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Most police work in Minnesota is handled by the County Sheriff Departments. The State Highway Patrol handles the major highways. Fire protection is provided by local fire departments that are operated by cities and towns. Ambulance service is provided by regional ambulance services. Dispatching is usually done countywide from the County Sheriff Office with 1 police radio channel and 1 fire radio channel for each county. Ambulance dispatching is done either on the fire radio channels or on local ambulance channels.
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MN Radio Monitor Page at www.scanfan.com
G Wolfe's Minni Area Scanner Info
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Metro Area Radio System - 1998 + 1999
A brand new 800Mhz trunked radio system is being implemented in 1999 or 2000 for the Minneapolis and Saint Paul area.
July 9, 1998 - Carver County News
(I have a post (somewhere in storage) for public input on this system (from the Minni Scanner list)
Metro Radio Board Website - Dec 2000 info - radio system was tested in Motorola plant in Illinois - is being shipped to MN for installation in 2001
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Hennepin County
The County Comm Center dispatches most PDs and FDs in the County. Not sure on who dispatches EMS. Minneapolis has a combined PD/FD Dispatch Center. Even pre-911, they had just one 7 digit phone number for reporting all emergencies. (I have the inside cover of a ?1986 phone book.)
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County - ?adding repeaters to 154.385 - ?adding 453.125 to EMS? - ?adding 150.79 and 150.805?
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Minneapolis - FD added 154.055 as Channel 5 in ?October of 1999 - it is being used for training at the Fire Academy.
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July 2000 info on Minni FD - from the fireradio@onelist.com list
In Mpls a "still alarm" is usually when somebody drives or walks into the station or the fire truck gets waved down. They still announce and tone out for it.
Also, when MFD gets dispatched, in addition to the audible tone, the CAD system also transmits an inaudible signal that opens the door, turns on the lights and rings the bell at the station that is being called. It even will open just the door for the engine, and not the ladder, on a medical run. Fire and medical calls trip a different bell so the FF's know whether they need to put on their turn-out gear or not.
All trucks contain limited function MDT's - they display 2 lines of call text and are used to signal "enroute", "arrived", "in-service", "at station" etc, but cannot be used to send text messages. All police cars and each fire station have full function MDT's.
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Ramsey County
County Sheriff dispatches several FDs? - I have this info somewhere - St Paul dispatches 1 or 2 suburban FDs and the SO dispatches several suburban FDs
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DNR/State Forestry
there is a website that used to have lists of DNR rigs in the central part of MN - little dozers, pumpers, helos, lookouts, etc.
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Firefighting Planes To Be On Standby At BWCA - State DNR To Base Two CL-215s In Ely - see WCCO-TV's Recent (?Video) Report On Preparations
ELY, Minn., Posted 7:55 a.m. CDT April 4, 2000 -- Some of the most lauded weapons for fighting forest fires will be on standby this summer in case of a fire in or near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, where a windstorm last summer knocked down millions of trees.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will base in Ely two CL-215s, twin-engine wildfire attack planes that experts say that will play a critical role in regional firefighting efforts. They were due to arrive in Ely Tuesday.
"In lake country, such as we have in northern Minnesota, the CL-215s can provide quick response and do multiple water drops on a fire," said Ike Anderson, fire aviation supervisor for the DNR.
A CL-215 can scoop 1,400 gallons of water out of a lake, turn quickly, dump it on target and repeat the process for hours. Each water-scooping run takes only about 10 seconds, and the plane only needs about 2,000 feet of lake.
Another CL-215, on loan from Manitoba, will be stationed in Brainerd later this spring.
It will cost about $850,000 to have the two CL-215s in Ely for 90 days, not including operating expenses. The DNR is paying for the lease out of an emergency fire fund. The planes are manufactured and leased by the Bombardier company of Quebec. Unlike most fire assault aircraft that are converted military aircraft, the CL-215 was designed specifically to fight wildfires. The planes have been doing that job for 29 years. CL-215s can drop water or a water-and-foam mix. The soapy foam solution helps water stick to vegetation and lays down a cool blanket that often is used as a fire-stopping line.
"They really do a nice job. They're impressive," said Tim Norman, fire management officer for the Superior National Forest. Fire officials are quick to note that water-dropping aircraft usually can't extinguish a forest fire or even stop a large fire from advancing. But air drops can slow fires down, control their perimeters and buy time and space to let ground crews do their job or until it rains.
Previous Stories: March 29, 2000: Fighting Fire With Fire In The BWCA July 22, 1999: BWCA Map July 7, 1999: BWCA Storm May Cause Forest Fires
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Last Updated - 5 April 2000 - 19May00 Air WX + www.scanfan.com - 12July00 - gwolfe scanner site - Minni FD info - 26Oct00 - Henn Co freqs - 03Jan00 - Merro Radio Board website
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