Re: [californiadisasters] Re: Forest Fire Kern Canyon Kern County "second alarm"

For the benefit of group members who might not really understand what this
thread is about:

In my area, the terms are used in conjunction with "run cards" (a term left
over from pre-CAD), where certain responses are pre-designated, for example,
a residential fire alarm is perhaps three engines, two trucks, one paramedic
unit, one battalion chief. Run cards for commercial fires, industrial fires,
brush, etc. are similarly assigned. Commonly, a second alarm consists of the
same assignment repeated. It's not uncommon, though, for the incident
commander (IC) to request specific additional resources, short of an
additional alarm.

We need to understand, also, that this terminology lingers from the olden
days when all communication was via fire alarm boxes. Every company knew its
coverage area in terms of which boxes it responded to, so when the telegraph
started sounding the bell and punching the paper tape in every station and
alarm headquarters, each company knew whether to go and where. That was a
first alarm.

If arriving companies needed help, the IC (though the term didn't exist
then) went to the box and pulled it again (sometimes the chief could open
the box and attach a telegraph key to give a custom message, such as a
"Signal 10"--false alarm, up to "Signal 30"--"all hands employed"). The
second run of the box was a "second alarm", as the same box sounded the
bells in every station a second time. Ditto "third alarm".

The size of the city determined the point at which it became a "general
alarm" (meaning, "Everybody come!"). The term "greater alarm" is also used
in some places, usually to indicate a fire which has exceeded second alarm
or third alarm.

Two variants:

1. If the fire could best be attacked from two sides, the IC might pull the
box on another corner, to get the second alarm to respond there for tactical
advantage.

2. If the fire was discovered by the fire department or reported by someone
running into the station, the report did not come via the bells, so it was a
"still alarm", a term still used in some places to indicate (in my area)
that the alarm didn't originate through the dispatch center, but the company
receiving the alarm is reporting it back to dispatch. (The term now has an
"alert" value; when radio units hear, "Still alarm....", they're immediately
aware there's a fire/incident being reported and responded to.)

As Louis has noted, these "alarm" terms are very common in municipal fire
agencies. While I believe CalFire and the various Feds have standard
responses (n companies for x type of call), I don't know if they use the
same terminology (and why would they, as they never had alarm box systems).

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kim Patrick Noyes" <kimnoyes@gmail.com>
To: <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2010 5:18 PM
Subject: [californiadisasters] Re: Forest Fire Kern Canyon Kern County
"second alarm"

Louis,

Various municipal and county departments around California use the
terminology even for vegetation fires but not Calfire or the Forest Service
as far as I know.

Kimmer

--- In californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com, lnmolino@... wrote:
>
> Kim I have been a Firefighter/EMT since 1981 I've even been a Fire
Officer
> and Chief so the term is not one I am not familiar with used them myself
a
> time or two ;)
>
> I have limited Wildland/forest fire training and even less Wildland fire
> experience. and at that it is New jersey where we never did anything like
> Y'all do in CA (AKA the land of fruit and nuts where I came from).
>
> I know of no forest fire agency that used those terms but rather used the
> direct form of calling for resources such as 3 Engine Strike Teams or 2
> structural task forces and such. Alarm levels in the municipal and
structural
> world are as varied as their are jurisdictions in the US.
>
> Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

> In a message dated 9/12/2010 7:02:36 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
> kimnoyes@... writes:
>
>
>
> The expression "1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, alarm" etc. has been in use in
various
> parts of California my entire life.
>
> If you've watched the TV series "Emergency" you have heard these
> expressions used.
>
> Kimmer

------------------------------------

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