E100, E1000, E200, E2000, E300, E3000, E400, E4000, E500, E5000, E600, E6000, L100, L1000, L200, L2000 ("L-2-thousand")
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High Hazard Structures
Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Wellington Circle Rapid Transit Station - high volume railroad tracks thru West Medford - Tufts University - highrise apartment buildings to ?20 floors - Meadow Glen shopping mall
AmeriSuite Hotels opened on Riverside Ave in September of 1998 - 20,000 square feet of land supports a 8 story hotel with underground parking, indoor pool, fitness center, and 2 meeting rooms (sold for $20M to a SD guy in May 2000)
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Medford FD Website - As of 4/30/99, this website has 1 modern photo and a bunch of antique photos.
Medford Auxiliary Fire Dept Website
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Compiled - 4/15/99 - Updated 4/29/99 - 7/3/99 - 10/22/99 - 11/16/99 - 25May00 - 3June00 - 19Oct00 (MVA level) - 08Dec00 - a few changes
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